Contents
- Definition: Lateralization, a progressive process. At what age ?
- How do I know if my child is left or right handed? What signs?
- Disorders, ambidexterity… When to worry about a delay or an absence of lateralization?
- My child is left-handed, what does that change?
- How can I help my left-handed child on a daily basis? How to work on its laterality?
By observing your child handling objects or playing, from an early age, we sometimes ask the question: is he right-handed or left-handed? How and when can we find out? What does that tell us about his development, about his personality? Update with a specialist.
Definition: Lateralization, a progressive process. At what age ?
Before 3 years old, a child learns above all to coordinate his movements. He uses both hands indifferently to play, draw or grasp. This work of coordination is a prelude to lateralization, that is to say the choice of the right or the left. Let him accomplish this task quietly! Don’t jump to a conclusion if he uses one side more than the other. This should not be seen as an early lateralization, because it is only around 3 years that we can affirm the predominance of one hand over the other. Besides, don’t forget that a child learns a lot by imitation. Thus, when you stand in front of him to play or feed him, the mirror effect causes him to use the “same” hand as you. That is, his left hand if you are right-handed. Do not hesitate to stand next to him from time to time so as not to influence his natural choice without wanting to. Around 3 years old, the choice of his guiding hand is undoubtedly a first mark of autonomy. He sets himself apart from his model, you, by making a personal choice and thus asserts his personality.
How do I know if my child is left or right handed? What signs?
From 3 years old, we can start to spot the dominant hand of a child. There are some very simple tests that can help you reveal your child’s laterality. The foot, eye, ear or hand are involved:
- Throw him a ball or ask him to hop,
- Roll up a sheet of paper to make a spyglass, and ask him to look in it,
- Offer to listen to the ticking of an alarm clock to see which ear he will take it to,
- For the hands, all the daily gestures are revealing: eating, holding your toothbrush, combing your hair, grabbing an object …
Generally, the child rather quickly favors one side. Before 5 or 6 years, that is to say the age of reading, there is no need to worry if the lateralization is still not clearly determined. If he continues to use his right as well as his left, repeat the tests later.
Disorders, ambidexterity… When to worry about a delay or an absence of lateralization?
From the age of 5, a delay in lateralization can make it more difficult to acquire reading and writing. These disorders are quite common at this age, and can be resolved with the help of a professional.
- If your child is “partial” right-handed or left-handed, it means thatit does not yet have a dominant laterality. In this case, you can have recourse to a psychomotor therapist who will help him determine his dominant hand.
- Does your child use his right hand or his left hand indifferently? It is probably ambidextrous. Almost all small children are, since they know how to use both hands without distinction. But when the moment of choice arrives, we realize that there are very few true ambidextrous. The use of both hands indifferently is often the result of acquired skills. Again, a psychomotor therapist can help your child determine their preference.
My child is left-handed, what does that change?
This does not change anything in terms of child development and of course intelligence! The fact that he is left-handed simply corresponds to a predominance of the right hemisphere of the brain. No more no less. A left-handed child is no more clumsy or less intelligent than a right-handed person, as has long been believed. Gone are the days when we tied the arm of a left-handed child to “teach” him to use his right hand. And fortunately, because we thus created generations of “upset” left-handers who could then have difficulty in writing or in locating themselves in space.
How can I help my left-handed child on a daily basis? How to work on its laterality?
The lack of skill that is often attributed to left-handed people stems mainly from the fact that we live in a world of right-handed people. Luckily today smart accessories exist to make life easier for left-handed people, especially in early childhood where we learn so many things: special pens, sharpeners in opposite directions, scissors with inverted blades that avoid many gymnastics, and even “special left-handed” rules, because left-handed people draw the lines from right to left …
You can also help your child. For example, teach him to position his drawing sheet with the upper left corner higher than the upper right corner. It will help him when it comes to writing.
Finally, know that if both parents are left-handed, their child has a one in two chance of being left too, if only one of the parents is, he has a one in three chance. Only one in ten left-handed children comes from right-handed parents. The hereditary component therefore does exist.
Testimonial: “My daughter confuses the right and the left, how can I help her? »Camille, mother of Margot, 5 years old
At 5, Margot has trouble recognizing her right from her left. A not so anecdotal problem, especially when you grow up and your daily activities, at school and at home, are complicated. Not only does Margot have difficulty learning to write, she is also very clumsy. Related elements that make sense for psychomotor therapist Lou Rosati: “We often observe this symptom at the same time as another. The child has what is called a “thwarted laterality”, the fact of confusing his right and his left is a consequence, at the end of the chain of his other problems. “
A pathological clumsiness
There are thus three types of malfunctions: lateral, when the child, for example, chooses the right hand as the dominant hand, when he should have chosen the left; Space, when he has difficulty locating himself in space or measuring distances; and finally corporeal, like Margot, when the child shows “dyspraxia”, that is to say pathological clumsiness. Lou Rosati explains how to observe this phenomenon in his child: “Around 3-4 years old, he begins to take a pen with one hand rather than another, then at CP, we will be able to see if the choice of the dominant hand has been thwarted. or not. There is an acquired laterality, and another innate and neurological: it is a question of seeing if the two agree. We can see in particular with which hand he drinks or writes, and which hand he asks for a spontaneous gesture such as raising his arm. “
A lateralization problem
The expert states thatat the age of 6-7 years, a child should be able to recognize his right from his left and have chosen his dominant hand : “Many children are originally left-handed and have chosen their right hand as the dominant hand. They started writing and therefore trained their hand. In this case, it will be necessary to help them in their new learning, based on what they have already acquired with the wrong dominant hand. “
To help him: relaxation and manual work
A child who suffers from dyspraxia may thus have learning difficulties, to reproduce a figure or a letter, to understand simple or more complex shapes. He may also be embarrassed by his great clumsiness.
For Lou Rosati, psychometrician, it is first necessary to define the origin of the problem in order to be able to act correctly then: “If it is of spatial origin, we offer exercises on spatiality, if it is more about laterality. , we will work on manual dexterity, balance, and if the problem is of bodily origin, we will practice relaxation exercises. Anyway, there are solutions to stop suffering from it in adulthood. “
Tiphaine Lévy-Frébault