[naturalgoodness]

DD2 has been at school for 3 weeks. I talked with her teacher today about writing, letter recognition, reading and the fact the Eloise is left handed.

I have bought her scissors, pencil grips, pencil & ruler for left handed people but am wondering if there is anything else I can be doing for her?

She often writes letters perfectly backward and the teacher did say that she has tried to demonstrate as a left hander, but obviously this is not natural for her.

It would appear that the teacher is not very experienced dealing with left handers - I want to help Eloise as much as I can so that she feels confident in what she is doing.

Any suggestions from other left handers or mothers of - including whether I should just be leaving her alone to naturally work it out (if this is what happens?)

[eyesabove]

I found this for my preschool children - some helpful points and diagrams.

Left handed writing skills
http://handedness.org/action/leftwrite.html

[Mumsyto2]

One of mine who is a LH had issues with letter formation and writing as the way they are shown does not gel with my lefty. I had no clue so at age 6 I took them to see an OT who seemed to sort it out (once a week for half a year). I have no idea what they did to fix the situation but they could then write without issue and I have not noted any problems since. I do note that some letter formation seems odd when they write but it obviously works for them so I am not going to interfere.

[Mrs Bunny]

I'm left-handed. I'm an infants/primary teacher, specialising in K-2 and early learning support (learning difficulties and disabilities). I'm assuming your daughter is in infants? I wouldn't start worrying about the reversal of letters until she's in Year 2. By mid-Year 2 she should be getting her letters and numbers spot on. But if she's in Kinder/Prep or Year 1, it's normal (and not just for a left-hander) and I wouldn't criticise the teacher. There are plenty of kids in Kinder and early Year 1 who aren't left handed who reverse letters/numbers or confuse similar letters (eg b and d).

Things you can do:
* You can practise the letters at home on a mini white board
* Make fun games when you're out and about - "what's that letter? trace it with your finger! draw it in the air!"
* You can also print off from the internet or buy books with letter formation (handwriting) practise. They will do this in class as well, but a good sheet or book would have an outlined letter that they should follow (draw inside IYKWIM), with arrows that show the direction (eg a capital D you start at the top of the straight part then pick up your pencil and go back to the top and go downwards for the curve).
* Alternatively, you can ask the teacher which letter they will do in handwriting each week and for a copy of their handwriting sheet with her homework so you are reinforcing what she's learning, not confusing her with different letters to school. This would be my preference if you're going to do practise at home.

Try to work with the teacher, don't put pressure on your daughter and if she's had enough of practise, leave it - don't push it. Letter recognition and formation "falls into place" for most children by the end of Year 1. Remember that in Europe, most children haven't even started school by that age.

I also think, scissors aside, you really don't need to buy special left handed tools. She will adapt to the right handed world and that adaption will be to her advantage. There are many things I can do that right handed people can't because I've had to adapt (I can use scissors and knives in both hands, do different things with each hand concurrently, use racquets and bats with either hand or kick equally well with both feet. Think of Australian cricketer David Warner!).

[Mumsyto2]

I have bought her scissors, pencil grips, pencil & ruler for left handed people but am wondering if there is anything else I can be doing for her?

Sorry, I am in no way being mean but I just can't get the image of Ned Flanders Left handed Emporium out of my head now. I'm just imagining you shopping there and keep giggling.

Apart from scissors I did not buy anything special for my lefty. When they awere a little older (6/7yo) we set up a computer mouse as left handed for them but they did not like it and wanted it to go back to the regular right handed mode and they have been happy using it like that ever since so apart from scissors they have adapted to everything else mainly by choice - I think they feel it's easier to 'fit in'. The only issue they really had was writing on the whiteboard at school when younger, as blackboards are no longer used, they would write then their arm would rub out what they had written as they went along. However once they got older and taller that issue disappeared so ended up being a non problem.

[bark]

There are quite a few left handlers along with my son in his class. The teacher has pencil tips and scissors there. Other than that they do everything fine. Like a pp has said letter reversal is still normal for this age and not just for left handers.

[gizboo]

I didn't buy any extras, just let his teacher know he was left handed and needed to be put in a seat where he would not be bumping constantly with a righty.

[Brattacino]

I never bought anything for my lefty either (now in year 3) and I've seen letter reversal in both my kids in kinder- both lefty and righty. I would recommend scissors however but never bothered with the rest. The only thing you might want to be aware of is that most handwriting books are written for right handlers with the examples on the left (which a lefty hand see because there hand is in the way). The best books have the examples above but if your child's school isn't using one like this you could suggest that the teacher write an example letter on the far right where she can see it. That said, I think my lefty is a good speller because he can't easily cheat at "look, say, cover, write, check" which is the way they seem to do speeding from year 1 on :-). It's a right handed world out there but it is common for lefties to use both hands for different tasks and sometimes even favour their right for/ right hand for certain tasks!

[ZombieMum]

I have 2 left handed kids, and haven't bought them any special supplies.

I just have to look away when they write as it looks so awkward!

I also have to remember not to comment negatively to their teachers - as surprisingly they've had a few left handed teachers!

[naturalgoodness]

Great - thank you. The stuff I bought came as a school pack when looking for scissors, but I have seen today that it has a great template mat with slanted lines to use as a template so she can see her writing so she can use that at home.

I will let her be and just keep the observation stuff going when at home and let the teacher guide whether more assistance is required.