Name:                                                                                             Date of Testing:

Age:            Sex: Female/Male

What handedness was assessed for the child and the family members?

                                            left-handed   *   ambidextrous   *   converted     *    reconverted    *    right-handed
                                                                                                         left-hander          left-hander

Child
being examined

Mother

Father

Grandparents
on father's/
mother's side

Brothers

Sisters

Uncles/Aunts
on father's side

Uncles/Aunts
on mother's side

Cousins
on father's side

Cousins
on mother's side

Other relatives

Who?

father's side

mother's side
 
 

Was a conversion of handedness undertaken (i.e. was the child asked to use one particular hand to write with, for example)? ' Yes ' No
If yes, when did this occur? At what age?
 
 
 

When performing the following activities, is the left hand, right hand, or both hands preferred?

1.1 Very spontaneous activities, not shaped by outside influences (e.g. environmental, parental, scholastic, etc.) with only one hand:

                                                              left hand    *   alternating hands   *   right hand

using a comb

cleaning teeth

throwing dice

spinning a top

carrying objects, when
the child is not being
taken by the hand

watering plants

picking up an object

grasping an object

raising a hand in class, while
the other hand is free

using a hammer

taking beads out of a container

stringing beads on a fixed,
vertical wire

scattering beads

picking up beads

holding a telephone receiver
(for children up to school age)

erasing

sweeping away erasures

counting matches

number of checks per column
 

constructing tower with building blocks
number of times blocks are grasped number of times blocks are grasped
and placed with the left hand: ______ and placed with the right hand: ______
 
 

1.2 Very spontaneous activities, not shaped by outside influences (e.g. environmental, parental, scholastic, etc.) with two hands:

                                                                  left hand    *   alternating hands   *   right hand

 holding a nailbrush in the
right hand: the hand which
moves back and forth

holding a nailbrush in the
left hand: the hand which
moves back and forth

holding a broom and
dustpan: the hand holding
the broom

sweeping something from the table

sweeping something from the table into
the other hand: the hand under the table

embroidering: the hand holding the needle

striking a match: the hand which moves

winding up a mechanical toy: the hand
holding the key or the handle

stringing beads on a fine, leather
string: the hand holding the beads

threading a needle:
- when the needle is held still and the thread is placed
  through the eye: the hand guiding the thread
- when the thread is held still and the eye of the needle
  is passed over the thread: the hand guiding the needle

number of checks per column
 
 
 
 

2. Activities influenced and marked by imitation and education:

                                                                      left hand    *   alternating hands   *   right hand

drawing/painting

throwing

playing table tennis/badminton

holding a tennis racket

cutting with a knife and fork: the
hand that holds the knife

using a knife alone

holding a spoon

holding a fork while eating spaghetti

giving a handshake spontaneously
(as a small child)

number of checks per column
 
 

3. Activities shaped by the design of certain technical equipment or the absence of products specially designed for left-handers:

                                                                               left hand    *   alternating hands   *   right hand

using scissors

holding a pencil while sharpening it

the direction of the turning motion
when pencil    -  toward the body
                         -  away from the body
sharpening

opening a screw top lid on a jar or bottle

closing a screw top lid on a jar or a bottle

using a potato peeler

using a can opener

using a cork screw

the direction of the movement when
turning a corkscrew   -  toward the body
                                     - away from the body

using telephone receiver (when notes
are taken with other hand) holding
a telephone receiver

holding a telephone receiver and taking notes:
the hand holding the receiver

using a screwdriver

ironing

opening doors and windows

operating a light switch

number of checks per column
 

total number of checks per column
 
 
 

History of Handedness in the Child

When did you notice the child's left-handedness?
- during the child's first 12 months of life
- from approximately 12 months to two years
- two to three years
- three to four years
- four to five years
- five to six years

During which activities was a preference for left-handedness noticed?
- grasping,   - eating,   - offering one's hand,   - cutting,   - drawing,   - writing,
- other activities, which?____________________________________________________
 
 

On the first page of the questionnaire, questions about the handedness of family members are asked in order to evaluate the existence of a genetic component.

It must be made clear here that the completeness of the information provided fluctuates greatly. This means that the power of the questionnaire to yield conclusive results also varies. Usually, very little is known about the handedness of relatives. In addition, various family events such as divorce, separation, moving, and/or death can have a negative effect on the amount of information that is retained concerning the handedness of family members. Normally, handedness is not attended to very closely. Moreover, in earlier generations, like those of the grandparents, it is often the case that the practice of converting left-handedness was strictly observed.

In the performance of the activities listed in the questionnaire, it is not necessarily important to stick to the order presented. Moreover, it is much more helpful to observe spontaneous activities concerning hand-preference and to record these results rather than asking the child questions that obviously pertain to the use of the left or right hand.

