Writing: Tips for Parents and Teachers of Left-Handed Children
Tip #1 for Parents and Teachers of Left-Handed Children: Use a pencil with harder lead.
Many left-handed people smear what they write as a result of dragging their hand through their writing. Teaching the child to use a harder leaded pencil, like a #3 rather than a #2, can help prevent the smearing.
Tip #2 for Parents and Teachers of Left-Handed Children: Make sure the child's arm and hand are in the proper position.
The child should have their left arm slanted towards their right side, 45 degrees away from their body. Their hand should rest on their pinky finger, slightly rolled back, allowing the thumb to push against the fingers, on the opposite side of the pencil, comfortably. There should be an 'O' shaped space between fingers and thumb, this allows free movement and the tips of the finger to touch the pencil.
Tip #3 for Parents and Teachers of Left-Handed Children: Teach the children to point the eraser end of the pencil towards their left shoulder, with their elbow against their body, and their wrist straight.
This will help prevent the child from writing hook-handed, which will encourage bad posture.
Tip #4 for Parents and Teachers of Left-Handed Children: Tilt paper to the right.
This will allow the child to see what they are writing better, which will help to discourage hook-handed writing, as well as encourage neat penmanship.
Tip #5 for Parents and Teachers of Left-Handed Children: Place a strip of green tape on the left side of their paper and a strip of red tape on the right side of their paper.
The green tape will represent 'Go' and the red tape will represent 'Stop'. This will help the left-handed child to write from left to right, keeping them from writing backwards, like they usually do when mimicking their classmates away from the body movement when writing. You may also want to explicitly tell the left-handed child that they are to write towards their body rather than away, like their right-handed classmates.
If you follow these tips when teaching left-handed children how to write then you will help them to learn to write neatly, left to right, and without sacrificing their posture. All children should be taught to write in a flat backed and bottomed chair that allows their feet to be firmly planted on the ground, and their torso to stand up 90 degrees from their thighs. The child's desk should sit slightly higher than where their bent elbows fall naturally.
Published by Ainsley Patterson
Ainsley is a highly motivated individual, who never finds her hunger for knowledge satisfied. Ainsley enjoys researching and writing about a wide variety of topics. She especially enjoys, however, utilizing... View profile
Fictional Teachers in Movies: The Top TenThe celebrity teachers on the top ten movie teachers list aren't necessarily the ones you wanted for homeroom - these are the teachers that really stand out.- Travel Tips for Egypt TripsTravel tips from a former resident of Egypt that are not found in most travel books.
- Healthy Sunbathing Tips for All TannersNaturally bathing in the sun is safer than tanning beds; however, there are still risks associated with it. There are a number of sunbathing safety tips that natural tanners can use.
- Passport to Beauty - Beauty Tips from Around the WorldWe all love natural products. We love the way they smell and feel. Beauty products are no exception. Shalini Vadhera searched the world for natual beauty tips. In her new book PASSPORT TO BEAUTY she shares her fi...
Activity Tips for Keeping Kids Busy This SummerThe summer can drag on and on. Arm yourself with these tips for keeping your kids occupied. You'll look like the hero and your kids will thank you!
- How Parents Can Teach Their Children About African American Culture
- Tips on Saving Money While Grocery Shopping
- Tips for Balancing Finances and Marriage
- Household Cleaning Suggestions and Tips!
- Five Skincare Tips For Everyone
- Do Teachers Tell You that Your Child Has ADHD?
- Letter of the Day Master Word List A-Z For Teachers
- When teaching a left-handed child to write make sure that they use the correct posture.
- Teaching a left-handed child to write with a hard leaded pencil can help prevent smearing.
- Use red and green tape to teach the child to write left to right.
12 Comments
Post a CommentMy son is 3 and looking like he might be a lefty. It is kind of sad seeing him try to copy us with using pencils and forks. He hasn't quite mastered a fork by now, and he should have certainly at his age, but we noticed the righties in his library time group - same age - are not having trouble with eating with a fork, but he is. We think it is because he doesn't know which hand to use because he wants to use his left and is taking visual cues to use the right from us. We aren't trying to force him to be a rightie though. We just hold out a pencil or whatever and let him choose which hand he takes it with. Good tips since I need to start him learning and writing letters.
My daugthers 8, and in the top % of her class, yet her annoying teachers is always complaining about her handwritting. Honestly its not that bad (better than mines) but compared to other children its not up to par sometimes. Shes a lefty and i cant help her. Im going to print this article and send it to her annoying teacher, I mean give her a break!!
I'm left handed and my handwritin is terrible! But, then again, it's harder to make a forgery of . haha
My 9 year old daughter experienced alot of smudges too while writing and she often complained about it. So one day, I googled "left-handed smudges" and found this site called Smudgeguard.com. They sell 1/4 gloves to protect the underside of the hand from smudges and friction and thought it was a good idea. My daughter wanted to try the lavender SmudgeGuard glove and once she tried it, she loved it. We even got creative and ironed-on her initials onto it and she absolutely loves it because she has no more smudges. Their website also has alot of useful information for lefties as well. So you may want to check it out.
i wish i had this article about 20 years ago! I'm left handed and my writing is horrible! but i'll definitley keep it in mind in case any of my kids (when i have them) ends up being left handed! great article!
excellent information, i dont have this problem with my own children but when teaching i was always looking for ideas and tips to help me with my students.
Good idea. Also, good to hear writing words backwards is common. Since my daughter is a lefty with two right handed parents, we were starting to get worried. But we are getting better at writing with our left hand, too!
Good tips.
When I taught writing to first graders, I learned to write on the board with my left hand. They learned faster if they were lefties, but the right handed people had to shut their eyes when I did it. Today I can use either one for writing, it became a habit.
this is very interesting. I don't remember learning to write. But I was held back in 1st grade. Maybe it was because they didn't read this article.