Handwriting Readiness

Left-Handed Writing Advice

Writing from left to right, as we do in English, allows a right handed person to look at his writing as it progresses. A "lefty", however, has difficulty visually monitoring handwriting since his hand covers his writing. Because of this, "Lefties" can develop some bad habits.
These include:

1- A hooked grasp - the wrist bends forward (this positions a child's fingers above his writing and allows him to see what he is writing). This is a very bad position for writing since it does not allow efficient finger control for good letter formation.

2- An "ulnar" grasp - the child holds the pencil between his thumb with all four fingers along the shaft. The pinky finger is closest to the pencil tip. This grasp is undesirable because the pinky must guide pencil movements and the hand is unstable.

Tips For Teaching "Lefties" to Write:

Position the paper on the desk so it is completely left of the child's midline. Never in the writing process should a the left handed child cross over the midline.

Angle the paper so that it lies parallel to the child's forearm. This is likely to be close to a 45 degree angle which is a greater angle than "righties" use. Encourage kids to learn how to position paper themselves. To ensure correct positioning, affix tape to the desk to provide an outline of the position in which a paper should lie.

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