Right or Left? That is the ?

[ChristineM]

How early can you determine if your child is right or left handed? How do you determine if your child is right or left handed? If anyone can give me some info or point me in the direction of a good website I would appreciate it. I have done a google search but the sites are all about left handedness.
Thanks :)

[bubbles28]

I too would be interested in any info.
I'm right handed and my DH is left handed so it will be interesting to see who our DS takes after!

[Ky]

As far as I know, they are pretty ambidextrous until they are around 3 years old, although some children will show a definite preference before then.

Both of my guys preferred their right hand quite early on ... I think it becomes more obvious when they start using a knife and fork and also when they are really into learning to write and colour within the lines in a colouring book!

[Taddy]

I too would also be interested to know what age. My son is 13months and I can't tell which hand as he uses both even when he throws a ball, draws and using a fork and knife. He might just be able to use both. Smart Cookie he is.

[Sarie]

Nat seem's to use his right hand for most things, but lefty's run in my family so who really knows??

[Lunar]

Some say a child will show a definite preference by 3 others say when they begin kindergarten. I myself did everything with my left hand and my parents presumed I would be left handed, that was until the day I went to school and I started doing everything with my right hand and am right handed now.
I don't think It really matters if someone is right or left handed does it?? but I feel myself and have had the majority of professionals tell me it is usually by the age of 3 that they show a preferance but every child is different.

[~MUMMY~]

my son has always had a preferance for his left hand... he is 3 now and does everything , drawing,painting,eating,throwing a ball with his left hand. everyone in both sides of or family is right handed. i dont think it has anything to do with that.

[Milly]

My daughter is showing left handed dominance but it is still too early to say. She perfers to hold her cutlery with her left and draw on her scribble paper with her left. But I too have heard that you really won't know for a few years, so we will see what hapens. :)

[pegasus]

As a therapist a common reason for referral is to establish hand dominance. As some others have written, by around three, there is usually one hand which the child uses more readily than the other. However, children aren't usually referred for assessment until they are about to enter school (or at preschool). This is because it's usually at this time that parents or teachers become concerned that a mixed dominance may confuse the child. There are some people who are truly ambidextrous, but these people are rare - it's more common to use one hand to draw and the other to throw (usually when describing handedness we describe the hand we write with). Research states that 28.8% of left handed writers are right handed throwers, but only 1.6% of right handed writers are left handed throwers.

The main point I want to make is that it's good to be curious about whether your child will be right or left handed, but an important thing which I tell parents who bring their children to me is that handedness isn't to be forced. If your child isn't showing a preference - make sure you present activities to your child on both sides and also in the middle (eg. place blocks you're building a tower with and see if your child only uses their left hand to get the blocks on the left or in the middle too). A more important thing that I look for when assessing a child for handedness is "crossing the midline" (using the left hand on the right side and vice versa) which indicates integration of development better than hand preference.

So long as your child doesn't get confused or slowed down by using both hands for activities, encourage play with whichever hand they choose.

I hope that wasn't too wordy or whatever, but if anyone wants to PM me on this subject I'm happy to respond. Otherwise, I hope this information is of interest.

Bottom line - a hand preference usually shows up by about 3 or 4 but isn't usually consistent until school age. ;)

[mummycloud]

Skye is left handed. She always sucked her left thumb and used her left hand for feeding. I noticed it at around 18 months. I thought it might change, but never did. She's still a lefty at 4 and a half ;)

[nemosmum]

As an E.C Teacher I generally see handedness develop any where between 3 and 5 years of age.

That said my DS is only 16 months of age and he does everything with his right hand /foot. He only kick ball with his right foot and only eats/draws with his right hand so I would assume unless some major thing happens to change his preferred hand he will continue to be right handed.