What is being truely amadextrious?

[redshoes]

Please forgive my typo in the title- obviously I'm right handed and I wouldn't be considered "gifted" any shape or form .

I'm curious about what is considered being amidextrious. My 6 year old son has not shown a preference for one hand or the other. When he was younger, we thought he was left handed but the more he does the less clear it is if he is right handed or left. He writes right handed, but cranes his hand over the paper like a lefty. He bats both right and left, but fields right hand in baseball. He shots a basketball and golfs left handed. He eats with both his left and right and is equally skilled with both. Right now, I'm struggling with him learning to tie his shoes because I show him how to do it right handed and he attempts to do everything with his left and gets frustrated with it.
Forgive me if this is a stupid question : If you're amidextrious does it mean that you can do things equally well with both hands or does it mean you pick and chose what hand to use depending on the situation? At what age does a person typically chose (for a lack of a better word, I know it has a lot to do with genetics and it's not a real choice) left or right handed?

 

[Micca]

You can play Mozart with either hand?

 

[Poohgirl]

I am ambidextrous and do many things with both my right and left hands. Some things I will only do with one hand specifically, either right or left. I can write with both, however my left is much more legible.

I don't think it would be uncommon for your son to be left handed, but use his right for some things. As a lefty, it is not given much consideration from birth to be taught that way and many things are learned "righty" because thats how the world is.

I can relate with the shoe tying. My ex and I are both lefty, with our children being both righty. We had a very hard time teaching them to tie their shoes because they couldn't do it "lefty" as we were showing.
We finally resorted to the "bunny ears", and at 10 years old our youngest still can't tie "normally" very well.

Best of luck to you!

 

[c4a]

I don't see it as a personal choice. Anymore than you look at it as you choose to be right or left handed? I know what you mean, though. It just made me smile. (thank you)
Being ambi, we use both hands equally well. We also tend to use both sides of our brains equally well. Because of this, you may want to have your son tested for "gifted" programs.
Personally, I use the same hand as the person who taught me used. My mother is left handed and my dad is right handed.
Examples: I eat left handed, write right handed, shoot basketball right handed, cut left handed, can bat either hand, fish right handed, vacuum ( all household chores.) I do left handed.
That said, I can use either hand for an activity. I just have a dominate on some because that is the hand that gets the most practice. (Make sense?)
Right now(as of this moment), I have a broken left wrist-the brace gets in my way...so things I normally do with my left-I do with my right. It feels a little awkward because it is retraining a habit.
(Unfortuntly, my dh knows I am ambi-so the broken wrist doesn't get me out of housework. )

 

[mickeyboat]

Your typo reminds me of a funny story from years ago. Someone asked a NC State basketball player if he was right or left-handed. He said he was amphibious!

Anyway, I think being truly ambidexterous means you can do things equally as well with both hands. Otherwise, I think your non-domant hand might justbe more coordinated.

 

[NikiM20]

I'm curious about what is considered being amadextrious. My 6 year old son has not shown a preference for one hand or the other. When he was younger, we thought he was left handed but the more he does the less clear it is if he is right handed or left. He writes right handed, but cranes his hand over the paper like a lefty. He bats both right and left, but fields right hand in baseball. He shots a basketball and golfs left handed. He eats with both his left and right and is equally skilled with both. Right now, I'm struggling with him learning to tie his shoes because I show him how to do it right handed and he attempts to do everything with his left and gets frustrated with it.Forgive me if this is a stupid question : If you're amadextrious does it mean that you can do things equally well with both hands or does it mean you pick and chose what hand to use depending on the situation? At what age does a person typically chose (for a lack of a better word, I know it has a lot to do with genetics and it's not a real choice) left or right handed?

Sit in front of him to teach him. DD is a lefty and its how I had to teach her

 

[CarolinaBlue]

Your typo reminds me of a funny story from years ago. Someone asked a NC State basketball player if he was right or left-handed. He said he was amphibious!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

My older son (now 8yo) was similar to your son. He entered kindergarten still not knowing whether he was right or left handed. He eventually decided on his right hand for writing, but he still uses his left for some things. (Baseball was interesting. Left handed mitt... OK, now a right handed mitt...)

Websters defines ambidextrous as using both hands with equal ease. I guess I would not consider my son ambidextrous by that definition then. He does certain things well with his right, but can't do them as well with his left, and vice versa.

DS4 seems to be a leftie, a bit of a surprise in a totally right-handed family. I don't know of anyone in either side of the family who is left-handed, so this sort of came out of the blue!

 

[87Heel]

Things were similar for my DD10. We thought she was a lefty as a toddler/preschooler; then she started using the right more in K. She still doesn't know which way feels better for baseball/softball (gave up playing that). Golfs right.
I'm convinced that it helped when she started to learn to play the piano a few years ago; she doesn't really think of learning the left and right hand parts separately.
And to follow up on what someone else posted, she did test as gifted, but I never made that left brain/right brain connection before.

 

[Maleficent13]

There is also mixed-handedness.

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 right hand but throw a ball more efficiently with their left hand. This could also refer to pianists, because different sections of pieces are usually composed to fit the abilities of the different hands, considering that the right hand is usually for melodies and the left-hand, harmonies. However, many writers define handedness by the hand used for writing, so Mixed-handedness is often neglected.

I am mixed-handed. My grandmother was truly ambidextrous.

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.

 

[connorlevismom]

I am really interested in the answers here. My 4 1/2 year old still does things with both hands. He tends to write with his left but do other things with his right. He kicks with his left foot but does other sports with his right. When we was tested for Kindergarten this year the lady kind of crabbed at us and told us that we need to make him choose a hand before he starts Kindergarten. I don't know why and I am not going to force my kid to choose a hand. That just seems to be a really stupid thing to say to someone.

Kristine

 

[Cool-Beans]

My friend's son is ambidextrous. He throws with both hands, colors with both hands, etc. He's four and we keep waiting to see a preference. I got him a little-kid basketball hoop and he even tosses that ball in different ways, depending on where he stands.

Nobody has told him yet that almost everyone else uses just one hand, as that might make him do it.

It's really been fascinating to watch in a very boring kind of way.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

connorlevismom, that was terrible advice, IMO! I asked DH's preschool teacher about it, and she said not to worry, he'd eventually choose which he preferred. Same thing the K teacher said, and with all the writing and coloring done in K, that is where it came down to a head.

DS waffled for much of the year, first concentrating on one hand, then the other, then back. The K teacher thought his fine motor skills weren't as well developed as the other kids (DS turned 5 just before school started), and his handwriting (with either hand!) was very hard to read. So we bought him some games to develop those skills.

He eventually drifted toward his right hand for writing and coloring. He just turned 8yo and his handwriting is still a little rough, but not the worst in his class, so the teachers are pleased with his progress.

I'm curious about the gifted angle; DS reads at a higher grade level than his peers, and is really good at math, though I'm not sure he's 'gifted'.

Maleficent, thank you for the info on mixed-handedness, I've never heard that term before.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd12 is lefty - does all sports righty, can't use lefty scissors.
Ds10 is righty - does all sports lefty, but can bat both.
Dd7 is all righty.
Dd5 is all righty.
Ds5 is righty - does most sports lefty, but can switch off.

I think it's called cross dominance?

Edited to add, both the older kids are in the GT program, and ds10 had a really high IQ score (however, the younger ones aren't old enough for the GT program, so who knows).