I have noticed that my right - handed 12 year old daughter, while well coordinated and athletic, has trouble orienting herself when given verbal directions to go to the right or left. For instance, when her basketball coach instructs the children to migrate to the right of the court, her instinct is to go to the left side of the court. I’ve seen this same tendency in other instances both with right and left directions - her tendency to do the opposite. She appears confused and has to think about it before she gets it right. Additionally, when she closes a package with a twist tie, she twists the tie counterclockwise. Does anyone have an explanation for this?
Thank you
allyblue
No, but I have the same issue with directions, whether right/left or clockwise/counterclockwise. I do tend to twist clockwise, but I have to think about the directions when it matters. The “righty-tighty, lefty-loosy” rule confuses me. (I kid you not; it bothers me that the top of the screw is moving right, but the bottom of the screw is going left and if I’m not facing the screw straight on, I have to resort to trial and error to find the right direction).
I’ve always felt more comfortable wearing a watch on my right hand and always put name tags on the “wrong” side.
Was your daughter ever left-handed? My parents are extraordinarily vague about it, but I did some manual dexterity exercises as a very young kid (four or so) that might have been designed to switch me from left-handed to right-handed. (They say that’s not why I did the exercises, but have been very inconsistent about what it was for).
I’m right-handed and was never forced to become one, but I, too, have difficulties telling left from right unless I stop to think about it. I’m messed up in a way, though: I prefer the left-handed way to do most jobs requiring both hands and my left hand is apparently nowhere near as useless as it seems to be with many straight right-handed people.
I am no expert in child development but I would not be too concerned about this. I believe it takes some practice and memorization so that she would benefit from some exercises which would help her memorize and have it become something instinctive. For example, have her wear a ring, bracelet, watch or whatever on one wrist or hand and associate that with right or left. Then over days call out “right” or “left” and have her raise that hand. At first she will need to think but as time goes by she will instinctively know “left” = bracelet and she does not have to think.
At least that works for me although I suppose it might not work for everyone. I think we try to avoid memorization when in many cases there is just no substitute. When you are driving a car you cannot stop to think which one is the gas pedal, it has to be instinctive, and the only way is by practice which creates memorization.
When I had to take a boating test I had to know the meaning of a number of whistle blasts. One short blast means I am turning right, two short blasts mean I am turning left. Trying to just remember words in my head does not work for me. I would walk in the street and I would make the appropraite sounds in my head or just under my breath with every turn. As I approached people from behind and about to pass them I would do the whistle sounds like advising them if I was passing on their right or on their left. I have a very visual memory and this works very well for me and I think most people are like that.
You can’t put someone on a boat and say “this port, this is starboard, this is the mainsheet, this is the main halyard, this is the jib halyard, this is the jib sheet, etc” and expect them to remember it. They need to practice, exercise, and repeat until it becomes ingrained in their minds.
You see a green light at night. Is that ship moving to your right or to your left? You can repeat it a hundred times and most people will forget it. But make a drawing of two ships facing each other, moving across in front of you, and paint a red dot on the one on the right, moving left, and a green dot on the one on the left, moving right, and most people will remember that. Have it around where you can see it and it becomes automatic to see the color and think the direction of movement.
You can try making a card with the words “left” and “right” and have her see it often and focus on the placement of the words. After a while the word “right” will become associated with that direction.
I think the idea that learning can be achieved without work, practice and memorization has done great harm. It is not enough to know “pain” means “bread” in French. You have to practice and repeat it until you do not need to stop and think “how do you say bread in French?” but that when you think of bread the word that comes to your mind without even thinking is “pain”. That takes time, repeating, practice.
Reading maps and other things with which some people have trouble is mainly a matter of learning how to think and memorizing a few things until they become instinctive.
Children (and adults) need to learn that learning requires some effort. Otherwise they are in for some disappointment.
I hope this helps.