rwh@aesat.UUCP (Russ Herman) (08/20/85)
All right, there seems to be concurrence re detrimental effects of changing
handedness, but what about cases of AMBIGUOUS handedness. My nearly-four son
does not seem to prefer either. He will throw, eat, reach with either
hand apparently at whim. I've heard that if handedness doesn't emerge
spontaneously by age four, one or the other should be forced. Otherwise
you wind up with a kid who's equally klutzy with both hands. Anyone
have any knowledge/experience with this?
--
______ Russ Herman
/ \ {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!aesat!rwh
@( ? ? )@
( || ) The opinions above are strictly personal, and
( \__/ ) do not reflect those of my employer (or even
\____/ possibly myself an hour from now.)smuga@mtuxo.UUCP (j.smuga) (08/29/85)
> All right, there seems to be concurrence re detrimental effects of changing > handedness, but what about cases of AMBIGUOUS handedness. > ______ Russ Herman My eight-year-old daughter eventually turned out to be right-handed, but for most of her preschool years she used either hand equally. A cluster of minor problems may or may not be related: the child had fine-motor problems that became apparent when she couldn't seem to complete her written work in first grade. She did a lot of mirror writing when she was in kindergarten, and continued to reverse some characters to the end of first grade. She also required speech therapy when she started nursery school (she had a great vocabulary, but only her Dad and I could understand a word she said). The good news: the fine motor trouble is (was) a case of slow development. By the end of second grade she seemd to have caught up, at least to the point where she could get her written assignments done during the period assigned for them in school most of the time. Her speech is perfectly normal now, and she prints all characters correctly. A footnote: her gymnastics teacher found that my right-hander does her best cartwheels lefty. Oddly enough, my six-year-old also has small-motor problems, with her eye muscles. I had similar trouble with my eyes at her age. The vision therapist has suggested that these things tend to run in families. -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Janet Smuga I've had a great many troubles in my time, mtuxo!smuga and most of them never happened. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -