Why does a person become left-handed or right-handed? A left-handed child - what you need to know A left-handed child, a boy, developmental features

In most cases, which hand is the “leading” for the baby, it becomes clear by the age of three; before this moment, as a rule, first one or the other becomes the “main” hand. Some children reach the age of six. And about twenty percent of people grow up with the ability to use both hands equally well.

Previously, being left-handed was considered abnormal, and they tried to retrain children with this feature in every conceivable and inconceivable way. Therefore, it is not surprising that some mothers still begin to panic when they find out that their babies are different from others in this regard. In fact, there should be no reason to worry, because this property does not make the child worse than others. Perhaps both he and you will have a little more difficult time than other families. You will need to pay more attention to your child in certain aspects, and your child will need to learn to adapt to the world around him. After all, it is designed for right-handers, despite the fact that about a quarter of the world's population is left-handed. But in no case should this feature or your baby, who has it, be considered a deviation! Let's figure out what to do if your child is left-handed. Perhaps with this knowledge you can raise a real genius?

Why is the child left-handed?

Why is the child left-handed? We all know that the hemispheres of the human brain perform different tasks. So, for example, the right controls the left hand and eye, is responsible for imaginative thinking, a sense of rhythm, perception of intonation and music, orientation in space, feelings. The left is subject, respectively, to the right hand and eye, speech skills, reading, writing, mathematical calculations, analytical abilities, movements. One of the hemispheres is dominant. For right-handers - left. The left-handed hemispheres “agreed” with each other differently, and the right one became the main one. However, in words it’s all so simple. In fact, it may be that the child’s left hand is dominant, but the right eye is the main one. There is also such a term as hidden left-handedness. This means that a person usually uses his right hand, but prefers to do some things with his left. Or he can use both hands equally deftly.

The reasons for a child’s “left-handedness” can be different, for example:

• birth injury resulting in damage to the right hemisphere
• heredity (if there were left-handed people in your family, then it is likely that your baby is like that too)
• intrauterine effects of testosterone on the cerebral hemispheres
• imitation of left-handed relatives
• childhood injury to the right hand and inability to use it for some time

Features of the development of left-handed children

There are certain developmental features of left-handed children. Such children, as a rule, have excellent musical and/or artistic abilities, have excellent hearing, are emotional, love and can imagine, and often achieve great success in sports. Such a child thinks about mathematical calculations in a completely different way than right-handers, but often comes to the right result in this unexpected way. And in general, about a fifth of all known talents are left-handed. Therefore, parents should definitely think about having their child join one or another club or section, depending on what type of art or sport he is drawn to and what abilities he shows. But at the same time, left-handers often have disturbances in the development of oral and written speech, and problems with motor activity. Therefore, you will need to work with them a lot in order to eliminate certain shortcomings (for example, talk more often) or even take them to a specialist. Also, such children are often stubborn, capricious, restless and sensitive, so you will have to vigilantly monitor the microclimate within the family.

Is it necessary to retrain a child to be left-handed? In no case! Firstly, this way you can instill complexes in him. On the contrary, it should be explained that such a feature does not make him worse than others, and that using his left hand is not a deviation from the norm. Secondly, it is a huge stress for the child. And thirdly, since we are talking not just about the leading positions of one or another hand, but about brain activity, retraining can cause various failures and unpleasant consequences.

Try to start teaching your child as late as possible what he may initially fail at (for example, it is better to start learning reading, writing or foreign languages ​​directly at school age) and, on the contrary, engage with him in what he succeeds in (drawing , singing, etc.). And don’t forget to encourage his every achievement! Remember, this baby is especially sensitive, so you need to be especially careful when communicating with him. And if you see that a child is very worried about his characteristics, and you are unable to cope with this, be sure to show him to a child psychologist.

Left-handedness has always been and remains a mystery, unsolved and attracting a lot of attention. To this day, many people treat left-handedness as an anomaly, a developmental disorder, and not as an individual variant of the norm. Indeed, most of the world's population are right-handed, but this does not give the right to condemn or treat left-handed people with disdain. In addition to right-handed and left-handed people, there is a third type - ambidextrous (both-armed)- people who can use both their right and left hands equally.

Many mothers and fathers, at least once in their life, took a spoon or a pencil from their child’s left hand and transferred it to the right. And after the fifth time a day, anxiety appears: what if the child is left-handed? Even if so, is it worth worrying? Let's try to figure it out!

To begin with, there is no need to have a negative attitude towards left-handedness, much less focus on it. Some children already have a preference for the left or right hand from infancy, while others use both. Most children choose their dominant hand by the age of 3-4 years. There are those who grow up using both hands equally. But you shouldn’t take left-handedness as a death sentence, as you will only scare the baby. Show your child that he is the same as all children, otherwise you risk developing an inferiority complex in him. Left-handedness is not a whim, and not a bad habit of your child, but the result of a special structure of the brain; it is an innate feature of your baby, and it needs to be accepted, and not broken and retrained.

First of all, you need to find out whether the child is left-handed. The fact is that until the age of four, a child can use both hands equally. Try to observe from the side which hand the child uses more during the day. If he uses his left hand more, then the child is left-handed, but this does not mean that he is left-handed. There is such a thing as left-handedness - when a person’s entire left side of the body is more developed than the right.

Why is the child left-handed?

All our paired organs are characterized by asymmetry, one of them necessarily dominates, and the second, accordingly, is subordinate. Which hand is dominant, right or left, depends on three factors:

• heredity, think, perhaps among your close relatives there are left-handers ( genetic left-handedness) ;
• possible disorders received by the child during pregnancy or childbirth (for example, excess testosterone during pregnancy, complications during childbirth) - compensatory left-handedness;
• imitation of someone or the child’s own desire to use his left hand; it also happens that the child received an injury to his right hand, for some time he had to do everything with his left hand, and the baby got used to it. These phenomena are called pseudo-left-handedness.

Psychological characteristics of a left-handed child

Left-handers or left-handed people are also called right-hemisphere, since in humans the connection between the side of the body and the side responsible for its functioning is reversed; right-handers have a better developed left hemisphere, and left-handers have a better developed right hemisphere.

Each hemisphere of the brain has a special type of information processing:

• the right hemisphere - “figurative” - perceives information as a holistic image and processes it instantly;
• the left hemisphere—the “logical” hemisphere—processes the information received sequentially, going through all possible options.

Left-handed differences:

• have a more developed sense of organizing space, in connection with this they can become brilliant architects;
• more active and mobile;
• are successful in studying geometry, but there may be problems with arithmetic and counting, since it requires logical thinking;
• it is more difficult for left-handed people to master competent oral and written speech;
• they are more emotional, impressionable, touchy and vulnerable than right-handers;
• endowed with a rich imagination;
• have unconventional thinking and a creative approach to everything, which is why there are so many gifted children among left-handers.

In addition, left-handed or left-handed children are usually very emotional and artistically gifted children. As a rule, in childhood they are much better than other children at drawing, sculpting from clay and plasticine. Also, often such children have musical abilities, and absolute pitch is not uncommon. But at the same time, problems with speech are possible, in particular speech delay and difficulty pronouncing certain sounds.

A left-handed child is spontaneous, trusting, and easily influenced by momentary feelings and moods. Of course, before, left-handed children were considered incorrect, they were forcibly retrained. Nowadays, all psychologists emphasize that left-handedness is an individual variant of the norm. In addition, among right-handed children there are quite a lot of capricious and whiny children.

What to do if your child is left-handed

Parents of a left-handed child need to accept this feature as a given and not try to turn the child into a “right-hander.” When the child gets older, explain to him that there are a lot of left-handed people, and there is nothing strange about this, and never present his left-handedness as a disadvantage.

Why you can’t retrain a child to be left-handed

Under no circumstances should you retrain a left-handed child, especially on your own, without consulting a psychologist. All you can do is to unobtrusively invite your child to try using the right hand instead of the left, and if so, calmly respond to the refusal. Forced retraining can cause severe psychophysiological stress, which leads to various deviations in the child’s development, such as enuresis, stuttering, nervous tics, delayed speech development, and headaches. sleep and appetite disturbances, fatigue - and this is not the whole list.

How to raise a left-handed child

Do not focus your child’s attention on his features, do not associate his failures with being left-handed, and do not allow him to do this. If the child is already negative, tell him about positive stories about world-famous left-handers (Leonardo Da Vinci, Pablo Picasso. Ludwig van Beethoven, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, etc.). In addition, there are quite a lot of left-handed athletes, and this often becomes an advantage for the team.

