Working with your non-dominant hand can help you create new neural pathways. So, how to write with your left hand? Here are a few fundamental actions you can take to start writing with your left hand.
You need to start by tracing, work on holding the pen comfortably, practice writing with your left hand every day, practice with your ABCs, build up strength with your left hand, move on to sentences, use a computer mouse with your left hand, and write backwards.
Keep reading.
Table of Contents
How To Write With Your Left Hand?
Start By Tracing
Going right into writing complete words and sentences with your non-dominant hand won’t work out well, despite your urge to jump right into the challenging work. Most likely, you’ll fall short, which will make you frustrated. Instead, begin by tracing letters and other shapes. Use writing workshop books, which are frequently used by kids to learn how to write, or just pick up any book and begin left-handed tracing. The movement will feel a little more natural as a result. A woman claimed to have developed her left hand by precisely doing this—tracing—as she told the BBC.
Work On Holding The Pen Comfortably
How you hold a pen or pencil greatly affects how well you write. A very tight grip on your writing implement will cause tension in your hand, making it harder to write (this is why your handwriting changes after a while of writing). It will be challenging for you to get used to holding the pen comfortably in your left hand because you’re not used to it. Maintain a loose, relaxed grip while consciously taking breaks.
Practice Writing With Your Left Hand Every Day
If you want to begin writing with your non-dominant hand, you must be dedicated to the practice. You’ll have to work on it every day, according to this, so it’s something you must do. Every day, whether you’re tracing or writing, set aside 20 to 30 minutes to practice writing with your left hand. Practice makes perfect in this situation without a doubt.
Practice With Your Abcs
Once again, you cannot immediately use complete words and sentences. Take it back to kindergarten and begin writing on your own by writing out your ABCs rather than tracing them. As soon as it begins to feel a little bit more normal, keep drawing your letters every day. Don’t rush; take your time. When your brain is working against you, you must learn to adapt in order to figure out how to create these shapes.
Build Up Strength With Your Left Hand
It makes sense that your right hand would be stronger than your left since you have always used it for everything. So, focus on strengthening your left hand. Naturally, you could do this by lifting weights, but simply using it more frequently would be simpler and more useful. Daily chores like making the bed, washing the dishes, and brushing your teeth should all be performed with the left hand rather than the right. Initially, it will undoubtedly feel awkward, but persevere. Also, keep in mind that when you’re having trouble, your brain will tell you to move to the right.
Move On To Sentences
You can begin writing actual sentences with your left hand once you feel more at ease tracing, writing out letters, and performing other simple tasks with it. Slow down, be patient, and maintain your attention. It won’t be as simple as it sounds.
Use A Computer Mouse With Your Left Hand
Let’s face it, modern technology has reduced the number of people who actually write. We all use computers! Consequently, practice using a mouse with your left hand on a computer to really make that connection. It’s just another way to program your brain to perceive your left hand as more dominant.
Write Backwards
Attempting to write backwards might help if you’re having trouble. The majority of languages are written from left to right, which feels natural to a right-handed person. Left-handed people usually end up writing backwards because this does not feel natural to them. Therefore, practice writing in reverse as well; you might find it simpler to understand.
Strengthening Your Left Hand
Try throwing a ball around. It’s enjoyable to throw and catch a ball with your left hand, which will help to strengthen it and enhance your hand-eye coordination. It will also help to strengthen the fingers to simply squeeze the ball tightly in your hand.
Play racket games. A great way to strengthen your left hand and improve its control when writing is to play tennis, squash, or badminton while holding the racket in your left hand.
Lift weights. Lift a light weight with your left hand—no more than five pounds. By using each finger on your left hand to lift a tiny weight, you can also try to exercise each finger separately.
The computer’s controls should be used with your left hand. While you can still use your mouse with your left hand when the default controls are in place, you can change them if you like. Likewise, try using your left hand to press the spacebar. It’s harder than you might imagine!
Popular Left-handed Writing Tips
Children can practice writing with their left hand while avoiding some of the challenges that come with writing with their left hand. These cover everything from how they hold the pencil, angle the paper, and arrange the worksheets. These suggestions will assist lefties in making up for known weaknesses and better position them to function on par with their right-handed counterparts.
Left-handed kids can learn how to hold a pencil properly.
Paper Placement
Right-handed children should turn the paper 30 degrees counterclockwise. Children who are left-handed, however, should turn their page 30 degrees in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, some teachers encourage the same rotation for all children in an effort to be consistent. The right-handed child’s recommended angle, however, will only accentuate their difficulty. Instead, turning the paper 30 to 40 degrees to the right while writing would be more comfortable. As a result, less smudging occurs as they move their hand across the page and they are able to see their work more clearly.
Pencil Or Pen Grip/Hold
It’s crucial to understand how to hold a pen left-handedly. When holding their pencil or pen a little further up the shaft, left-handed writers frequently find that it is simpler to see their work. A pencil grip or an elastic band wrapped around the pencil can serve as a guide to help the writer position their fingers.
Writing Position
For left-handed people, sloped surfaces can be very important. It may help them avoid getting a hooked wrist. A slanted writing surface can be achieved in a number of ways. One is to raise the desk’s front legs. Placing 4″ of carpet samples underneath those two desk legs could do the trick. Alternately, if using a desk that can be adjusted in height, raise the front two legs by one or two notch. For this use, slant boards are also available. On the realOTsolutions.com website, a slant board recipe is provided. Search for it under “Free Downloads.” An Exacto knife, a glue gun, and a hard foam core sheet are required. Others find it useful to write on a 3-ring binder’s cover while positioning the wider edge on the far side. It can also be simpler to write on a vertical surface or an easel.
Student Editions
Workbooks and resources made specifically for left-handed writers can be found upon request and perhaps with a little investigation. The information should be on both the left AND the right so lefties can always see it if the worksheet’s purpose is to serve as a prompt, model, or instruction. A new writer shouldn’t have to raise their hand or place it awkwardly in order to see the model or the instructions.
If a child is practicing on a worksheet and there are instructions or words to copy in the left margin, either rewrite the instructions so they are also visible on the top or right of the page, or provide an additional copy entirely. They can view the page in this manner without grabbing their wrist. The Letterbox Worksheets and Alphatrangle from Real OT Solutions can be used to improve left-handed handwriting if you’re looking for resources to encourage printing that also work well for left-handed writers.
Left-to-right Progression Across A Page Is Counterintuitive For Lefties
Left-handed writers would find it simpler to transfer a pencil from the right side of the paper to the left side of the paper. Right-handed writers, however, have an advantage when writing in English or any other language that similarly writes from left to right. In the first place, pulling a pencil across a page as opposed to pushing one is just a simpler and more natural motion. But left-handed writers also suffer from the propensity to smear or cover previously written words, which is a second and possibly even more serious drawback.
Final Words
Reversing the steps in this article will make left-handers right-handed. Being able to use their right hand with ease can also help some left-handed people get around the fact that the world is set up for right-handed people.
Regarding your reading, I thank you.
