Do left handed children tend to have trouble with fine motor skills?

Question

My son is left handed and he is more advanced in all acedemic areas and he draws freely very well, but when it comes to writing, cutting and tracing he has problems. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I AM LEFT HANDED AND I NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS MAYBE HE IS JUST CLUMSY. HE WILL PROBABLY GROW OUT OF IT.GOOD LUCK.

Answer 2

My son is left handed and has no issue with his fine motor skills, however when he writes a lot of his letters are made different than what you or I would write them because of the angle he holds the pencil. When it comes to cutting I have noticed more than once that he prefers his right hand for this as with other things which is common in lefties. My son's teacher told me when he was in kindergarten and was helping him to write that if you stand directly behind him and cover his hand with yours you can help them more than sitting at the side. As fdar as the tracing goes have him change the angle in which he lays the paper because if you notice I am sure his paper is always at a slant when he is writing and his arm up and over the paper.

Answer 3

Cutting is very difficult for left handers. Even though some scissors say they are right and left handed, they don't work very well for left handers. My daughter is left handed, as well as me, and we both have the same problem at cutting paper. I also remember not liking to write papers by hand because the ink always got smeared from my hand traveling behind my writing. It is more difficult for a left-handed person in this world. I just have to tell my daughter that we need to practice cutting more, and practice writing to where ink doesn't get on her hand. It also might help to have him think of a story, then tell it into a tape recorder, so when he goes to write it down, he can just listen to himself, so he doesn't forget anything.

Answer 4

The only problems "lefties" have is that things like scissors are made for right handed people for the most part. It is hard to find a pair of scissors for a left handed person. I was a "leftie" until I got into kindergarten. Our teacher didn't want to take the "extra time" and effort to aid those of us who were left handed so our little hands met with the edge of a metal ruller when we used our left hands. It's suprising how quickly one converts...I still do a few things with my left hand. When I play softball/baseball I catch with my left hand, I iron with my left hand and my left hand is equally adept at finding it's way around a keyboard without my looking as my right hand is.

Answer 5

You might take into account that he's never had anyone else left handed to help teach him to write. When I learned to write I had a left handed Teacher's Assistant so I didn't learn to write upside down or sideways or something like some lefties do. This could come into play with the cutting as well. Look into finding someone left handed to tutor him or help him with his writing. I think it might help.

Answer 6

I have a lefty too and the rest of my family are righties so I find it difficult to teach him things like tying his shoes. We tend to think right where he tends to think left. Anyway I just think all kids are different and I do agree that boys do take a little longer to get it. My son has always been really advance though in a lot of areas and he loves art.

Answer 7

No problem at all with fine motor skills. The writing problems are simply because we write left to right accross the page. If we wrote right to left then right handed people would have simmilar difficulties.

Answer 8

I have three boys and I think it takes boys a little long to "get" fine motor skills. I don't think it has anything to do with being right or left handed.

Answer 9

I don't think it has to do with him being left-handed.

He might look like he has a problem because this world is desingned for right-handed people. Writing is less convenient for left-handed people because we write from left to right. If you notice, all the pouring spouts, all the tool handles are designed to be held by the right hand. It is no wonder it is slightly more difficlut for him.

My boss is left-handed and he has better motor skills than any one of us. Our job in physics lab involves dealing very fine and fragile objects.

Answer 10

i am a montessori teacher for 3-6 year olds and we have a lot of materials in our practical life area that help with fine motor skills here are some ideas: ive seen these materials in toddler rooms too, just a larger version as their hands are not that strong... coffee grating, soap grating, tonging small wooden balls from one bowl to another, tweezing corn, pouring water- pitcher to pitcher, sponging water-one bowl to another bowl. (you can probably google montessori practical life materials to get an idea)

Answer 11

It has nothing to do with which hand he uses. Depending on the degree of difficulty he is having he may simply have a weakness in this area or suffer from disgraphia.