United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hey all;

My son who is 3 is in K3 at school and they are learning to write their name. However, last night during homework I noticed that he was using both hands to do so. He uses his left hand to write on the left side and the right (BPI arm) on the right side. Should I be worried that he is doing this? They call it ambidextrous when they are able to do that. But should he decide which one to use?? I am just concerned that he will have trouble next year in K4. I talked to his teacher and she wasn't too concerned. But you know as a mommy I worry. Just wondering if any other moms have seen this and their insight on it. Thanks!

Ashley, mom to Brayden 3yrs GA

At 3 it's normal for them to still be deciding which hand to use, for writing, eating, whatever the activity... At 4 they start using one more than the other and by the time they are actually writing their name age 4-5 they have chosen one hand over the other.

Don't worry about it, I taught pre-K and nursery school for 4 years and saw this every year!

Marieke (31, LOBPI)

My son writes with both hands....not like yours, writing one side with one hand and the other side with the other, but I wouldn't stress to much over it, I am sure he will make up his mind. Brandon is ROBPI and writes lefty but can write righty if needed. GAYLE

hello, Keep this in mind the older he gets Emersen used his bp arm to hold the pencil and used his right hand to move the left hand to write. I guess he wanted to be left handed but it didn't work so he used the right hand to make it work. Now that he is in 7th grade he can't write very well, in 3rd grade we had him tested for ot in school and they wrote a 504 accomidation for him. If the teachers want a hand written assignment he gets extra time to finish, so he can take his time and make it nice and readable. We think this is because he writes all the time now with the right side, not the left that he always favored, but couldn't get to work. this may be something to bring up the older he gets in school.

Me, as a 12 year old almost 13 I wouldn't worry. He's only 3 years old. If you would want him to right faster when he's older than you can make him choose but for right now I think it's fine.

Bye, Miss Elizabeth

Hello,
My son, BPI left hand is now age 8. I believe he would have been a natural left (my sister, cousin, and husband brother) are all left handed. Since his BPI is on the left side, he has learned to write right handed. However, he bats left, eats left, and will use both at times. When he was in Kindergarten he had alot of trouble with writing, we did do tutoring handwriting with tears. It helped alot. His writing is not the neatest and he hates to write. Funny, he takes computer in 3rd grade and got 100% on typing test, he has put in request for lap top already for school. In 3rd grade he has to learn cursive and that is challengeing, probably going to do tutoring again. Your OT should be able to help with hand writing. Best of luck.

Sarah uses both hands. When one gets tired, she switches and the writing looks the same..

My 2 Cents on this....

My son Scott has servere fine motor problems(he's an adult now 36, YIKES!!) because of multible disabilites, (non-BPI) alto I had it in his IEP from age 10 he never learned to write his Name in cursive until around age 16 when they were learning about checking accounts/money stuff in Sp.Ed. Actually I then relaxed that he learned that much in cursive because he uses the computer for EVERYTHING in his life now and is an Office Assistant for DSHS. The point of all this is.. that a person can do fine in this computer age with minimal ammount of cursive writting especially when you can print everything else if you gon't have access to a computer. I Thank God for the computer everyday because it opened whole new worlds for the both of us.

Hugs all around,
Carolyn J
Adult LOBPI

Richard always has struggled with writing. It takes such huge amount of concentration for him to make the letters that it is hard for him to keep track of content and spelling. He is 15 now and does everything on the computer which makes his life way easier. The issues were mainly to do with apraxia and getting what he knew in his brain to be performed by his hand.