Little left-handers require more attention and care from their parents, they are more vulnerable, so try to take care of yourself and those around you so that left-handedness does not cause you irritation and anger.

Left-handed children understand that they are different from others, and because of this, an inferiority complex may develop. Tell your child that he is the same as all children, no better and no worse, because he so wants to be the same as his peers. There is no need to highlight it too much. The family should not express regret about your child’s peculiarities. Don't tell him that being left-handed is bad, that he's unlucky, and never scold him for it. The mindset should only be for success: you can do it, you will succeed, you’re great! Ideally, it is generally better not to focus attention on his left-handedness.

How to determine if a child is left-handed

There are several tests to determine a child's dominant hand. These tests should be carried out no earlier than 4-5 years of age, since until the age of 5 a child can use both hands equally. Some of these exercises may indicate that your child is not just left-handed, he may be left-handed.

1. Napoleon pose. Ask your child to cross his arms over his chest. The hand that will be on top is the leading one. To be sure, let the child do this exercise several times.
2. Lock. Ask your child to interlock their fingers. Look at which hand's thumb is on top, if the left hand - the child is left-handed. Then ask to clasp your hands behind you, pay attention that the hand that holds the other is the main one.
3. Bounce. Ask the child to jump up, which leg he pushes off with, the leading one.
4. Give your child a mechanical watch and ask him to listen. Which ear he puts the watch to is all that matters.
5. Drawing. Give your child a piece of paper and a pencil. Ask them to draw something first with one hand, then with the other. Compare the pictures. Then compare the quality of the drawings. In addition, during the drawing process, you will notice which hand is more comfortable for him to hold the pencil.
6. Ask your child to sit with his legs crossed. The leading leg will be on top.

After the test, you need to sum up the extent to which the child is left-handed, or whether it is simply left-handedness. If during the test the child uses both hands equally, he may be ambidextrous; try the test again after a while. It is better to carry out the test with one child at a time in order to avoid “monkeying”, since children like to repeat after each other.

Left-handed people have always aroused genuine interest from others. There is an opinion that a person with such a “zest” is distinguished by special dexterity and skills (remember the character Leskov, who shoed a flea).

Another opinion, on the contrary, compares such a feature with a flaw that distinguishes left-handed people from “normal” people. This is exactly what some parents who are trying to remake little left-handers think.

Let’s say right away that left-handedness is not a deviation, so harsh measures are unjustified.

Almost all living beings, and humans in this case are no exception, are characterized by asymmetry. The brain is divided into two hemispheres, one of which takes the key function, and the other is subordinate.

Both hemispheres interact, however each has its own features and functionality:

• the left hemisphere is considered more rational. His sphere of “activity” is logic, analytics, abstraction. Information in it is processed sequentially, step by step. The left side of the brain is responsible for the right side of the body, receiving signals from the right eye, ear, upper and lower limbs;
• the right hemisphere is considered sensory. His area of ​​responsibility is imagination, emotional reactions, creative and imaginative thinking. Signals received from the left side of the body are processed as a whole, instantly creating a complete image. Our intuitive abilities also depend on the development of the right hemisphere.

The dominant hand, the organs of vision and hearing begin to be determined around the age of five. If a child gives preference to the left hand, it means that the right hemisphere of the brain predominates.

Until the age of five, one can only talk about a preference for one hand, but not about the dominance of a certain hemisphere. Typically, children under 5 years old change hands during activities such as eating with a spoon, cutting with scissors, or throwing a ball.

Determining your preferred hand is just one small step in studying functional asymmetries of the brain. The concept of left-handedness is much broader than left-handedness.

However, there are several things to consider important advice, the implementation of which will allow optimizing process of teaching writing skills:

1. Parents should properly organize their workplace. It is necessary to monitor the angle of inclination of the copybook, the position of the shoulders, and the correct holding of writing instruments.
2. The lamp must be installed so that the light falls from the right side.
3. You cannot require a left-handed child to write letters in a right-handed manner. The best option is to display text vertically.
4. Also, children should not be required to write continuously. Let your child choose the best way to write.
5. If possible, you should purchase not only a copybook, but also writing instruments that are designed specifically for left-handed children.

