Many years ago I came across an article that was titled "Ambidextrous People are Brain-Damaged". While I don't fully agree with that concept, I do see many problems that occur when a child does not establish a consistent hand dominance.
The handedness of a person is an expression of an inborn natural lateralization of the brain hemispheres where one side dominates. Typical children go through a period where they use both hands equally; then as they start to use a spoon or a crayon, they start to show a preference for one hand over the other. During development in the toddler years, they may occasionally switch hands but will usually go back to using a consistent hand preference which establishes itself as a dominance by age 5 or 6.
In my experience as a pediatric occupational therapist, the children who do not develop a hand preference during the toddler years often exhibit some delays in their fine motor skill development. Is this because of lack of practice in developing refined skills or because of immaturity in brain development? In my experience, a delay in developing a hand dominance is often linked with other developmental delays including: weak core body strength, poor attention, delays in language development, and overall weak coordination skills. Many children who are later diagnosed with attention disorder or learning disabilities often struggled to establish a hand dominance in the early years.
Thus, when our brains and our bodies develop within the natural pattern of lateralization and dominance, there are fewer developmental delays. A delay in establishing a hand preference should be a red flag to look at other areas of development. Once a dominance is established then many people do go on later to develop skills using either hand (such as a switch hitter in baseball), but skill in the dominant hand is essential for normal development.
The handedness of a person is an expression of an inborn natural lateralization of the brain hemispheres where one side dominates. Typical children go through a period where they use both hands equally; then as they start to use a spoon or a crayon, they start to show a preference for one hand over the other. During development in the toddler years, they may occasionally switch hands but will usually go back to using a consistent hand preference which establishes itself as a dominance by age 5 or 6.
In my experience as a pediatric occupational therapist, the children who do not develop a hand preference during the toddler years often exhibit some delays in their fine motor skill development. Is this because of lack of practice in developing refined skills or because of immaturity in brain development? In my experience, a delay in developing a hand dominance is often linked with other developmental delays including: weak core body strength, poor attention, delays in language development, and overall weak coordination skills. Many children who are later diagnosed with attention disorder or learning disabilities often struggled to establish a hand dominance in the early years.
Thus, when our brains and our bodies develop within the natural pattern of lateralization and dominance, there are fewer developmental delays. A delay in establishing a hand preference should be a red flag to look at other areas of development. Once a dominance is established then many people do go on later to develop skills using either hand (such as a switch hitter in baseball), but skill in the dominant hand is essential for normal development.
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