TIPS & TRICKS FOR LEFT-HANDED LEARNERS
Just about 10% of the world's population is left-handed. As your child gets closer to school age, you may find yourself wondering if left-handed children need different teaching techniques and strategies to help them build and strengthen certain pre-writing skills.
Teaching a left handed child can come with it's set of challenges, especially if the parent of the child is right-handed. It's important to remember that teaching a child to write using their left hand is not just the opposite from teaching them how to write right handed. It's important to teach left handed children to write correctly or the child may develop uncomfortable, slow or messy ways of writing for the rest of their life.
Some tips to help your child who is left handed are to never force a left-handed child to use their right hand, teach the child to grasp the pencil about an inch and a half above the tip to avoid the “lefty hook”, tilt the paper to the right, have them write large letters first to help them learn not to hold the pencil to tight and lastly to create a stress free environment.
Are you looking for play-based activities for your left-handed learner to practice handwriting in a stress free way? Busy Little Learners follows a play-based & multi-sensory approach to teaching & learning. As part of the program, you will receive a multisensory kit that contains age appropriate activities and materials to teach and develop hand skills, build hand strength, as well as the motor planning for proper letter and number formation. Play plans are also provided and include visual icons to show your child how to use the tools as well as complete the activity. The best part, only 20 minutes of play a day is all you need to get your child on the road to success.
Your child will create, investigate and explore through the use of bright colors, silly scents & fun textures for a healthy, SCREEN FREE sensory lifestyle and success in learning and beyond.
PLAY IS THE WAY
References:
Gilkerson, T. (2020). 5 Tips to Help Your Left-Handed Child with Handwriting. Retrieved from https://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/left-handed-child/
Teaching left handed kids to write: Grasp, stages, positioning. (2013). Retrieved from https://teachmama.com/teaching-left-handed-kids-write-grasp-stages-positioning/