Teaching Left - Handers The Write Way
By: Thomas M. Wasylyk

Since the advent of toss-a-coin toll booths and drive-up bank machines, left-handers have commanded new respect from those in the other-handed majority. Who has not experienced the 25-cent fumble, the back-wrenching right arm stretch, or the open door episode?

This new taste of respect has been a long time coming. Generations of left-handed children have grown up feeling out of sync in a world designed for right-handers, especially as they tried to master the complexities of handwriting.

Two closely related processes are primary objectives for beginning readers: putting a thought into writing (encoding) and obtaining meaning from the written word (decoding). Many of their elements are identical and others are similar.

The fact that both skills are so necessary for all future learning makes it crucial that students approach beginning instruction confidently and enthusiastically. This has not always been easy for left-handers, for whom the process of handwriting often has been frustrating and uncomfortable. Poor handwriting skills sometimes diminished their success in other areas of the language arts. Today, however, there are strategies for producing fluent, legible penmanship that work for both left-handed and right-handed students.

One readiness skill essential for both reading and handwriting programs is the development of left-to-right progression. Because left-to-right progression is essentially a motor skill, time spent on establishing this concept in the handwriting program minimizes the time required in the reading program to train children to move their eyes from left to right.

Here, left-handed children actually have the advantage because their natural inclination is to begin with the left. Often, however, it is at this point that much of their confusion occurs, as they listen to the teacher's instructions to the right-handed students. Many reversals of words and letters could be avoided if the left-to-right concept were more clearly established before formal reading instruction began.

Other reading readiness skills such as letter recognition and noticing similarities and differences are reinforced through handwriting instruction. Size relationship, so important to handwriting, is also significant in reading instruction.

Success in handwriting also depends upon several basic physical considerations: appropriate desk height, keeping the paper within the writing area, paper position, pencil position, the direction in which the strokes are pulled, and shifting the paper as the writing progresses.

For the left-handed student, the modifications are minor: the paper position tilts up and to the right approximately 25 degrees for manuscript writing, less for cursive writing; pencil position is the same for both right and left hands; the strokes are pulled down toward the left elbow instead of toward the center of the body; the writing area is within the left hand of the desk surface to the left of the midline of the body.

Special writing problems can occur with both left-handed and right-handed students. Sometimes left-handed children adopt the hooked hand position in an effort to see what they are writing. This problem must be dealt with early in the child's development. Proper paper position will help students deal with the problem.

Sometimes, children hold the pencil too tightly, which causes muscle fatigue. Placing a piece of tape beside the large knuckle of the first finger gives students a target area for resting the shaft of the pencil, lessening the finger pressure. If students clench their fingers into the palm when they write, a ball of wadded paper held in the palm will help.

As many as 25 percent of students in every classroom will have left-hand dominance; this number has increased over the years. These children must discover quickly that they too can master reading and writing skills. If children can learn to write what they want to write and can read to satisfy their own desire to know, they will develop a strong self concept, which will help in all later learning.

Thomas M. Wasylyk is a master penman and a leading authority on handwriting instruction. He has authored several handwriting series and has more than 30 years of experience in the field, www.upub.net .