Does being left-handed affect your handwriting?
3) Left-handers have messier handwriting
Apparently you are more likely to have messy handwriting if you are left-handed. Sarah-Jane says: “Languages that are written left-to-right, like English, are physically challenging to write with the left hand.”
Grasp. Ideally left-handers should hold the pen or pencil 2-3cm from the point to enable them to see round their fingers and avoid “hooking” with the writing hand or adopting and awkward neck posture when writing.
Left-handers often make their cross marks (such as on the letter “t”) from right to left. They also write symbols like “O” in a clockwise instead of counter-clockwise direction. Don't try to change this; this is more comfortable and much easier. There are handwriting charts available specifically for left-handers.
This is because writing from left to right is harder: instead of pulling the pen across the paper, they have to push it, which can lead to problems such as a poor pencil grasp, smudged work, and arm strain. There are, however, some simple tips for helping your left-handed child get to grips with handwriting.
- Western writing runs from left to right. ...
- Left-handed children learning to write often write back to front ('mirror' writing). ...
- Implements such as scissors are designed for use with the right hand.
Because we write from left to right, right handers pull the pencil, writing away from their body while left handers have to push the pencil, writing towards their body. Teaching left handed people to write the same way as right handed people can make handwriting slow, uncomfortable and messy.
Results showed no significant difference in the speed of writing between left-handed users and right-handed users, though the right-handers were slightly faster. When the right-handers and left-handers used their non dominant hand, left-handers were faster.
Left-handers use the right side of the brain more. The human brain is cross-wired -- its right half controls the left side of the body and vice versa. Hence, left-handers use their right side of the brain more than right-handed people do. Left-handers recover quicker after a stroke.
In their analysis of 144 handedness and brain laterality studies—accounting for a total of nearly 1.8 million individuals—University of Oxford psychologists Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, PhD, and Maryanne Martin, PhD, found that males are about 2 percent more likely to be left-handed than females.
They found no difference in IQ levels among left- and right-handed people, but left-handers appeared to be more likely to have an intellectual disability. However, this study indicated that people who were intellectually gifted or following typical development were also just as likely to be left-handed.
How can you tell if someone is left-handed?
- 2) Observe The Hand They Use When They Take A Selfie.
- 3) Notepad And Pens Will Always Be On The Left.
- 4) Notice The Way They Do Their Work.
- 5) Observe The Ink Smear On That Pinky.
- 6) Using The Left Hand To Answer The Phone.
- 7) Look At Which Hand Their Watch Are Wore On.
There are many aspects to handwriting that can be complicated by having a child who is left-handed. Often, the hand smears the ink or pencil as the child writes across the page. The hand also gets in the way of reading directions and examples in the left-handed margin.

Whether left- or right-handed, anyone can master the art of beautiful handwriting. But having the right tools always helps. From single nibs to complete collections, you can find everything you need for left-handed calligraphy right here.
The easiest lower case letter to start with is the 'u'. This is, by far, the easiest letter to write in cursive. Simply make a downward stroke to the dashed line and then extend down to the bottom line, curve slightly just before you reach it, and then go back up.
“When we're left-handed, our right brains are usually dominant, and that's where creativity and intuition are centered. So it's often easier for us to be creative than logical.
Ability to write mirrored text
15% of left-handed people have the language centres in both halves of their brain. The cerebral cortex and motor homunculus are affected by this, causing the person to be able to read and write backwards quite naturally.
It was initially thought that a single gene controlled handedness. However, more recent studies suggest that multiple genes, perhaps up to 40, contribute to this trait. Each of these genes likely has a weak effect by itself, but together they play a significant role in establishing hand preference.
- James A. ...
- Harry S. ...
- Gerald Ford (August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977) was left handed.
- Ronald Reagan (January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989) was naturally left-handed but wrote with his right hand.
- George H. W. ...
- Bill Clinton (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001) is left-handed.
The United States isn't far behind with a rate of 13.1 percent while neighboring Canada has 12.8 percent.
Lefties--or at least relatives of lefties--may be better than right-handed people at remembering events, according to a new study. Since the mid-1980s, scientists have known that the two brain hemispheres of left-handers are more strongly connected than those of right-handers.
What is Silver Surfer syndrome?
"Silver surfer syndrome" is a made up disease that occurs when a left handed person smears their writing with their hand as they write, causing their skin to look metallic from the graphite.
Left-handedness was associated with differences in brain asymmetry in areas related to working memory, language, hand control and vision. Some of these brain areas were linked to specific genes. Scientists have long been fascinated by left-handedness.
When a left-handed person tries to write like a right handed person, it doesn't work, because the action of their wrist makes the writing slant the wrong way: This form of left-handed handwriting is usually called backhand; it's main disadvantage is that it tends to be illegible (since it distorts the letter forms).
Studies indicate that lefties may respond to stimuli faster than righties.
When the students were divided into two groups as right-handers (EHI +1 to +100) and left-handers (EHI -100 to -1) using the broadest definition of handedness, a higher percentage of left-handers was found in the dyslexic group (17.8% vs. 8.9% in the control group).