Well, it is best to entrust the process of teaching writing to a specialist - a primary school teacher. He has the necessary skills and knows how to properly organize the work environment.

How can a child know that he is achieving certain successes in the learning process? His parents should help him with this. It is necessary to compare your child only with himself. And if you still need to compare the results, then compare with his own successes.

If a left-handed child is growing up in your family, there is no need to despair. The possible difficulties described above should not be exaggerated.

The parents’ task is to encourage the little left-hander in every possible way and come to his aid. And, of course, you should not listen to the advice of “well-wishers” who recommend retraining a left-handed child. Love him the way he was born!

What difficulties does a left-handed child face? What to do if your child is left-handed? How is he adapting to school? Why do conflicts arise with others? How to make it easier for a left-handed child to learn? I will try to answer these and other questions as fully as possible in this article.

The phenomenon of left-handedness is considered unusual and it is because of it that the largest number of problems arise. It is only important to understand what difficulties your child has. What are they associated with and how to work with them? Left-handed people have extraordinary properties that need to be taken into account when working with them.

First, take a closer look at your child. Today he goes to kindergarten, does some things well, but does not succeed in others, no matter how hard he tries. Maybe your child can easily hum Tchaikovsky’s melody, or maybe he can’t form a word from the syllables. The girl next door counts within a hundred, but yours cannot subtract one from three, no matter how much you fight with him. The house begins to smell like valerian.

How to determine if your child is left-handed or right-handed

This question can only be answered when the child turns 7 years old, since before this age the child is still developing and one should not interfere with his nature. Before this, just observe which hand he prefers to perform certain actions.

So, if your child is 7 years old, ask him to do the following actions and note which hand he does it with. An important condition when conducting the study is the child’s well-being, when he is not overworked, stressed or overtired.

1. brushing his teeth;
2. combs hair;
3. makes a pyramid of cubes;
4. cuts with scissors;
5. uses a hammer;
6. stirs sugar in tea;
7. holds a spoon;
8. draws;
9. distributes cards;
10. holds a racket when playing badminton;
11. uses an eraser;
12. throws the ball;
13. builds a tower from cubes.

Carry out this observation 5-6 times during the day. Only after this, calculate the result using the formula:

(R - L) x 100
(P + L)

Where P is the sum of actions performed by the right hand;
L - the sum of actions performed by the left hand

If the result is less than -10, then he is left-handed, if more than +10, then he is right-handed, and if from -10 to +10, then the child is ambilateral.

There are also other ways:

• applause - whichever hand is on top is the leading one;
• Napoleon's pose - whichever hand is on top is the leading one;
• hands in a lock - the thumb of the leading hand is on top;
• measuring the hand strength of each hand using a strength meter - the leading hand is stronger;
• speed of execution of identical tasks - the leading hand is faster.

Is it necessary to retrain a left-handed child?

There is no need to retrain. The main rule is don’t force your child to do something he doesn’t like. The main thing is to understand what is holding the child back and how to help him. All people are different and mastering skills, reading, writing, etc., goes differently for everyone. Of course, it’s great that now close attention is being given to gifted children, but what about the rest, especially those who are not doing well?

Often the child is left alone with his non-childish problems, because... parents, and sometimes specialists, also don’t know how to help him. Hence the bickering towards the child: “Stupid!”, “You can’t do anything,” or parents simply try not to notice these signs, giving up. This is where the child’s problems begin in relationships, behavior, and studies.

For example, a grandmother brought a child with complaints about behavior and poor performance at school, with the words “He’s distracted all the time,” “He doesn’t hear anything.” The child stuttered twice, at 2 and 4 years old. When he began to draw with his right hand, the paper tore from the strong pressure of the pencil, and a slight stutter appeared in his speech. When the child took the pencil left hand speech has become much calmer, lines are smoother. The grandmother, seeing the situation, admitted that the child began to be retrained from early childhood, even from a spoon.

Interference with natural data was not long in coming. It is not a child’s whim to choose one hand or another, it is a given, it is a reflection of the brain organization of a person’s mental activity. In this example, the right hand failed to develop, and the left was inhibited, which affected speech.