The same is true concerning the relative completeness of the questionnaire. It is important to try to divert the child's attention away from consciously observing their hand. This can be done by playfully going about each of the exercises or by inserting activities that don't necessarily have something directly to do with examining handedness. In the Consulting Center, for example, a colored gyroscope, like the one developed by Bauhaus, is used. Although it is much too heavy for the children to turn, it is fascinating with its multi-colored discs which can be changed to create another picture. In this situation, children often forget (at least somewhat) the testing situation and much can be observed when they use their hands to work with the gyroscope.

Parents who are usually present when the questionnaire is completed and during the drawing and tracing tests, often have to admit that they have not been very observant of their child's handedness. Frequently, a process of re-evaluating the previous judgments concerning their child's hand preference is initiated. In this way, a certain degree of comfort and security are gained by the parents, concerning the left-handedness of their children.

The activities performed left-handed in section 1 of the questionnaire rate much higher when attempting to diagnose left-handedness than do those in the second and third sections. With reference to the use of scissors (among children, the section that is usually the only crossed activity in the third section) it must be noted that the result here is very dependent upon two factors: 1) the availability of a pair of left-handed scissors in good repair; and 2) modeling. Many children, despite the fact that they are normally left-handed, cut with their right hand because they cannot come to terms with using right-handed scissors with their left hand. For this reason, they switch over to using their right hand. Complicated fine-motor processing like learning to use scissors are not simply carried over from one hand to another, however.

The questionnaire contains a selection of relatively good activities for testing handedness which can be carried out within a comparatively short period of time. Of course, many more activities could be tested here. On this point, according to Liselotte Kramer and Fischer/Kohenof, the book by Rolf Meyer Linkshändig? Ein Ratgeber offers detailed testing possibilities for ascertaining left-handedness (Meyer, Rolf W., Linkshändig? Ein Ratgeber. Humboldt Verlag, München, 1991, 1997 (3)).

Please, however, be aware that children can only take so much. At some point they will simply refuse to participate further. When it is no longer possible to make the testing interesting and proceed quickly, there is then an increased danger of obtaining incorrect results.
 
 

Side-Dominance or Lateralization in the Eyes and Feet

Examinations of sidedness for researching side-dominance in sight and using the feet are routinely cited, conducted, and recorded under the respective terms "eyedness" and "footedness."

Footedness

Which of the following activities are (preferably) performed equally as often and/or as well with the left, right, or both feet?

                                                                                  left   *  alternating   *  right feet

kicking a ball

crossing one's legs: the leg on top

hopping on one foot

number of checks per column

Meyer (1991), for example, provides a large number of other possible activities that can also be examined (see: p. 48ff).
 
 

Eyedness
                                                                          left eye    *   alternating eyes   *   right eye

the eye used when looking through:

a kaleidoscope

a key-hole

a roll of paper

number of checks per column
 
 

Research on Lateralization

In such examinations of laterality it has been assumed that the determination of a child's left-handedness is that much more certain, when left-dominance is also established for the ears, eyes, and feet.

This is a working hypothesis that sometimes holds true. However, it is very dependent upon many outside factors.

In addition, according to our current knowledge and the apparatuses that are currently available, it is still often imprecise.

The hypothesis that the more organs in the body are lateralized, the more sure the determination of handedness is, has been logically concluded. Using the current methods available, who among us can guarantee that a deviant lateralization in the ears, is, for example, not due to a defect in the ear drum due to a middle ear infection in childhood, rather than a dominance in hearing on one side of the brain.

Further, it is precisely in the area of hearing dominance that the speech center must also be considered. In left-handers, usually this center is also situated in the left half of the brain. Thus, according to the principle of contralaterality, the right ear is often preferred for speech in dichotic tests. In the older literature, it can be read that the speech center lies in the left side of the brain among right-handers and on the right side of the brain among left-handers. The second part of this assertion can not be sustained in this form as it does not correspond to the current state of science.

At the Swedish University of Uppsala, extensive research studies on dichotic hearing are being conducted. These studies involve tests in which both ears are simultaneously supplied with spoken information. Then, tests are conducted to determine which hemisphere can give back the most information offered. The results are used as an analog to the seat of the speech center (Andersson, Britta, "Dichotic listening in lefthanders: Comparisons between left and right hemisphere speech dominant children". In: Uppsala Psychological Reports, No. 403, 1988).

The fact that a simple habit can be the source for experimental distortions found is shown, for example, in telephone behavior. The hand which is used to dial and make notes simply cannot be the same hand that simultaneously holds the receiver. Therefore, many people hold the phone in their non-dominant hand.

© Copyright by Dr. Johanna Barbara Sattler. Published in the book The Left-Handed Child in Elementary School
 

© Copyright: Dr. Johanna Barbara Sattler
Consulting and Information Center for Left-handers and Converted Left-handers
(Erste deutsche Beratungs- und Informationsstelle für Linkshänder und umgeschulte Linkshänder)
Sendlinger Str. 17, D - 80331 Munich (München), Germany / Europe, Tel./ Fax: +49 / 89 / 26 86 14
http://www.lefthander-consulting.org, e-mail: info@lefthander-consulting.org