{"id":723,"date":"2009-11-03T18:19:15","date_gmt":"2009-11-03T18:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/zaparents-blog\/?p=723"},"modified":"2022-06-23T10:49:15","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T08:49:15","slug":"left-is-right-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/education\/special-needs\/left-is-right-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Left is right too…!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being left in this right-hand world can be extremely frustrating.\u00a0 Not only are teachers often trying to teach skills such as cutting, drawing, letter and number formation from a right-handed perspective but then to try and get suitable stationery and workbooks used to be impossible.<\/p>\n

Being left-handed myself, I found it quite easy to teach my left-handed son the necessary skills but when we got to school I suddenly realised how ill equipped our teachers are.\u00a0 Further research confirmed that teaching left-handed children is not even covered in the majority of teacher training colleges anymore.\u00a0 Is it any wonder that a left-handed child is more likely to enter some form of remedial therapy than a right-handed one?\u00a0 Is it because the frustrated teacher no longer knows what to do with the child when it comes to teaching fine motor skills so consults occupational therapists or remedial therapists ?\u00a0 Often I have heard teachers and therapists saying that it doesn\u2019t matter if the child is right or left-handed, well, it does and let me tell you why.<\/p>\n

First of all, stationery.\u00a0 Ever watched a left-handed child try to cut with right-handed scissors?\u00a0 Not easy I can tell you \u2013 the blade on the scissors is formed differently so the paper will be folded or bent and the cutting jagged \u2013 not the child\u2019s fault at all but a simple switch to the correct scissors makes it a much easier task to learn. What about pencil sharpeners \u2013 watch a left-handed child use a pencil sharpener \u2013 he will hold the pencil in his left-hand and turn the sharpener with his right \u2013 often resulting in a pencil as blunt as before.<\/p>\n

Secondly, watch a left-handed child use an activity book for letter or number formation \u2013 it is designed completely with the right-handed child in mind.\u00a0 Often a left-handed child doing symmetry drawings or dot to dot will turn the book upside down and work that way.<\/p>\n

Having watched my son go through this process with much frustration and increasing anxiety, I started researching left-handed stationery and the teaching of fine motor skills.\u00a0 What an eye opener it was for me!\u00a0 I found that parents and teachers in Europe all sit with the same problem. \u00a0Teacher training colleges that barely covered the issue and parents who were none the wiser.<\/p>\n

So Left-Hand Learning was created.\u00a0 Through our work we are now able to run workshops for parents and teachers, we import and sell left-handed stationery and we publish and import workbooks specifically for the South African market. \u00a0Our aim?\u00a0 To make sure every left-handed child is taught the way he or she needs to be taught and enable the parents and teachers to provide the right equipment and materials to allow that to happen.<\/p>\n

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