dealing with difference
left of centre Left-handed children face a world that is wired to be right-handed. LUCILLE KEMP offers
a
some points to help them develop soundly.
s a left-hander growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, I don’t remember much fuss being made about my “difference”. I do remember some teachers would place me on the left-hand side of a desk pairing so I wouldn’t bump elbows with my right-handed classmates. I also remember it hurt when I tried to use their scissors. I mostly remember how Nicholas Waring, a fellow lefty in my primary school years, used to write like a “weirdo”. Imagine Nicholas, being told to “face the front”, with his wrist curved over and around his words in order to stay a precious few centimetres ahead of the sentence so as not to smudge the ink and to have a clear view of what he was writing. If he was left to his own devices he would sit with the left-hand side of his body over his workbook, which lay on its right-hand side. It sounds involved, but that’s because he was a left-hander trying to develop in a right-hander’s world. I’m not sure why I didn’t do what Nicholas did. I think I might have been all too aware of my difference and forced myself to replicate the right-handers surrounding me who wrote “straight up”, because goodness knows I didn’t want to be different at the age of seven, eight, nine, 10... Worldwide, about 10% to 13% of the total population is left-handed, says Joburgbased occupational therapist Kathryn Nish. But a rather hands-on, right-handed mom to a lefty, Tracy van der Merwe, notes that “Four years ago Denise Pape did a South African classroom study and found that in the five-year-old group there was 25% left-handedness. There is a genetic component to handedness so, the more lefties there are, the more there will be.”
There is a genetic component to handedness so, the more lefties there are, the more there will be. He cannot do the tasks fast enough… his work smudges and doesn’t look great… he feels uncomfortable with some tasks and does not want to do them again… He is different, and children don’t like different. As the majority of the world’s population is right-handed, the challenges that left-handers face are numerous. Right-handed people don’t have to think too hard about picking up a pen and writing as it flows comfortably from left to right. Just so, it is comfortable for the lefty to go from right to left but that’s not going to happen in the western world. The following details the classic features of the left-handed child’s challenges. ergonomic The child may not have the correct equipment and knowledge of the correct positioning at their desk. teaching method Many teachers may not be aware of the correct teaching method for letter formation, and worksheets and activities may not be presented and taught correctly. writing from left to right Lefties have to push when they write causing strain on the hand, wrist and shoulder as they squeeze the pen hard to prevent their fingers from slipping down the pen or pencil. wrist-hooking This occurs in order to see their work as they write and to prevent smudging. Hooking places pressure on the wrist and can cause compression of the nerves, leading to carpal tunnel syndrome. It may cause fatigue and a slow pace of writing. emotional Feeling different and being slow to finish work, possibly causes feelings of failure and unworthiness. Nish has had a left-handed boy in occupational therapy for one and a half years. “He had a low self-esteem, struggled to make friends and was shy and mistrustful of others. He was encouraged to use his right hand over his left, even though he was showing
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March 2014
magazine pretoria
PHOTOGRAPH: shutterstock.com
challenging times