Being left-handed has been linked to many mental disorders, but Yale researcher Jadon Webb and his colleagues have found that among those with mental illnesses, people with psychotic disorders like schizophrenia are much more likely to be left-handed than those with mood disorders like depression or bipolar syndrome.
Because muscle control is contralateral, meaning that control of your right hand is actually done by the left part of the brain, it was thought that this bit of brain wiring explained why most people were right-handed.
About 10 percent of the population is left-handed. The rest are right-handed, and there are also about 1 percent who are ambidextrous, which means they have no dominant hand. Not only are lefties outnumbered about 9 to 1 by righties, there are health risks that appear to be greater for left handers, too.
This revealed that the 10 percent rule does not hold steady across states. In fact, McManus writes, “The highest rates of left-handedness are in the north-east, in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, whereas the lowest rates are in the mid-West, in Wyoming and North Dakota.”
DNA is a right-handed helix. Normal B-DNA, as first described by Watson and Crick, is a right-handed helix. GC-rich DNA can also exist in a form known as Z-DNA, which forms a left-handed helix.
How rare is it to be a left-handed female?
In a study from 1975 on 7688 children in US grades 1-6, Left handers comprised 9.6% of the sample, with 10.5% of male children and 8.7% of female children being left-handed.
Previous studies have found that people with psychosis had a 20 percent likelihood of being left-handed, though a small study in the journal SAGE found the rate of psychotic lefties may be even higher.
Sometimes people who are left-handed are called “Southpaws”.
Elon Musk is right handed.
Special or not, lefties are born, not made: Genetics are at least partially responsible for handedness. Up until last year, it was assumed that hand preference comes from asymmetrical genes in the brain—two hands, two brain hemispheres, one is dominant.
A clinical syndrome of pathological left-handedness (PLH) is proposed to identify the pattern of correlative changes in lateral development associated with early brain injury in some manifest left-handers.
No! In about 21% of identical (monozygotic or MZ) twin pairs, one twin is right-handed and the other is either left-handed or ambidextrous. Since identical twins share identical genes, this is evidence that handedness is not a totally genetic trait.
One of the most challenging things for lefties is that their hand covers their work as they write it. Not only does it get smudged, it also gets obscured.
Recent research suggests that children who are strongly left or right handed also have good cerebral lateralisation and typical language production. On the other hand, mixed-handedness (not developing a dominant hand) has been linked with atypical development of motor and language abilities.
Some children experience them from early stages of literacy education, while others occur at a later stage while reading texts. In comparison to right-handed people, left-handed people are 2.5-3 times more likely to have difficulty in mastering written speech -- in both writing and reading.
Are left-handed people more likely to be artistic?
The result was somewhat surprising: There was no difference between left-handers and right-handers regarding the actual amount of time spent on artistic activities.
From Aristotle and Mozart to Marie Curie, Bill Gates and Barack Obama, left-handedness has long been associated with talent and intelligence.
If you are a left-handed artist you might be more unique than you think! Sure, lefties make up about 12 percent of Americans, however a French study reported in Revue Neurologique in 1995 studied 500 artists and determined only 2.8 – 4.7% were left-handed, an even lower percentage than the general population.
Due to multiple factors including stylistic choices and technological advancement, the use of cursive has quickly declined since the start of the 21st century. Cursive has traditionally been used as a way of signing one's name, a signature.
Most of Einstein's writings were composed in Latin cursive, including the letter auctioned off recently. But his earliest correspondence was written in the old German script; he used it almost exclusively until he was in his mid 20s.
- Broadley. A bold hand-drawn script with a touch of vintage, designed by Henry Juanda in 2021.
- Monarda. A funky, energetic retro script released in 2019, designed by Terrance Weinzierl for Monotype.
- Rampage Monoline. ...
- Raksana. ...
- Hope Sans.
Lefties make up only about 10 percent of the population, but studies find that individuals who are left-handed score higher when it comes to creativity, imagination, daydreaming and intuition. They're also better at rhythm and visualization.
Our confidence intervals at a 95% confidence level show that the average IQ for a left handed person is between 117.73 and 127.19 and for a right handed person it is between 109.9 and 123.5.
McManus which found that the Netherlands has one of the world's highest prevalences of left-handedness at 13.23 percent. The United States isn't far behind with a rate of 13.1 percent while neighboring Canada has 12.8 percent. Elsewhere, rates of left-handedness are far lower and China is a good example.
In their analysis of 144 handedness and brain laterality studies—accounting for a total of nearly 1.8 million individuals—University of Oxford psychologists Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, PhD, and Maryanne Martin, PhD, found that males are about 2 percent more likely to be left-handed than females.
What are the strengths of left-handers?
- More Creative with Visual Arts. Being left-handed advantages you with better divergent thinking. ...
- Better Athletes. ...
- May Think Differently. ...
- Easily Pass the Driving Test. ...
- May Make More Money. ...
- Faster Typists. ...
- Spend Less Time in Lines. ...
- Better at Multitasking.