What would be the effect if you forced a child to be left-handed (e.g., mental and learning abilities)?

Question

I have a little brother, he is now 13 years old. When he was 3 years old (starting to write) my other brother (who is a left-handed) forced him to be left-handed.
Today, I observed that when he writes or copy something from the board, either he misspells it or the sentence is incomplete.

Answer 1

Jesus is on Gods right hand for a reason.

right and left mean something. I don't really know for sure of what

But I stay to the right, just to be safe, I won't side with the left.

Answer 2

Now that's unusual, normally it's the other way around. When you force a person to use their non-dominant hand it probably has an effect on co-ordination as well as brain processes. People who are right-handed generally tend to use the left side of their brain more, the analytical/logical side. Left-handed people tend to use both hemispheres of the brain according to some research, though the popular (apparently incorrect) notion is that lefties tend to use their right side of the brain (intuitive/creative side) more.

When someone uses their non-dominant hand, it is probably like getting a person to use their second language (assuming they have one) to learn everything. They have to first translate the way they do everything right-handed into a left-handed way, meaning in the process it slows them down or causes confusion and when someone uses something that isn't their strength they will have less confidence in it.

I know that when I begin to try using my right hand more (I'm a lefty) I tend to stutter a bit and have more confusion about doing things or it takes that extra bit longer to do things. Your brother probably has developed a lack of confidence, or has been hampered by being forced to use their second-string hand and it may have had some consequences with the way their brain functions.

I don't recommend anyone changing their hand for any other reason than that they have to e.g. through losing a hand or breaking a hand, etc. It is stressful, causes difficulty and it is as if they had their main hand cut off and they're trying to cope by using secondary means, which they were not made to do best.

Answer 3

No studies have been done on this particular issue, however, speaking of experience with my nephew who was born a lefty (his father forced him into writing right handed) there are no adverse effects. A benefit may be that your little brother might become ambidextrous if he begins to use his right hand now. Ü

I was born a righty and thought my left handed friends were 'kewl' so I began practicing with my left. As a result, I can now write with my left hand, backwards and upside down. (Oh the strange things we practice at when we are kids!)

Don't worry about which hand he writes with. But if he is experiencing some problems copying from the board, then you might have a bigger problem on your hands. He needs to have his visual-spatial motor coordination checked out.

Also, he could just be using his own special version of short hand, it's not always necessary to write EVERYthing on a board to understand the concept ;->

And the world is full of bad spellers - that's what spell check is for :D

Answer 4

It used to be thought that forcing a lefty to be a righty was the best thing for the child. Educators noticed that these children would sometimes use their left anyway because it's the way that their brains did things NATURALLY. Also it is now believed that those children may have been limited to what they could have done musically, artistically, and even athletically.

Answer 5

People are usually taught by their parents to be left or right handed. However, some naturally go toward one or the other...usually right since most people are right handed.

But, people that are left handed naturally tend to be more artisic.

There is nothing wrong, in particular, with forcing him to be left handed other than frustrating him.

Answer 6

I do not think him spelling a word wrong has anything to do with what hand he writes with..I write with both and it don't matter which hand I use to use I would spell words wrong growing up..maybe go over the words he is getting wrong...try to see if he ever wanted to use his right hand.

Answer 7

it would be centered think about it if they are naturaly left minded and youf orce them to use there left hand more often they learn to use the right side of there brain becoming more balanced

Answer 8

Their is no mental or learning disabilities involved at least for me. The only thing is dreadfully sloppy handwriting! It's the lefthanders curse!

Answer 9

We were all born right handed. Some of us were intelligent enough to overcome our misfortunes