Conclusion. Children with left-handedness require constant monitoring by specialists - psychologists, neuropsychologists, defectologists and the participation of parents. Issues of left-handedness and right-handedness are resolved in children at a later age, by about 7 years. And at an earlier age, better for the child Give pencils to both the right and left hands.

With appropriate formative activities for left-handers, they not only catch up with their peers, but thanks to their characteristics, they can succeed in solving problems, offering the most interesting solutions. After all, there are many brilliant personalities among left-handers: mathematicians, artists, athletes and others.

The main distinguishing feature of left-handers is intuition and ingenuity. Unfortunately, without the help of parents and specialists, the development of an outstanding personality is not always possible, and we see a picture of school maladjustment.

With these examples, I have attempted to show that close attention should be paid to children with left-handedness, but this requires directed training. The following information will provide you with practical benefits for supporting and accompanying a left-handed child.

Features of teaching a left-handed child

1. So, a left-handed child, every time, in order to use the world of right-handed people, he has to invent his own unique way. To relieve the child's nervous system, We bring skills to automation.

It follows from this: raising, left-handed master as many skills as possible with it that he needs in everyday life and bring them to automaticity. Don’t wait for the child to learn how to use a spoon, scissors, pencil, but with him repeat the necessary movements to master this or that tool. First, try it yourself so that your actions are synchronized.

If we talk about writing numbers, letters and drawing, then start by tracing along the contours or drawing through carbon paper, drawing for left-handed people using a model is too difficult.
The main task is to ensure that the child’s body remembers this or that operation; accordingly, it should not be overloaded with additional movements or poses. For example, if a child is drawing, then the back and shoulders are relaxed.

In order for a child to be able to multiply well, it is better to first master the addition table, this will save time and effort, both yours and his.

If you explain to a child the names of herbs, fruits, vegetables, trees, then it is better to let him taste it, if it is edible, or feel it with his hands, so that the child develops sensory sensations and the difference between objects.

The mental activity of left-handers in perceiving the world, in contrast to right-handers, is striking in its non-triviality and is far from generally accepted. So, for example, showing a child pictures of stationery and plants, the child classifies them and says that the ruler fits the blade of grass, since they are both straight. When asked, the follow-up question is “Look carefully.” The left-handed child replies: “I understand that the ruler fits the pencil case and pen, but it’s also more interesting.”

Think about how much we right-handed people do automatically. If a child does not have this gift, then it is you, the parents, who can help him with this. Any operation that is not brought to automation requires a large amount of energy. Therefore, at the end, one should once again emphasize the need for careful monitoring of a left-handed child, the appearance of somatic signs such as tics, enuresis, allergies, etc. If a right-handed child requires attention, then a left-handed child requires three times more attention.

2. If the action of a left-handed child is associated with a certain dynamics and process, then it is extremely difficult for children to complete such work due to the rapid switching from one process to another. Outwardly, this manifests itself in “stuckness” when starting to carry out any activity. This is easy to observe in the speech utterances of a left-handed child; it may be slow, poor, incorrectly constructed sentences (in this case, the child understands that he is making mistakes and speaking incorrectly). It may seem that the child’s inner speech is much richer than the spoken one.

Left-handed children have a high level of conceptual thinking. This is significantly noticeable at the peer level, when a child, unlike others, copes with solving complex problems. The main thing: do not rush the child!

Also, left-handed children have poor control of their body; they often complain that their arms or legs are in the way, especially if both arms or legs are involved and the movements are not synchronized. With age, such children learn to copy the movements of other people and learn them by heart. The main thing: don’t rush!

If he cannot do several things at once, for example, listen to you and write.

Try to give such children during morning exercises exercises that involve both arms and both legs. This could be swimming movements, drawing a Christmas tree with both hands, etc. Practice each movement with it separately, and only then increase the speed.

Also useful for children include breathing exercises. For example: inhale-exhale-inhale-exhale, with a gradual increase in breath holding from 2 to 7 seconds. Don't forget about belly breathing.

Include oculomotor gymnastics in your exercises.

One of the exercises could be an inverted figure eight. The figure eight can be drawn on a large sheet of paper, or imagined. The eyes begin to move from the middle, heading up and to the left, this is a prerequisite for its implementation, then up and to the right, after completing the right circle, continue to move your eyes from the beginning. So, 3 times.

