I agree with snowgirl that many of your concerns seem to reflect learning style issues rather than dominance issues. I have a left-handed, extremely linear and verbal kid, who at 7.5 is still confused about which hand to use for various activities and has great control with either. He's never been clumsy, is quite athletic, and we're worried because it seems like he'll never get really good at the sports he likes without choosing a side. After a day of tennis camp, the coaches said he had to go left-handed. Two days later, the coaches said he couldn't serve left-handed and he should play right. Poor kid doesn't know what to do and switches all the time without even realizing it. He plays golf left-handed, basketball right handed, and he throws with his right hand. He's great at math, has some musical talent, and he draws like a two-year old -- it's painful to watch!! He taught himself to write by about three and he writes quite well and he's never reversed letters and spelled at adult level by 5 or so.

He's not a visual-spatial kid and doesn't love puzzles, doesn't "see" like some kids and has been tested with lots of verbal strengths but less well on spatial things. He's my least v-s kid and the other two with more spatial strengths have had strong right-hand preferences from toddler age. I share this just for information because not choosing a hand doesn't necessarily indicate spatial strengths and verbal/text weaknesses.

I think dominance is quite a confusing topic. For many things (i.e. epilepsy surgery, recovery from brain injury, etc.) it matters most whether language is centered in the right or left hemisphere, but that doesn't depend on handedness much. For RH people, language is left brain about 99% of the time (numbers vary according to what you read). For LH people, language is *still* in the left brain for about 75-95% of people (again depending on which study you are reading). That makes me feel like the "dominance" language isn't especially useful and I like learning style description better. Your son sounds like a v-s type learner who may need extra help with text. My most v-s type kid did reverse letters and learned to read much more slowly than my more linear type kids.

My son did the same thing and he learned to write in Kindergarten because I was afraid that he would learn the wrong way if I tried to teach him. I only taught him to write his name.

He never made errors in reading the letters and when he accidentally wrote a letter backwards, he could see that it was wrong immediately because a b where a d was supposed to be would cause the word to be wrong. But if he accidentally wrote a 5 backwards and didn't catch it right away, especially when he did long division or something with a lot of numbers where he also had to worry about keeping columns straight, it would sometimes cause him to make a mathematical error. This was something he had to learn to check. He had to make sure his 2 was really a 2 and not a 5 that he accidentally wrote backwards.

He did Handwriting Without Tears but I would catch him going back to his old way of forming letters when he thought I wasn't looking. I notice that he even makes checkmarks backwards from the way I do it. It just seems totally wrong to me the way he does it but it looks okay, so I let it go.

I think my son's problem was more of a motor learning thing. I think he needed more writing practice on certain letters and numbers than most kids, just like he needed more practice to learn difficult dance routines. His auditory memory and visual memory (especially for words) is great but his mild motor learning problem is something he has to deal with.

Know what's frustrating? GS8 will write a 'd' intending to make a 'b', and when asked to read it back immediately, will read it as a 'b'. If the paper is laid aside for a few days and he reads it back, he will see the error immediately. This makes it very hard for him to check his own work. The only time he will read a 'd' for a 'b' is when he encounters a new word, but the majority of the time he will sound it out with both a 'd' or a 'b' and know which it is because he will recognize the word. This applies to some other letters, the 'b' & 'd' are the worst.

And he still has problems remembering which hand to hold over his heart when saying the pledge to the flag. He is getting smoother handling his show calves, where a lead is held in one hand and a show stick in the other. When the calf is stopped, you turn to face the calf and switch the lead & stick to opposite hands. This sounds minor, but it's been a struggle for him for 8 months. (BTW, the show stick is used to scratch the calf's belly because the calf enjoys it, and to gently move it's feet in the correct position when standing.)

My son would sometimes accidentally play the right hand notes with his left hand in piano and he had a little more trouble than the other kids remembering if he needed to exit to the stage left or right in musical theater. He had to make notes in his script. But there are things about him that make absolutely no sense to me if he has a slight problem remembering left or right. He has a better sense of direction than I do and is less likely to get lost in a huge hospital complex that I think resembles a giant maze. If he is having trouble with left and right issues inside these buildings, he is compensating for it really well and he can't tell me how he does it. I have to follow him or ask someone how to get back to the parking lot. It is almost like he inherited his dad's ability with figuring out how to get from one place to another. His dad was in the army and sometimes had to lead troops in the dark where there were no signs or even roads and having a good sense of direction could mean the difference between life and death. I don't understand how it is possible to have a good feel for north, south, east and west but sometimes get right and left confused, but my son does this.

For example, the last time my son did a play, they went from practicing in a room where he was exiting to the north and south and they moved to a stage where he was exiting to the east or west and he had to stop and think which way to go. It looks to me like right and left would be easier to remember than north and south but he is so different from me--and I am supposed to be homeschooling him. It seems like most of what I am doing is watching him figure out how to do things his own way, which I guess is what he will need to do in life. I think he will need to figure out on his own how to compensate for his learning differences.

Thanks! You have given me a lot to read and think about. His sister is left handed, and in doing some of the tests i find out I'm mixed as well (right handed, left eye). What I am most concerned about is how frustrated he gets in trying to learn or tackle new things. He gets easly frustrated if the task isn't broken down into small steps. Once he understands, and he has great ability to focus. He can work on difficult puzzles for a long time. As he enters Kindergarten, and turns 6, I want to help understand how he learns. His school has been using handwriting without tears. In several cases he can indetify letters sound before he can tell me the name. I think his left brain and right brain need to learn how to talk to each other so he can organize, classify, and recall his thoughts. I'm realizing that we will have to employ all of his sense when teaching him things that need to be recalled, such as letter names. I'm concerned that the first few years of school are going to be tough, and I want to find ways to help. Any recommendations for how to get his left and right brain working together better. I've seen piano (we don't have one)on the board. How about gymanastics? What else?

Thanks for all the advice so far!

FWIW: I'm mixed-dominant, with near-full ambidexterity now. I've worked on developing skills with both hands all my life.

I see this as a valuable extra ability and have never, ever tried to exclude/favor one hand. So, I play racket sports with two hands. Switching the racket to my other hand gives me an advantage because I can get to a shot on the other side of the court that would be unreachable if I had to use backhand (but I still use backhand sometimes).

As the years have passed, my ability to write with the non-dominant writing hand (right) has improved considerably. I'm pretty comfortable now writing with my right hand. This is a major, major advantage if I injure my left hand.

I guess I'm trying to understand why you/the OT want your son to "choose" one hand. If he's naturally inclined to use both, what's wrong with letting him do what comes naturally? His writing may lag behind a bit, but in the end, if he can write with two hands, isn't that an advantage?

Also, I remember VERY clearly how sore everyone's hands got when we were learning to write in 1st grade. I can still see a girl named Nyla shaking her hand and saying "Ow! Ow!" I had this problem then too, and it happened later when my comfort level with my right hand changed and I was able to use that hand to write for longer periods.

Just my 2c.

Val

Martial arts?