Our Busy Little World
Dec. 8, 2006 - Left-Handed Troubles - Advice Anyone?
*Update: well, this afternoon's try was much better. I just treated it as our "special time", sat her on my lap and encouraged the heck out of her each time I saw her working to hold it correctly. It was much more pleasant - she remembered to hold it right about half of the time, so I'm hoping this whole thing won't take too long. In any case, it was good snuggly drawing time, and forced me to make sure I took the time out of my day to help her.
HELP!
Isabelle's just fallen in love with writing and drawing lately. She does it all the time, so I am not usually able to sit down and do it with her, except for a couple of times a day. The problem is I recently read the left handed info at the Handedness Institute (she's a little lefty), and have discovered she's apparently holding the pencil all wrong. They recommend retraining in how to hold it, which they say takes about six weeks or so. In order to do this, she can only draw/write when I'm with her, or she'll just default to how she's accustomed to holding the pencil. We tried starting today, but she seemed so sad - she could no longer form the letters nearly as well as she's been doing, and it was, of course, awkward and difficult. She won't get to write/draw nearly as much as she loves to for awhile, and I so hate to discourage her in this. Here's the info from their site (below). I'd just love advice from anyone with left-handed children. Have you found this position to truly be the best one? In your opinion, is it best if we allow her to continue writing as she has been (holding the pencil right at the edge the way I do, smearing all of her letters as her hand is right by them, etc) for the sake of enjoying writing, or is it best to just get through the next few weeks/months to retrain her hand? Like I said, I wanted to start retraining her grip today, but I hated seeing her so discouraged about drawing/writing, as it's usually her favorite thing to do! Thanks for any advice.
For a left-handed child, the paper should be positioned left of the child's midline, and tilted so that the top right corner of the paper is closer to the child than the top left corner (see Figure 2). The paper is placed so that the child's hand is to the left of, and away from, the body at the start of the writing line, and ends the line with the hand closer and in front of the body or slightly to the left of midline. The angle that the paper is tilted will vary according to individual children -- the important thing for the child to remember is to keep the arm perpendicular to the bottom of the page or slate writing tablet (see Figure 2). The wrist should be straight (not bent). And the writing hand should be below the writing line.
Teach left-handed children to remember three things as they learn to write :
Grip the pencil ~ 2.5 cm (1 inch) to 3.8 cm (1.5 inches) from the point,
(and the top right corner of page is toward writer),
Figure 2. Proper posture, paper position, and grip for left-handed writing
How to Correct Bad Writing Habits
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If a child has already started writing the wrong way, a parent or teacher may wish to re-educate the beginning writer. Cole (1955) reported good results re-training young children after a period of six weeks. To be successful, parents and teachers must agree on the process and work closely with the child. During the re-training period, the child should be excused from all regular classroom written work -- otherwise, s/he will revert back to the old style because, for the moment, it is faster than writing the right way. Explain to the child that you're going to show him or her how to write easier, and that it will take a few weeks to master. Demonstrate the proper grip, paper position, arm and wrist position, etc. Work closely with the child for short (10 minutes to start) but frequent (at least once a day) practice sessions. Remember that it is hard to break old habits and replace them with new ones, and that this will be a temporary strain for the child. Therefore, the child should do no writing other than the practice sessions for two or three weeks, or until s/he has become so comfortable with the new writing style that s/he uses this spontaneously. Be sure to give the child lots of encouragment and support during this difficult period.
Comments
Dec. 8, 2006 - Thanks!
I personally just let my son write however he was comfortable. The info you posted is very helpful so I'm going to be checking him to see what changes I need to make. Ann
Edited by annreathome on Dec. 8, 2006 at 1:09 PM
Dec. 8, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Well, I don't think I can answer your questions. I am a lefty. I write alomst exactly like the illustration. I guess it might be best to work on that formation and break the old habit. It will take some time, but it may be worth it in the end. Although, of all the leftys I have encountered in my life, I have never heard anyone complain of the hook and the writing always seemed nice enough. It may be uncomfortable for her for a bit, but she won't remember it, and if she gets discouraged, it won't last. Your positive attitude will help tremendously. A writing program that I love, is Handwriting without Tears. It is fabulous. That might be helpful at some point. She is a bit young yet. I haven't started my 5yo on it yet, but will soon. Here is something that I figured out as an adult. I cannot write calligraphy. The reason? I push the pen instead of dragging it, therefore the effect is not the same at all. A right handed person drags the pen, giving the nice little flares and such. A lefty pushes the pen across the paper.
Susan
Dec. 9, 2006 - hmmmm
Posted by 6littlelambs
I have no advice :-) I'm a lefty and so are both of my parents(my brother is the only odd one lol). We all write like the illustration you showed. I suppose I write that way because my parents do. However, we are the only 3 lefties that I know who right like that. Everyone else I know turns the paper like a right-handed person and writes with their hand hooked over. Never could understand that cause it's REALLY hard to write like that and you end up with a hand covered in ink or pencil lead and it would be about impossible to write in a spiral notebook because your hand would always be on top of the spirals. You can get pencil grips that you can turn to be used for either lefties or righties.
Dec. 9, 2006 - Another lefty chimes in
Posted by stevewend
Melissa,
For what it's worth, I think I'd let her write away to her heart's content for a while. While you don't want to let it go long-term, she's still young and fine-motor skills are still developing. I write like the illustration you posted but I didn't learn that habit until third grade (when I learned cursive). As a slightly more mature writer, it was an easy transition and a comfortable one too.
Dec. 14, 2006 - lefty with lefty children
Posted by homeskoolmom
Hi Melissa,
I am a lefty and I write almost like the figure shows. My 2 sons are both lefties. Don't know if this will help, but when Malachi first started drawing and writing he held his wrist up in the air. Now, I rarely see his wrist in the air. I don't think either of my boys slant their paper. I remember having left-handed friends growing up that would curl their arm all the way around their paper--looked very uncomfortable to me but it worked for them. If it were me, I'd be inclined to wait and see if she self corrects.
Christine
