Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Right or Left Handed? Two Simple Tests to Establish Dominancy

 
I recently got a new child in my room who keeps switching her crayons from one hand to the other. Same for her pencil. And her cutting skills were nil. She could barely handle a pair of scissors. So I gave her a quick 2-part dominancy test to see which hand she should be using. I was telling another teacher about this, and she asked me, "What did you do to test her?"

Test #1 - Tell the student to put her hands in her lap. Place a pencil on the table directly in front (mid line) of the child. Tell her to pick up the pencil. Her dominant hand will reach for the pencil.

Test #2 - Have the student stand, feet together. Put a piece of paper on the floor directly in front of her. Tell her to stomp on the paper. Her dominant side will prevail.

How do you test for dominancy if a child hasn't settled for being left- or right-handed?

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