Skills For A Left-Handed Child

Being left-handed is perfectly normal and not a disadvantage at all. However, since most of the world is geared to right-handers, there are a few key areas where having a lefty-specific approach can make a big difference to your child.

On this page, we will look at how to support all the foundational skills for a left-handed child, from strong hand muscles, to writing without smudging.

Parents and teachers should make sure that lefties are using their left hands when using fine motor tools such as tweezers, tongs and paintbrushes, to get as much practice as possible.

This may seem obvious, but often kids will mimic what they see and might use the same hand as the teacher or parent! So keep an eye on which hand is being used!

Scissor cutting is an important fine motor skill, because it develops the muscles of the hand that are used for controlling a pencil.

Your left-handed child needs to cut with the left hand, using left-handed scissors, in order to get these important fine motor benefits!

For both left- and right-handed kids, the tripod pencil grip (with the thumb, index and middle fingers on the pencil, as shown here), is described as an ideal grip. This pencil grip enables the fingers to move freely.

However, there are a number of slight adaptations that are still efficient and functional for both left-and right-handed kids - pop on over and view photos of different pencil grasps that might work for your child.

But please remember that your young lefty should not be forced to hold the pencil with three fingers - they need to move through the different stages of normal pencil grasp development as their fine motor skills improve.

• right-handers naturally use a *pulling* motion in order to write, which is easier than the *pushing* motion that left-handers need to use. 
  
  
• left-handed kids often struggle to see what they are writing, and the writing can get smudged by their hands.
  
  
• a common solution is to hook the wrist in order to see the written work and to pull the pen along the page. However this is a tiring and inefficient way to write. 

Let's take a look at how we can help address these handwriting challenges that lefties might face: 

What Is The Best Writing Position For Lefties?

The best writing position for lefties, is to position the paper slightly to the left of the body, and then tilt the paper slightly to the right (clockwise), as shown.

The left corner of the paper will then be slightly higher.

This can help your child to:

• see what they are writing as they write
• prevent smudging
• maintain a functional pencil grip

• Positioning the paper more effectively for writing will help a lefty to see their work better, which makes it easier for them to work from left to right.
• To help your child to work from left to right across the page, it may help to draw an arrow at the top of each handwriting page, or to put an arrow on the desk.

• OT Mom's Fine Motor Resources - a plethora of hand exercises, finger skills and much more!
  
• OT Mom's Scissor Cutting Guide - everything you need improve scissor skills for a left-handed child as well as right!
  
• Your Left-Handed Child by Lauren Milsom
• Left Handed Supplies on Amazon^#Ad

You have taken steps to understand and support your left-handed child in a right-handed world, and this will help them grow in confidence and enjoy the learning process.

The next step is to make sure your child is supported as they progress through school and take on new learning experiences in different environments.

To see what simple changes can make a big impact, read my related page on Classroom Support for Left Handed Kids.