When this Grandma’s first daughter was born, it was quickly clear that the child was left handed. I am right handed. GG (great grandmother) said that I should force her to use her right hand, like she did with my brother who is left handed. I responded that my brother is still left handed and feels bad about it and I would not do that. I was lucky. A long (we never say old) friend was left handed and had a daughter who was a few weeks different in age than my daughter and the daughter was born right handed. We decided that we would teach the other’s daughter and we did. As teachers, we had an advantage and used it. Her daughter learned beautifully and so did mine. To this day, my left handed daughter has beautiful handwriting. Of course she does, the leftie was taught by a leftie.
A new study by Joshua Goodman, and economist at Harvard’s Kennedy School, shows that left handed children have more difficulties than right handed children. According to Peter Orzag, who wrote, “Left-handed People Really are Different, Not Necessarily Better, in the Miami Herald, December 4, 2014, about 12% of people around the world are left handed and you are more likely to be left handed if you are a male and your mother was left handed. He writes, “[l]efties’ brain structure and use appear to differ from righties. For example, the neutral fibers connecting the left and right sides of the brain (the corpus callosum) are larger in lefties. And lefties differ on how the brain responds to language.”
In his reporting of Joshua Goodman’s study, we learn the new results and disadvantages to being a leftie:
. . .lefties on an average score lower on cognitive tests than righties, even after taking into account factors suxh as their health as infants and family background . . .lefties earn about 10 to 12 percent less than righties, which is about equal to the earnings gain from an extra year of schooling. . . .Lefties have more emotional and behavioral problems, have more learning disabilities such as dyslexia, complete less schooling, and work in occupations requiring less cognitive skill.
These findings are different than what we previously had thought, especially since of the seven presidents since Gerald Ford, at least four have been lefties. Mr. Orzag questions the study, but still sets forth that the study says being a leftie is a disadvantage. . . “.if the leftie is born to right handed mothers. Lefties born to left-handed mothers have outcomes similar to righties. . . Right handed children of left-handed mothers experience adverse effects that are similar to left-handed children of right handed mothers.”
So. It does matter if a grandchild is left handed and their mother is right handed or if the grandchild is right handed and their mother is left handed. Mr. Orzag even mentions that “it’s possible that learning to mimic one’s mother in early learning is more challenging when handedness differs between mother and child.”
I did not know about such studies as a new mother. I was trying to give my child the best advantage I could. Anyone can copy what this Grandma did. If a grandchild is left handed and their mother is right handed or if the grandchild is right handed and their mother is left handed, share this blog post with the mother of the grandchild. Among the “Mommy and Me” group, the parent can match up with another parent as I did.
If the parent of the grandchild is a working parent and has little time, offer to find an early learning teacher to spend two thirty minute sessions a week with the grandchild, a leftie teacher for a leftie child, a rightie teacher for a rightie child. This Grandma speaks often of enrichment and use of tutors in any aspect of a grandchild’s life. I found fabulous tutors, who were certified early learning teachers, for our grandchildren for enrichment, and to learn a foreign language on Care in two different cities.
Recently, this grandma learned the great advantage of occupational therapists for toddlers and preschoolers, which might be something to look at when a grandchild is left handed and their mother is right handed or if the grandchild is right handed and their mother is left handed.
On the website – kids health , we learn the difference between physical therapy, which we are more familiar with, and occupational therapy, and what occupational therapy might accomplish if a grandchild is left handed and their mother is right handed or if the grandchild is right handed and their mother is left handed:
Although both physical and occupational therapy help improve kids’ quality of life, there are differences. Physical therapy (PT) deals with pain, strength, joint range of motion, endurance, and gross motor functioning, whereas OT deals more with fine motor skills, visual-perceptual skills, cognitive skills, and sensory-processing deficits.
Occupational therapists might: help kids work on fine motor skills so they can grasp and release toys and develop good handwriting skills address hand-eye coordination to improve kids’ play and school skills (hitting a target, batting a ball, copying from a blackboard, etc.) help kids with severe developmental delays learn basic tasks (such as bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and feeding themselves) help kids with behavioral disorders maintain positive behaviors in all environments (e.g., instead of hitting others or acting out, using positive ways to deal with anger, such as writing about feelings or participating in a physical activity) teach kids with physical disabilities the coordination skills needed to feed themselves, use a computer, or increase the speed and legibility of their handwriting evaluate a child’s need for specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs, splints, bathing equipment, dressing devices, or communication aids work with kids who have sensory and attentional issues to improve focus and social skills.
We grandmas want our grandchildren to have all the benefits now available to them. Studies increasingly educate us as to issues we might never have thought of on our own. Knowledge is power and if we can help a grandchild who is left handed and their mother is right handed or the grandchild who is right handed and their mother is left handed, by finding ways to make things better for the grandchild, we bring more
Joy,
Mema
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