My Son And Ambidexterity
Ambidexterity Educational Information
I wanted to make a lens on this topic because my son is ambidextrous. I was writing with him this morning and I really didn't know how to teach him to write, because he prefers to use both hands. So, this morning I decided to try to teach him to write with only his right hand. Well, I started thinking that I didn't want him to lose the ability to use both of his hands. I also wondered which hand was more dominant, his right or his left. The more I started thinking, I wanted to research what is ambidexterity and what does it mean for my son. ......
Ambidexterity
is the ability to use both your hands with equal ease or facility, but if
you're armless, it could be your feet! In fact, it is quite advantageous in
certain sports and martial arts to be able to use both your feet with equal
facility. The Greeks encouraged and tried to promote ambidexterity because it
was simply logical in sports and battle to be adept with both hands instead of
one. By combining the Phoenician style of writing right to left with their own
left to right system, the Greeks created a reading and writing system called
boustrophedon, where the lines ran alternately right-to-left and left-to-right.
With alternating sweeps of the eyes back and forth, reading was more swift and
efficient. ......Michelangelo (1475-1564) was a multi-faceted genius like
Leonardo da Vinci. He often painted with both hands. When one got tired, he
switched to the other.
British
artist, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873) could draw with both hands
simultaneously -- a horse's head with one hand and a stag's head with the
other. He taught drawing and etching to Queen Victoria who was a lefty that
became ambidextrous. ......Fleming, Einstein and Tesla were all ambidextrous.
Benjamin Franklin was also ambidextrous and signed the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution with his left hand. U.S. 20th president,
James Garfield was a well educated backwoodsman born in a log cabin. Although
he could write with either hand with equal ease, he could also write Greek with
his left hand and Latin with his right hand simultaneously! Harry Kahne
demonstrated his mental dexterity in 1922 by performing several mental
operations simultaneously. While one hand was writing mirror language, the
other hand intermingled upside down and backward letters. ......
Left-handed
and ambidextrous people have 11% larger corpus callosa (the bundle of nerve
fibers joining the right and left sides of the brain) than right handed people.
An autopsy of Einstein's brain revealed a larger profusion of superficial
capillaries interlacing the cerebral cortex than the average brain, as well as
an additional amount of glial cells. Obviously the more we use and exercise our
brain, the more it physically grows.
The
following exercises are designed to task the little used areas of the brain to
allow such growth. ......To be able to use both hands equally well, practice is
the key. During the day, use your left hand more (if you're right-handed) by
consciously switching when you're about ready to do something -- pouring a
glass of milk, bouncing a ball, flipping and picking up coins, hammering a
nail, cutting and buttering bread, stirring your coffee, swirling water in a
glass, twisting off bottle caps, etc. Wherever you would use your one hand, use
the other instead -- putting a key in the door, combing your hair, brushing
your teeth, shaving, grasping objects, etc. When putting on your clothes, put
your other hand or foot into the garment first. Thread your belt around your
waist in the opposite direction.
Put your
watch on your other hand. Use your other hand in sports -- hitting a baseball
or a tennis ball, throwing a football, shooting a basketball, etc. Practice
stirring 2 cups of tea simultaneously, swirling 2 half filled glasses of water
clockwise and counterclockwise, and bouncing two balls at the same time. Get
used to the kinesthetic feeling of using the muscles of both your hands and
arms together. Catch 2 balls thrown to you at the same time. Throw 2 paper wads
at the same time into the same paper basket -- one underhand and the other
overhand. Throw 2 darts simultaneously at a dart board with both hands. Write
with both hands at the same time. Draw a butterfly, a vase or a geometric
figure using both hands simultaneously, but keep practicing these exercises.
......
Many
musical instruments are played ambidextrously, and many athletes are adept at
using both of their hands. Since swimming is an ambidextrous activity, teaching
dyslectic children to swim often helps them to read and write normally because
it balances the brain hemispheres. Become ambidextrous and along with an added
physiological brain growth, a more balanced integration of your 2 hemispheres
will be achieved. Studies have shown that ambidextrous people are more
emotionally independent, more determined, more adaptable to new situations and
more apt to handle problems without giving up. ......A new training manual with
over two hundred mental exercises has recently become available for those
willing to improve themselves. It is entitled, The 100% Brain Course, and it
shows you how to train yourself to do extraordinary things with your mind and
body.
Ambidexterity: Encyclopedia - Ambidexterity
Ambidexterity
Ambidexterity
is the ability of being equally adept with each hand (or, to a limited degree,
feet). The word "ambidextrous" is derived from the Latin roots ambi,
meaning "both," and dext, meaning "right." Thus,
"ambidextrous" is literally "right on both sides".
As an
inborn trait ambidexterity is rare, though it can be learned. Most ambidextrous
people still gravitate towards performing certain types of tasks with a
specific hand. The degree of versatility with each hand is generally the
qualitative factor in determining a person's ambidexterity. Each side of the
brain controls the opposite side of our bodies. Some people have been known to
hesitate upon the decision the brain makes while attempting to use either right
or left side, most likely the motor controlled side that would benefit most.
In modern
times, it is more common to find people considered ambidextrous who were
originally left handed, and learned to be ambidextrous either deliberately or
during childhood in institutions such as schools where right-handed habits are
often emphasized. Ambidexterity is often encouraged in activities requiring a
great deal of skill in both hands, such as swimming, percussion or keyboard
music, and combat.