Once the exercises are solidified, add the tongue. The result should be that the eyes and tongue move in the same direction and at the same time, watching the tip of the pen.
Drawing symmetrical objects is useful first with one hand, then with the other, and then with both.

Exercise “Find an object”. An object is given to a child with his eyes closed. He feels it, then this object hides among others. The child's task is to find this object. You can also use numbers and letters.

Hopscotch games, ball games, swimming pool, skating, skiing, macrame, modeling, puzzles and many other interesting activities will help your child explore space more easily.

Speaking tongue twisters and memorizing them, reading poetry in front of a mirror, child listening to his speech– all this contributes to its successful development.

Tell your child in as much detail as possible what you are doing. For example: in order to prepare cabbage soup, I take 5 potatoes from a bag, an onion from a box..., then wash it, etc.
And a little more about space.

Left-handed children, as mentioned above difficult to navigate in space. Where there is right and left is constant confusion. What can we say about letters? Let’s take the letter “C”, “Who cares,” says the child. In my work, to avoid confusion among children, I use a gnome named CHUZYA. After all, these are the letters that are written to the left. Children easily remember the name of the gnome and remember these letters.

In a word, put markers. Children begin to learn about the world, first of all, from their own bodies. Put a watch, bracelet, or tie a string on your left hand and use it while working. We read starting from the edge where your watch is, from the same edge we begin to write, etc.
But besides left and right there is also up and down. The top is where the head is, and the heels are at the bottom. The number "9" is on the tail, and the number "6" is on the head.

Don't try to explain to a left-handed person using space, objects in the room, etc. They need to touch everything, try it. Starting to study numbers and letters, mold them from plasticine, create them from sand, wire, string.

Volume representations: more-less, wider-narrower also let the child feel with the help of objects (compare a cucumber with a zucchini).

Here are the concepts: “back-to-front”, “over-under”, “in-to” Discuss with your child about pieces of furniture. For example, what happens if you move a chair behind the sofa, where you need to be in order to get to the center of the room. And say everything out loud every time. Expand your ideas from a room to cities, countries, planets. It all depends on your creativity. Experiment!

Move in the same direction, explaining to the child closer, further, met, separated, etc.

Drawing set the activity algorithm as it will be easier. First the outline of the house, the roof, then the window, the pipe, and then additional objects.

In this picture, I tried to depict a schematic drawing algorithm that can help left-handed children when there are many fragments in the picture.

At the end of the practical work, I will give a remark that is worth writing separately. Left-handers have a clear pseudo-ignorance of the space on the left. Therefore, when playing with a ball, tennis, try use the left area as much as possible. But in the school board should be as far to the right of the child as possible.

Left-handers are eternal children who are distinguished by ingenuity and creativity, despite all difficulties. Among them there are many famous and great people such as: Leo Tolstoy, Peter I, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Joan of Arc, I.P. Pavlov, many world tennis champions, former US President B. Clinton. There is a myth that Vladimir Putin is left-handed, as he wears a watch on his left hand, but his relatives claim that it is simply more convenient for him.

How to teach a left-handed child to write

In order for a left-handed child to write correctly and beautifully, there are several rules in organizing the workspace:

1. the lamp is to his right;
2. the leaf is rotated approximately 20° to the right and the body is shifted from the center to the left;
3. the right hand holds the piece of paper and turns it if necessary;
4. the child’s left hand holds the pen about 4 cm above its tip;
5. the handle is, as it were, an extension of the hand, that is, it forms one line;
6. the hand is under the line of writing (special attention should be paid to this, because if not taught, a left-handed person seems to look under the hand when writing);
7. It is better to trace letters and connections using dots first;
8. Each time you discuss in detail with your child the algorithm for writing a letter or connecting it.

Have you ever wondered why in the subway the slots for tokens and cards are always on the right side of the turnstile? A lot of things are “sharpened” for right-handed people - from scissors to computer mice, from copybooks in notebooks to machine tools in factories. Some companies, however, produce special products for left-handed people (mainly stationery, work tools and household appliances). But there are still few such exceptions. The older our beloved left-handed child gets, the more things he has to adapt to in a right-handed world. IN kindergarten the question is not yet so pressing. But problems arise at school - both those foreseen by the parents and those completely unexpected for them. After all, the developmental features of left-handed children are not always taken into account. What are they?

