Where are resources for helping a truely ambidextrous child learn to write?

Question

I have a teenage student with autism and who is ambidextrous. I am working with him on his fine motor skills. My question is ….are there any resources out there for teaching students who have no left/right handed dominance to write? I want to know if I should make him pick a writing hand and stick with it. If I let him switch hands as often as he wants to, I'm uncertain that the writing practice is actually getting stuck in his motor memory. Thanks.

Answer 1

My husband became ambidextrous after a head injury. I am not truly ambidextrous and I demonstrate a condition of being right-handed when writing and left-handed in other activities.

I am the sibling of an autistic child, with some quirky characteristics akin to autism. It runs in the DNA I guess.

For my husband, the neurologist and physical therapists simply chose a hand to teach--his right. But that was for ease of teaching motor memory and they're used to teaching right-handed people. (Ironically some of my husband's therapists also worked with my brother--similar exercises).

If he's getting the practice of writing down and understands the concept, I wouldn't try to emphasize one over the other. He might change hands to find out what's more comfortable--or that may be a self-stimulation activity--which can be really tough to retrain. Ask his teachers too.

Also the world favors righties in notebooks, desk design and seating arrangements, etc. if that factors into the decision.