Left-handed males in LD

This information would be interesting to see. 3/4 of my brothers are left handed 2 of them have an LD. My oldest son 13 is LD also he is left handed and has been since birth, he never switched back and forth. My father is also left handed and LD. In our case could be mostly and inherited thing. I do also have a right handed sister who is MR and a right handed son who is PDD. The interesting thing with these two is their hand dominance did not occur until much later. My son was 7 almost 8 before he showed a preference and the same was true for my sister. I know this don’t help you—but was just trying to show you might have something.

Your thought is interesting to me. I have a left handed son 9 yrs old in sped. He does have reading difficulties but according to the psychologist he is using the right side of his brain.

He is extremely visual, athletic, good at math, kind, perceptive, but not a big conversationalist and reading is hard for him.

Please keep me posted.

I mainly teach hearing impaired children, so I can’t answer your question directly. However, I have a 6 year old daughter who writes with her left hand, but is mixed dominance for everything else. She has been diagnosed as language impaired and auditory processing disorder. I think you should include girls while you’re studying the handedness issue!

Janis

I think it is the mixed dominance that is the issue rather than right or left handed or maleness. My understanding is that a very high proportion of LD kids have mixed dominance.

Interesting about mixed dominance. My left handed LD son is completely a left sided person (making him a right brained person), my PDD right hander is completely right sided (but also seems to be right brained), my NT daughter has mixed dominance. Actually my NT daughter is neither right handed or left handed she uses both equally well. She does not seem to be right or left brained dominant either, seems to have equal ability in both. She does very well in school without much effort.

My husband has mixed dominance also and has not had any problems. He actually writes left handed and eats left handed but bats right handed.

I suppose that is how I got interested in this subject. I eat left handed and bat right handed. When I play pool or table tennis I use my lefthand. I once had a job as an artist. I used to (and still do) draw left handed and then I’d letter it right handed.

I am a teacher of ld students at the high school level. What you have noted is something that I have also noticed in my ten years of teaching. I couldn’t give you a head count, but through obsevation I have found that creative individuals (musicians, artists, etc.) are also disproportionate in the use of the left hand. My niece is a middle school art teacher (left handed), my older son excelled in band (and not much else in high school) and he is left handed.

Brain research indicates that the right hemisphere is the creative side, thus the left handedness, since reading is accomodated in left regions of the brain, those individuals with stronger right regions may not have as developed reading areas. This may be further reviewed through the Yale studies of ADD and the PET scans done. Good luck.

While I too do not have numbers directly in front of me (although at some point I should be able to go through my files and see), as an C.O.T.A. I too have noticed a disproportionate number of the students on my caseload are male and left-handed. This specifically stands out in my mind because I am VERY right handed, and have a difficult time modifying myself, and modeling for those lefties in an appropriate fashion (ie: pencil grip). In a more personal observation, my mother, my brother and myself are all righties with no known issues. My father has no known issues, but writes right and bats left. My sister who was diagnosed LD many years ago, is a lefty.

Allison

This year I have 6 male LD 2nd and 3rd graders (although all are overage - from 1 to 4 years). Only one is left handed. However, in previous years I have noticed a disproportionate number of lefties.

This information would be interesting to see. 3/4 of my brothers are left handed 2 of them have an LD. My oldest son 13 is LD also he is left handed and has been since birth, he never switched back and forth. My father is also left handed and LD. In our case could be mostly and inherited thing. I do also have a right handed sister who is MR and a right handed son who is PDD. The interesting thing with these two is their hand dominance did not occur until much later. My son was 7 almost 8 before he showed a preference and the same was true for my sister. I know this don’t help you—but was just trying to show you might have something.

Your thought is interesting to me. I have a left handed son 9 yrs old in sped. He does have reading difficulties but according to the psychologist he is using the right side of his brain.

He is extremely visual, athletic, good at math, kind, perceptive, but not a big conversationalist and reading is hard for him.

Please keep me posted.

I mainly teach hearing impaired children, so I can’t answer your question directly. However, I have a 6 year old daughter who writes with her left hand, but is mixed dominance for everything else. She has been diagnosed as language impaired and auditory processing disorder. I think you should include girls while you’re studying the handedness issue!

Janis

I think it is the mixed dominance that is the issue rather than right or left handed or maleness. My understanding is that a very high proportion of LD kids have mixed dominance.

Interesting about mixed dominance. My left handed LD son is completely a left sided person (making him a right brained person), my PDD right hander is completely right sided (but also seems to be right brained), my NT daughter has mixed dominance. Actually my NT daughter is neither right handed or left handed she uses both equally well. She does not seem to be right or left brained dominant either, seems to have equal ability in both. She does very well in school without much effort.

My husband has mixed dominance also and has not had any problems. He actually writes left handed and eats left handed but bats right handed.

I suppose that is how I got interested in this subject. I eat left handed and bat right handed. When I play pool or table tennis I use my lefthand. I once had a job as an artist. I used to (and still do) draw left handed and then I’d letter it right handed.

I am a teacher of ld students at the high school level. What you have noted is something that I have also noticed in my ten years of teaching. I couldn’t give you a head count, but through obsevation I have found that creative individuals (musicians, artists, etc.) are also disproportionate in the use of the left hand. My niece is a middle school art teacher (left handed), my older son excelled in band (and not much else in high school) and he is left handed.

Brain research indicates that the right hemisphere is the creative side, thus the left handedness, since reading is accomodated in left regions of the brain, those individuals with stronger right regions may not have as developed reading areas. This may be further reviewed through the Yale studies of ADD and the PET scans done. Good luck.

While I too do not have numbers directly in front of me (although at some point I should be able to go through my files and see), as an C.O.T.A. I too have noticed a disproportionate number of the students on my caseload are male and left-handed. This specifically stands out in my mind because I am VERY right handed, and have a difficult time modifying myself, and modeling for those lefties in an appropriate fashion (ie: pencil grip). In a more personal observation, my mother, my brother and myself are all righties with no known issues. My father has no known issues, but writes right and bats left. My sister who was diagnosed LD many years ago, is a lefty.

Allison

This year I have 6 male LD 2nd and 3rd graders (although all are overage - from 1 to 4 years). Only one is left handed. However, in previous years I have noticed a disproportionate number of lefties.