Left-Handed

Today teachers do not try to change a student if they start showing signs at an early age of being left-handed. As students are now allowed to ues their natural hand to complete projects and tasks there are noticeable differences in styles students complete assignments. Left-handed students in the past were made write right-handed. Teachers took writing utensils out of the left-handed students and placed the utensil in the right hand of the student, eliminating left-handed students making it difficult for any research to be done with the left-handed population. By studying the more recent population that are using their left-hand dominantly we are noticing trends that are developing in different areas.

Reports are stating that left and right-handedness is related to cognitive performance. This project is proposing that there are more left-handed students represented in special education compare to the representation in the general population.

In the formation of the background knowledge there is little information comprising populations of left-handed students in special education. Several projects cover cognitive research on left-handedness and the development of left-handed writers.

In the Levander and Levander study, cognitive performance of left-handed people found that males were quicker and made more errors than females in maze performance. The study concluded that males posses a more superior visual-spatial skill. Only the data for the left-handed subjects was analyzed and only the factors of familial sanitarily and strength of handedness was controlled for. In the overall study not a significant difference was found in the ability of male and female left-handed subjects.

Research indicates that being gifted is not an all or none phenomena, stated in the “Profiles of young gifted and normal children.” The study states that research was found that showed handedness is related to cognitive performance. This was seen in the spatial abilities of left-handed persons. Left-handed people were inferior to right-handed individuals in their cognitive performance. The study also states a there is no difference between the two groups.

In mathematics the study concluded left-handed people have an over-representation