There are things that are initially more difficult for left-handed people than their right-handed peers.

* Many left-handed children develop phonemic awareness (the ability to distinguish different sounds) and the ability to articulate more slowly. Therefore, they can speak later than their peers, but in rather long and complex phrases. Relatives can only be amazed at their “adult” speech. As one mother said, her daughter was silent almost until she was two years old. An unpleasant diagnosis “loomed” on the horizon - “delay speech development" And suddenly, going out into the street in the morning, the girl made a hilariously disgusted face and said: “Ugh, how wet it is here!” After this, the parents only had the opposite problems - sometimes it was impossible to calm down the “talking” child.

* Difficult relationships for a left-handed person they add up to space and time. Even at primary school age, he may sometimes doubt which hand is his right and which his left. Left-handed children often experience disturbances or insufficiency in the development of spatial perception at the visual level, visual memory, and motor coordination. For example, a left-handed child has great difficulty remembering directions in unfamiliar places.

* Sometimes it is difficult for a left-handed child to determine the time using a clock with arrows. He confuses the hour and minute hands, perceives them as a mirror image or displaced.

* Sometimes such children are delayed in the development of such an important skill as the formation of rows of words, signs, images, objects. It is difficult for them to remember the relative position of something in space, it is difficult for them to assemble a mosaic or lay out a pattern in a certain direction. It would seem that such features can prevent a left-handed child from navigating and acting successfully in the world around him. But nature is fair in its own way. And she more than compensates for all these difficulties! After all, it has long been proven that left-handed people are amazing people. Every time a left-handed person invents, or even in an unimaginable (for those around him) way, highlights his own way of building and taking over the world of right-handed people... All left-handed children, without exception, are able to colossally, almost magically control the course of their mental activity. Often they achieve the desired results in a seemingly “indirect” way, sometimes finding absolutely unthinkable accessible and inaccessible means. A little four-year-old left-handed child easily retells entire pages from the book he has “read”, and then it turns out that not a single letter is known to him. So who taught him this way of reading? Who taught a six-year-old child to solve numerical problems of considerable difficulty, despite the fact that he changed and altered the spelling of numbers that were similar to each other? Did you subtract the top one from the bottom row, and denote the word “task” itself as “chdz”, that is, using the mirror method, skipping all the vowels? Every intelligent adult has understood for many centuries that time is a clock hanging on the wall. And here eternal child, like all geniuses, A. Einstein suddenly saw this as an absolutely incorrect formulation of the question. We all know the result. Although, most likely, he sometimes used the watch for its intended purpose.

Yes, it is more difficult for a left-handed person to build verbal sequences and remember unrelated things and concepts than for a right-handed peer. But if he can somehow “mark” them in his mind, find logical connections and associations, then he remembers them easily and in large quantities. And what a non-standard view of the world a left-hander has, what an ability to find logical and figurative connections, what a desire for something new and original... According to recent studies, left-handed university graduates earn 13-21% more than their right-handed colleagues. In addition, as researchers suggest, there are a lot of left-handed people among various types arts For example, among artists, musicians, and also some categories of athletes. In certain sports, left-handers are literally “worth their weight in gold.” For example, in tennis, fencing, boxing, and most martial arts, they are considered the most dangerous and “unpredictable” opponents. No wonder 40% of world boxing champions are left-handed.

“Left-handed” at school and at home.

In elementary school, left-handed children often encounter difficulties. Don't be scared! This applies not only to your child, but to most lefties in general. Usually, by the fourth grade, the differences are smoothed out, and the left-handed child normally “merges” into the educational process. But he needs help with this.

When raising and training a left-handed person, you must always remember about his increased emotionality and vulnerability. The left-handed child is extremely sensitive to external evaluation. He needs acceptance, approval, respect, and sympathy even more than an ordinary child. Don’t be lazy to praise him for a job well done! The task of parents is to develop in him optimism, self-confidence, and an active attitude towards life. Mental processes take a lot of energy from left-handed people. The consequence is rapid fatigue and exhaustion of the nervous system. Therefore, carefully ensure that the student maintains a constant daily routine and does not overwork.

