Ambidextrous and learning disabilities

[Anonymous]

My 7 year old just had a neuropsychological evaluation. He is severely dyslexic and has trouble with reading and writing.

We have always questioned his handedness. The pediatrician has always said do not worry about it and that a dominant hand would be revealed in time. He switches hands when writing, but recently we have been working with his right hand and his writing with that hand is now a little bit neater than his left. (although it's still a mess and difficult for him) He uses his left hand for many tasks, but nothing is ever consistent so it's confusing. If I look at old photos I see that he used his left hand more than right in the action shots ( like painting and eating). One of the tests on the neuropscyh. revealed that he was weak and had poor control with both hands, but was slightly dominant in his left hand.

Should I have him start writing with his left hand now? Or leave it to his right since he has been working on that side with the OT for a few months now? Should i let him switch back and forth? I don't want to make things more difficult for him. I'm just wondering if it would make things easier if he switched to his left hand since this recent test revealed it was slightly dominant?

Does anyone have any experience with this? The only research i can find is that ambidextrous kids are more likely to have dyslexia and other learning disabilities. I have heard that it is important to pick a side, but i can't find any research to support this.

Thanks for any help!

[Anonymous]

At 7 I would take him to an OT to suss out the writing and which hand. (I don't know if it matters much if he leads with a different hand for other tasks, but getting a handle on the handwriting will be a good thing.)

Bilateral coordination and poor core muscles can make it tougher for handwriting. So don't be too worried if an OT wants to work gross and fine motor skills.

[Anonymous]

As an ambi, I suggest you ask him to choose hands. Don't direct him. I write with my left and do everything else with my right.

For me, it happened at a playdate. One of the mother's friends corrected me for using both hands at lunch. I didn't have a dominant. She thought it was rude and told me to choose. Okay. So, something yummy must have been on my lefthand side. I went back to 1st grade, using my left at school from that day on.

You have no idea how much it helps to organize your movements like that. No LD diagnosis, but, I couldn't tell time (on a face clock) until my twenties. My watch helps me know left from right, although that's still iffy. I have weird spacial issues, and synesthesia.

Once I chose though, I had the chance to build the muscles up and my coordination, handwriting, and balance got better.

[Anonymous]

I am ambidextrous as well (although most things I do left handed). I played the piano and I will tell you bring ambidextrous was a huge strength for me when playing the piano.

I follow this post with great interest as I have a 5 year old with dispraxia who does not show a dominant hand either. He is same as your son- left is stronger but right has more deterity. He switches back and forth. OT has suggested we not force a side but whichever side he's using we correct his holding the marker if he's not holding it correctly. Oddly enough in past 3 weeks he's emerged as possibly a righty? Four OTs have told me he was left handed.

All this to say we are in the same boat and even the developmental pediatrician has not really advised precisely what to do but to let it work itself out. But I realize that your DS is 7 and so choosing a dominant hand is very important.

Hopefully someone on the thread can shed some light on this.

[Anonymous]

Don't ask him to choose hands. If you offer a utensil of any kind, offer at midline. His instinct will let him choose the hand. However, if he's having fine motor difficulties, he may switch hands while writing.

[Anonymous]

This is an honest question, but does handiness matter? My 16 year old son writes with his left hand and does almost everything else with his right, but it never occurred to me that it mattered. When he was small, he'd write upside down and backward, too. I didn't know that there could potentially be issues with being ambidextrous.

[Anonymous]

In the 70s, I was forced to choose a hand in school and my doctors said it may have made my dyslexia worse. Now is use left for most things (habit) but can still use right as well.

See an OT that specializes with ambidextrous children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an honest question, but does handiness matter? My 16 year old son writes with his left hand and does almost everything else with his right, but it never occurred to me that it mattered. When he was small, he'd write upside down and backward, too. I didn't know that there could potentially be issues with being ambidextrous.

Benefits too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an honest question, but does handiness matter? My 16 year old son writes with his left hand and does almost everything else with his right, but it never occurred to me that it mattered. When he was small, he'd write upside down and backward, too. I didn't know that there could potentially be issues with being ambidextrous.

My brother does the same thing, writes with his left and does everything else with his right. I remember my parents trying to get him to write with his left with zero success. He is an MD/PhD so doing this has not caused any issues.

[Anonymous]

I went through this with my 4 yo. He never showed a strong preference and we began to get feedback from school that his writing/grip was behind his peers. I went to an OT for a private eval, and although I was very clear that I was looking for help with the handedness issue, the OT report was completely useless. It was about his core muscle strength and described him as needing tons of OT to work on his core muscles. I felt like this was missing the point, because he was with or ahead of peers in gross motor activities like soccer.

I ended up just making him choose a hand and use it consistently. I think it could have been either hand, but we made a decision and stuck with it, and his grip and writing have improved so much since he "specialized." He doesn't have any LDs, but he does have some traits that his sibling with ADHD also has. His hair whorl counterclockwise. I read online that this corresponds with ambidexterity or left handedness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an honest question, but does handiness matter? My 16 year old son writes with his left hand and does almost everything else with his right, but it never occurred to me that it mattered. When he was small, he'd write upside down and backward, too. I didn't know that there could potentially be issues with being ambidextrous.

My brother does the same thing, writes with his left and does everything else with his right. I remember my parents trying to get him to write with his left with zero success. He is an MD/PhD so doing this has not caused any issues.

Meant my parents trying to get him to write with his ****right**** with zero success.

He does fine writing with his left. He is also a gifted artist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an honest question, but does handiness matter? My 16 year old son writes with his left hand and does almost everything else with his right, but it never occurred to me that it mattered. When he was small, he'd write upside down and backward, too. I didn't know that there could potentially be issues with being ambidextrous.

Actually, what the OP is describing isn't true ambidextrousness. Kids with LDs like dysgraphia, or low tone, or vision or coordination problems, switch hands often b/c they have immature fine motor skills and are struggling to do a task--eating, writing, throwing a ball whatever.

[Anonymous]

My DS (age 11) told me the other day that he's ambi. I've always thought him left-handed b/c he writes left. But he did go back and forth for many, many years. He apparently knows that he can write with both hands but his right one is slower than his left. But he does lots of other things right-handed.

I'd just let your child choose what activities to do with what hand.

[Anonymous]

Ask your child what hand feels better or is stronger for writing. Or ask him - if u need to write something quickly - what hand do u pick. Essentially try to see if he has a natural but slight preference for purposes of writing - but work on fine motor for bth hands.

[Anonymous]

Wow, you wrote exactly what our child is like. By age five he did select right hand for school work but left for sports. When we did the neuro test it turns out his right had is very weak in comparsion to his left. They said that at age 11 he should not switch hands for writing, drawing etc and they also said it was too late for OT to help with the strength. It does seem to be part of the connection with Dyslexia and I had worried about this from the moment I saw that he used both hands so effortlessly - so its interesting that in his case is has panned out that its tied to learning disorders.