*Using
Both Hands, Crossing Midline, Hand Dominance: Fun Activities
An
Ambidextrous Child? Or A Processing Disorder?
Some
children who appear to be ambidextrous actually have a hidden processing
disorder. More often than not, these children end up with two, unskilled hands.
These kids need lots of two-handed activities- especially those that cross the
middle of the body. A lot of the activities done in Occupational Therapy and
Vision Therapy promote this.
Just
think, what if you couldn't cross the body easily? You'd have to pick up a
pencil on one side of your book with your "helper" hand and move it
to the middle so that your dominant hand, or "worker hand," could use
it. It would affect your handwriting because diagonal lines cross the midline.
Establishing a worker hand and a helper hand is a sign that specialization and
maturity in the brain is occurring. Look for this around the age of five years
old and reinforce it using two-handed activities that cross the midline of the
body.
Some examples include: reaching for bean bags
across midline then throwing at a target, making large X and 8 with arms in the
air, cross crawling, wheelbarrow walking but crossing hands, and popping
bubbles with one hand only.
Handedness
Handedness
is an attribute of humans defined by their unequal distribution of fine motor
skill between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous
with the right hand is called right-handed, and one who is more skilled with
the left is said to be left-handed. A minority of people are equally skilled
with both hands, and are termed ambidextrous. People who demonstrate
awkwardness with both hands are said to be ambilevous or ambisinister.
Ambisinistrous motor skills or a low level of dexterity may be the result of a
debilitating physical condition. There are four main types of handedness:
*
Right-handedness is most common. Right-handed people are more dexterous with
their right hands when performing a task.
*
Left-handedness is less common than right-handedness. Left-handed people are
more dexterous with their left hands when performing a task. About 8-15% of
people are left-handed.[1]
*
Mixed-handedness, also known as cross-dominance, is being able to do different
tasks better with different hands. For example, mixed-handed persons might
write better with their left hand but throw a ball more efficiently with their
right hand. However, many writers define handedness by the hand used for
writing, so mixed-handedness is often neglected.
* Ambidexterity
is exceptionally rare, although it can be learned. A true ambidextrous person
is able to do any task equally well with either hand. Those who learn it still
tend to sway towards their originally dominant hand.
No one knows for certain why the human
population is right-hand-dominant, but a number of theories have been proposed.
Environmental
Theories
Birth
stress
This
theory's basic premise is that left-handedness is due to brain damage during
the birth process. Some statistics support this theory. Difficult or stressful
births happen far more commonly among babies who grow up to be left-handed or
ambidextrous. Birth stress is also associated with a number of birth defects
and complications, including cerebral palsy and autism.
Medical
technology and obstetrics has failed to lower the proportion of left handed
people, supporting the idea that routine obstetrical care is stressful to the
neonate. Routine obstetric care in a hospital setting for low-risk women has
not been shown to improve outcomes but has been shown to increase the use of
obstetrical interventions during the birth process.
Common routine interventions that may
contribute to a baby's stress during birth include non-indicated induction of
labor, pharmacological forms of pain relief, restriction of mother's mobility,
restriction of mother's food and drink, administration of antibiotics during
labor, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, artificial rupture of membranes,
directed pushing or pushing in the supine position, immoderate use of forceps
delivery or vacuum extraction, elective or excess cesarean section, restriction
of access to vaginal birth after cesarean section, early clamping of the
umbilical cord, separation of mother and baby, and non-emergency early newborn
procedures.
Famous
ambidextrous people
Ambidexterity
- Famous ambidextrous people
Robert Baden-Powell
James Garfield
Shigeru Miyamoto
Harry Truman
Michael Angelo Batio
Leonardo da Vinci
James Woods
Saurav Ganguly
Ravi Shastri
Benjamin Franklin
Paul McCartney
Bob Cousy
John G. Roberts, Jr.
Topher Grace
Maria Sharapova
Noel Gallagher
Dick van Dyke
Pau Gasol
Kurt Cobain
As 2 hands are mirror opposites the the motion they induce is
opposite and equal/1,2jobs/sec and 1body. 2 = forces create a 3rd resultant
force through the body,the body , brain is evolved from ambidextrous ancestors
so ambidexterity is the correct software to run the both sides of the brain,
body* fast 1handed = 1way out only 2hands gives you choice where 1handed is no
choice* life . ambidexterity= load/ 2hands stress/ 2hands , jobs/2hands=
timeshare between the 2hands
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Does your son hold his pencils and crayons differently? My son
has not chosen a preferred hand to write with and can use both with ease, but I
get complaints from his teacher daily that I need to teach him to hold a pencil
properly. His Pre K teacher caught the Ambidexterity but apparently the
Kindergarten teacher has failed to notice. He had to switch teachers a week in
due to high enrollment so I have not yet had the opportunity to discuss my son
with the new one. She only has about twelve kids so I would have thought she
might have enough time to pick up on it. I will be printing your information to
teach the teacher. Thanks for the information. I wonder if there is truly a
link with gifted children, my son is gifted as well.
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I have written a book about ambidexterity. It is called Whole
Brain Power. You can Google it and read some of the reviews.
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Very interesting. I used to work with my daughter's physical
therapists, and they taught principles and techniques of doing certain tasks
such as you suggested the opposite way that you were used to doing them.
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My husband is
ambidextrous. And he's an amazing drummer! I had read that using your left hand
(if you're right handed, of course) for daily tasks can help stimulate
creativity.
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Thank you for your comments. Will approve and post soon