Left-handers are slower than their right-handed peers to develop simple skills that allow us to perform some familiar actions automatically, without thinking. It is more difficult to force a left-handed child to do something according to the rules, according to an established pattern. For example, brushing your teeth at night, changing clothes after coming from the street, etc. How to proceed here?

There is no need to be angry and nervous. But you shouldn’t expect that the child himself will learn (just by looking at you) to sew with a needle, use scissors, tie shoelaces, make the bed, draw, write letters. It is difficult for a left-handed person to learn any skills “closely.” He cannot, looking at you, understand how this is done. He needs his movements, the relative position of his hands, fingers, and head to be “remembered” by his entire body. It is better to take his hands in yours and perform the desired action with him several times. If you can’t remember a letter or number, don’t just try to copy it by looking at the sample, but trace it several times using a stencil or a carbon copy. And then he will admire the neat, beautiful drawing.

Parent, get ready!

School difficulties most often relate to learning to write and count. The fact is that the basis for primary skills here is visual perception. And, as we remember, it “limps” in left-handed people.

1. “Which direction is the ponytail?” The child confuses letters and numbers that are similar in spelling (for example, “d” and “b”: one has a “tail” on top, and the other on the bottom), adds extra elements or, conversely, does not complete elements of letters and numbers. “Mirror” spelling of letters, numbers and graphic elements occurs in 85% of left-handed first-graders. Don't worry, though: most right-handed children between the ages of three and seven also sometimes write some letters in reverse. This is a normal stage of mastering writing. “Normally,” according to the observations of psychologists, such errors completely disappear after 10 years.

How to help. Left-handed people think in emotions and solid images. To remember something, he needs a figurative “binding”, an association. A classic example: “d” has a tail down, like a woodpecker, and “b” has a tail up, like a squirrel.”

2. Letter order. Sometimes (especially in a hurry) a left-handed person may swap or skip letters in a word. From a “cow”, at best, he gets a “carpet”... Some left-handers have very persistent dysgraphic errors. Children get confused in the order of letters and forget to leave gaps between words. This is all due to the same undeveloped ability to form rows, distinguish sounds and their sequence.

How to help. Often lay out patterns of various elements or mosaics with your preschooler. Place the elements strictly from left to right. First, fold the top row, and then, as it were, “move” to the line below. Do “visual dictations” with your child. To do this, you can use two identical sets geometric shapes- squares, triangles, diamonds and circles cut out of multi-colored cardboard. A row is laid out from one set. The child examines it and lists it out loud several times from left to right, remembering the sequence: “Blue square, red triangle, yellow circle,” etc. The pattern is closed, and the child reproduces it from memory, laying out figures from the second set. Then you should check the correctness of execution and “reward” a small prize for a good result. Such training begins with very short rows of 3-4 figures, and then their length increases. It would be useful to invite a left-handed child to compose a story based on a series of plot pictures, again, observing the direction from left to right. You can use children's comics for this if the pictures are arranged in that order. Good results provides early learning to read. If a child reads a lot, he simply visually remembers “ appearance» words.

3. This terrible handwriting. Are large, stretched out, uneven letters leaning in different directions? Writes slowly and ugly? But there’s nothing you can do about it – it’s not due to inattention or lack of effort. A left-handed person sometimes puts more effort into penmanship than his right-handed peer, and the result is worse. For some left-handers, their handwriting improves by the time they reach high school, and for some, it remains that way for the rest of their lives.

How to help. It’s worth talking to the teacher and explaining that the cause of problems with penmanship is the child’s left-handedness, and not his inattention and laziness. It is necessary to relieve psychological pressure at school so that your child does not feel “behind” or “worse” than other students because of poor handwriting. Indeed, in the era of computerization, the skills of speed typing and searching for the necessary information on the Internet become much more important.

Note to the teacher.

When a left-handed child works at a table, the light source should be on the right side. When seating children in the classroom, it is better for the teacher to seat the left-handed person so that the board is to his right. The position at the desk is standard, but the left shoulder, not the right, should protrude slightly forward. The notebook or sheet of paper should be laid so that the upper right corner is tilted to the right, and the upper left corner is located opposite the chest. If a left-handed person sits at a desk with a right-handed child, it is better to sit him on the left, and the right-handed child on the right, so that they do not interfere with each other by colliding with their elbows.