How To Confirm Left or Right Handedness in Kids

By Mahak Arora - Updated: October 31, 2018

In this Article

Is Your 3-Year-Old Right or Left Handed?

How to tell if your child is left-handed? There are certain symptoms that you’ll notice in your little one from early childhood. Look out for these signs and confirm if she is another left-handed Picasso in the making.

Moms, do you know that you cannot teach your little one to be right handed or left handed? In fact, training handedness is highly discouraged as it’s against the natural brain development of kids. ‘Handedness’ comes automatically to children, and left-handedness in a 3-year-old is a very common occurrence.

Is Your 3-Year-Old Right or Left Handed?

1. She Chooses her Left Hand to be the Dominant Hand

Encourage hand development in your little one by occupying her with various hand specific activities such as play dough, crayon painting, playing with balls, etc. Just keep these objects in front and observe her natural hand preference. Even though she is three, but still uses her left hand, don’t try to change her.

2. You’re Left Handed too

Hand dominance in children has a lot to do with genetics. If you or your hubby are left-handed, chances are pretty high that your kiddo will be a lefty too. Did you know that the brain of lefties has ‘mixed dominance’? This enables them to perform different activities using both their hands. In fact, left-handers have enhanced visual skills too. So, if there’s anyone in your immediate family who is a lefty, look out for signs of “mixed” handedness in your child too.

3. Hand-Swapping

Have you ever noticed your little one changing her hands often? Children might start an activity with one hand and then swap after some time. If this is the case with your preschooler, try to find which hand she usually starts with. You must help your child build up the endurance in her preferred hands by developing her fine motor skills effectively.

4. Midline Crossing Activities

Many times, your little one would tend to pick what is placed to her left with her left hand, and use her right hand to pick what’s placed to her right. If this is the case with your child, try placing objects like crayons, spoons, etc. near her belly button(midline). If she is repeatedly using her left hand to pick them up, then she is mostly likely to be a lefty.

5. Other Signs of Right or left-Handedness in Children

Give your little one a spoon to eat with or a pencil to write with. Observe which hand she is using for eating or writing. If it’s the left hand all the time, then it’s confirmed that she is left handed. Also, ‘handedness’ in a child can be determined by observing her leg activities. Does she prefer kicking with her left leg more? Or, does she feel more secure standing on her left leg? These symptoms are sure-shot indicators of left-handedness.

While it’s okay for parents to be observant of their kid’s use of hands, it’s not right to influence their hand preference. By doing so, they would only confuse their kids further.

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