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Last week, one of our wonderful readers competed a survey that I had sent out. She wanted more resources for left handed writers. We love getting requests from our readers. If you ever have anything that you would like for us to discuss, please email us at .
I am right handed. My husband is right handed. Our oldest is right handed. Our youngest is left handed. My sister is left handed, so it wasn't a total shock. I questioned how I this was going to work out. I mean, what do I do with my left handed writer?
Grandma and I sat down and thought about it all. At first, we had a hard time coming up with things that we did with our left handed writers (me for my son and and Grandma for my sister). There isn't anything earth-shattering.
Do you know what the biggest thing that we came up with was?
Don't make it a big deal
Here's some questions that we want to answer:
How do you find out that your child is left handed?
That was the hand that he used to color and draw. For both of our boys, I let them choose which hand they wanted to use. What I mean by that is I didn't put a crayon or pencil in their hand. I would hold out the crayon and let them take it from me. Which ever hand they grabbed with was probably their dominant hand. Sometimes I would just put the crayons on the table and they picked them up.
They both would use both hands when they were young. They would switch back and forth until they figured out which hand they wanted to use.
How do you teach a left handed writer to write?
To be honest, I didn't do a lot different from teaching our older son (a right handed writer) how to write. I had to really think about this to remember anything that I might have done differently. I did come up with a few things that helped:
* As I showed him a new letter, I had him stand or sit beside me on my right side. That way his left hand is closer to my right hand as I was writing.
* To go along with standing on my right side, I would have him put his left hand on my right hand so that he could "feel" the motions for that letter.
* Tilt the paper slightly. A right handed writer will tilt the paper slightly towards their right hand, the left handed writer will need to tilt their paper slightly towards their left hand.
* I taught both of my boys to write their letters straight up and down, instead of with a slant. I was trained in the Spalding type of writing. This style is more of an up and down style of writing that works for any writer. I will be putting together a handwriting book so that you can teach your children how to write - right handed writers or left handed writers.
* Dragging hand across paper. I know that many left handed writers get ink/pencil on their left hand because they drag their hand across the paper. He lifts up his hand as he moves it across the page. Try to teach your left handed writer to be aware of how they move their hand across the page.
How do you teach a left handed writer to cut?
Cutting is a tricky thing. Both of our boys had trouble cutting. We had to take it slow and steady with each of them. For our left handed writer, he did have left handed scissors. that seemed to help him for a while. The problem is, he needed to learn to use right handed scissors at some point. Now that he's 9, he likes to use adult scissors because they cut smoother.
What are some supplies can I use to teach my left handed writer?
Left handed Scissors for kids
(these are the ones that we used)
Top-flip Notebooks
(this way their arm isn't laying on the metal spiral)
Anything else to think about?
Tear out workbook pages
I asked my son what helps him write better. This is what he said. He says that it is difficult to write in workbooks, so that's why he likes to just rip out the page. Simple fix.
Tieing shoes
I had to be aware of how I taught him how to tie his shoes. I didn't tell him to hold a string with his right hand, like I told his brother. I just had him pick up the string and then I worked it out from there with directions that would help him tie his shoes.
I really hope that helps someone out there. Like I said before, I'm working on a printable handwriting book to help you teach all of your children how to write. Look for that in the next couple of weeks.
if you have any questions about teaching a left handed writer or anything else for that matter. We would love to help!
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