Ambidextrous and Hand Preference

From time to time we hear of children who are ambidextrous.  This seems such an amazing thing!  Imagine being able to write with both hands!  Does it matter if a child hasn't established a hand preference or hand dominance?  Is it really an important thing and when, if at all, should we intervene?  Although only 1% of the world’s population is truly ambidextrous, that is still a staggering 77 million people!  That is 20 million more people than we have in South Africa!  With those numbers in mind, we do need to be able to identify when a child is ambidextrous, and when they have an unestablished hand preference.

Before I dive in and get into this fascinating topic, I need to give credit where credit is due.  A number of years ago, and then again more recently, I had the privilege of attending a series of courses on hand preference by the world renowned Dr Elke Kraus.  She has studied and devoted her life to this fascinating and complex topic, even obtaining her PhD in hand preference.  I had the privilege of learning from the master.

Hand Dominance in Toddlers

In the early years, our children develop the ability to use both hands together, before a hand preference emerges.  Some may choose one hand early on and stay with it.  Others switch between the two for ongoing periods, leaving parents wondering whether their child is left or right handed.  But, in time, it becomes clear and they show a clear preference either way.

And then there are some who appear to never really know which hand is their preferred hand.  This is frequently rooted in bilateral integration and midline crossing delays.  These children have a mixed hand preference which, in lay person’s terms, is frequently identified as them being ambidextrous.

Ambidextrous: Is it Desirable?

Ambidextrousness is, in fact, a very rare category of children and adults who can write equally well with both hands.  And when I say equally well, I mean really well!  For the most part, the children who are presenting with mixed hand preference, sometimes called mixed hand dominance, are really not proficient with either hand – their ability to reproduce things on paper is poor with both hands.

So when do we, or should we, even worry about this?  The literature says that hand preference can be established as late as 8 years old!  For me that is very old to still not know which hand you are using.  I have always believed that the Grade R year is the year of refinement when it comes to pencil control.  As such, I really like my Grade R's to have established a preferred hand.  When they are still switching hands in Grade R and into Grade 1, there is little doubt in my mind that we are going to run into difficulties with the mastery of the handwriting process.