Left-handed children, are they different in any way?
Why do some children start writing with their left hand and others with their right? Is there a difference between them?
Classically, there has been a great controversy from the medical or educational field about left-handed children. If we analyze our history, we will find infinity of symbols that relate the left side with unfavorable, negative or even dangerous aspects. Without going any further, the symbols of Christianity invite to associate the right side with positive things, while the left is associated with aspects related to evil. This historical tradition even caused left-handers to be persecuted by the Inquisition. Later, although this persecution was no longer such, the fact that a child was left-handed continued to be considered as something negative that had to be corrected. Not surprisingly, until recently in schools left-handed children were tied to the left hand to force them to use the right, especially when carrying out writing.
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WHAT IS LATERALITY?
Today we all know, or at least we should know, that it is not a bad thing to be left-handed and that the differences that exist between left-handed and right-handed children are only those that refer to their laterality.
Laterality is the preference of use of one of the parts of the human body over the other. The process by which it develops is called lateralization and lasts until approximately twelve years. At six years of age, laterality on one’s own body is defined; on the eight or the ten, on the others and around the twelve, the laterality relative to the objects on themselves is defined.
THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LATERALITY:
Normal laterality refers to the dominance of only one side of the body. In this case, the right side or the left side may predominate. Therefore, from this point of view, we would speak of a left-handed child having normal laterality.
Cross laterality exists when there is a priority use of an element on one side and another on the other side, for example, that a person is right-handed but left-handed standing.
Mixed or incomplete predominance occurs when the preference is not constant, but is changing over time. In these cases, the establishment of laterality should be encouraged, as long as the child is already more than six years old.
Ambiestrality is the ability to use the limbs on one side of the body interchangeably. Young children are ambidextrous, we can see how they use both hands interchangeably. In fact, if they did not do so, it would be an alarm signal to take into account when assessing the existence of some type of motor problem.
With the passage of time, as we said, children are lateralizing. Both in cases of incomplete laterality and in cases in which the ambiestrality is longer than expected, we must promote the lateralization of that part of the body that has the highest quality in the execution . That is, we should not insist that a child strengthen the use of the hand that uses the most, if not the hand that uses the best. In the event that there is a real equality of conditions in the execution with both hands, then we would strengthen the right, for social reasons, as we will see later.
If we encourage the use of the wrong side, what is known as disgruntled laterality could occur, if a person has become accustomed to using the wrong side of the body. Disgruntled laterality has been linked to disorders such as stuttering , reading and writing problems , enuresis or tics, although the exact causes of this relationship are not yet known.
WHY IS A CHILD LEFT-HANDED?
Laterality has a cerebral origin, specifically, in the nervous organization at the cerebral level and is determined by the supremacy of one hemisphere over another . If the left hemisphere predominates, the lateral dominance will be right-handed; if the right hemisphere predominates, then the lateral dominance will be left-handed.
The causes of this supremacy of one or the other hemisphere are not clearly established but, in any case, there is a high hereditary burden.
It is established that the percentage of left-handers, according to the lateral dominance of the parents will be:
– 8% of children whose parents are right-handed will be left-handed.
– 20% of children born to a left-handed parent will also be left-handed.
– If both parents are left-handed , there is a 55% probability that their child is left-handed.
In the last fifty years a prevalence of left-handed people has gone from 2.5% to 12%. Is it because the number of children born left-handed is increasing? This does not appear to be the cause. Probably the reason is the greater permissiveness with left-handed children.
DO LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN HAVE DISADVANTAGES?
As we mentioned, if a child is truly ambidextrous, something that rarely happens, we would encourage right-handed laterality. The only reason for this argument is that there are a multitude of objects that lefties can have trouble with. In any case, to remedy this disadvantage of left-handed people regarding the use of everyday objects, more and more special objects for left-handed people are being manufactured.
In the school environment, the first problem left-handed children may encounter is the writing itself. Our language, with a writing from left to right, favors writing with the right hand. All you have to do is prove how uncomfortable it can be for right-handers to write with the left hand. There are pens with suitable ink, which dries quickly, so that children do not smudge the paper and get their left hand dirty when writing.
Other increasingly common objects for the use of left-handed children are scissors, pencil sharpeners, inverted rulers that allow numbers to be read while using them with the left hand, or ring notebooks, which place the spiral on the right side. They are small details that can favor school activities for left-handed children, saving the difficulties they previously encountered.
Most bookstores and many web pages offer this and other types of products. In any case, we must be aware that it is better for left-handed children to face these purely logistical difficulties than to live their entire lives with a frustrated laterality that can lead to real problems forever.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.