Ambidextrous

[Ametaula]

My Son is 10 and has Aspergers, he is in main stream school with one to one help, and we have regular meetings as to how he's getting on.

 

Well, had a meeting the other day where I was asked "Do you realise he can write with both hands at the time?". I had no idea he could do this, when I get home I asked him if he could show me, so he got 2 pieces of paper, 2 pens and wrote "Hello, I love you" with both hands at the same time. I was gobsmacked, he is predominently left handed and you could tell, the writing on the right handed page was slightly larger, but both were neat and legible.

 

I then asked him if he could write different things at the same time, he said he didn't know but wanted to try, and he could, he wrote "How are you?" with his left hand and "I love you" with his right hand at the same time without even thinking about it as if it was the most normal natural thing in the world.

 

I have never come across this before, my mum who is a teacher has never seen it before, and to be honest I don't know where to go from here with him, I knew he was clever but surely it means both sides of the brain are working simultaneously. Do I encourage it? Ignore it? Not read so much into it?

[darkshine]

Celebrate it as a skill

I used to be able to write with both hands at the same time as a kid, but never tried writing different things with each hand - very clever idea by the way I can't write so well with my left hand any more as I stopped practising as I got older - but there are occasions when it could be useful, especially if one hand is injured! (very practical purpose) and as someone who hurt their right hand I know that I regret not keeping the left hand working as I used to.

I guess its up to you and your son though - but in my view its a good skill and can be a great sort of "party trick" as he gets older, plus its exercising different parts of the brain, can't see any harm in it if he enjoys doing it

 

PS - other practical purposes where I find it helps having increased skill in non-dominant hand is DIY (very useful when you can only access something with the "other" hand) - and as an interest playing a musical instrument (I play keyboard but find piano hard now because I stopped practising with my left hand, I can actually feel my brain struggling to make my left hand move now, so stick to keyboard ).

 

I can still do a lot more with my left hand than most people I've known can with their less dominant hand so something must have stayed with me... but then again I used to be able to do things with my feet as well the things I have done in my life are a little bizarre but when I was in my teens I taught myself to write and pick things up with my feet

Edited December 5, 2011 by darkshine

[indiscreet]

I'm able to write with both hands but as I've got older I've become less dextrous with my left hand - presumably from lack of use since I was encouraged to only use my right hand when I was at school.

 

I guess my right hand is dominant since I use it for writing, using scissors, etc., but I use my left for unscrewing jars, opening tin cans and any tasks where it's easier to use that one.

[lilgoth89]

i am ambidextrous, but my teacher at school told me to just use one hand. so i conentrated on my left to write with, but other things ( like sissors ) i can only do with my right hand.

i used to be a right handed guitar player, but after an accident, ive alot of nerve damage to my left hand so i cant fret it anymore...so i just got a right handed guitar and am slowly teaching the right side of my brain what my left side once knew.

[oxgirl]

I can write forwards with my left hand and backwards with the right hand simultaneously ...... so there! I usually write with my right hand but when I do crosswords I always use my left. I saw someone on Record Breakers years ago writing backwards with one hand and forwards with the other at the same time and I just thought, 'I could do that'. I'd never done it before but I just knew I'd be able to do it. My boyfriend at the time scoffed at me but I got some paper and pens and I just did it. Never tried to write two different things though, I must have a go at that.

 

As I say, usually I write with my right, but I do most other things with my left. I always do sports with my left hand, bowling, badminton, etc. My lad is the same, except the other way around, he writes with his left hand but does all other things with his right.

 

~ Mel ~

Edited December 5, 2011 by oxgirl

[darkshine]

I can write forwards with my left hand and backwards with the right hand simultaneously ...... so there!

Brilliant

 

My dad and me used to sometimes talk in backwards speech and call each other by our names backwards sometimes too - he did it a while back on a parcel and I had one hell of a job explaining that down at the sorting office when I picked it up

 

In the main I use my left hand for things that require steadiness - poll, pouring liquid, holding something thats being glued, playing pool...

 

And my right for more precision based things like writing, carving, using a knife.

 

But for things like using a paint roller, a screwdriver or unlocking a door I use them interchangeably

[Sally44]

I don't know anything about this. And i'm not sure if "ambidextrous" is the word for this skill. Being able to write with both hands, or use both hands is ambidextrous. But I don't think you have to be able to use both at the same time. So this maybe something totally different.

 

What I would advise you to check is whether this "means" anything relating to other skills. Because usually there is a dominant hand, and the brain has to communicate the one side to the other rather than appear to function as two separate sides.

 

Probably a Psychologist and an Occupational Therapist would be the people to speak to because you would want to know the implications for both cognitive and physical skills.

 

What is his co-ordination like?

[AdamJ]

I'm right-handed but left-footed.

[RainbowsButterflies]

I'm fairly ambidextrous. I've never tried writing with both hands simultaneously though!