How do you know that you are ambidextrous?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm a little wondering about my handedness now. I figured I was certainly somewhat left-handed even though I was taught to use my right hand for most tasks. I also had issues with directions that went away entirely in less than 1 month of using my left hand for writing and some other fine motor tasks.

So now someone told me to stop using my right hand. It would get my brain mixed up.

Well, it doesn't. Using both hands for mostly different tasks works best. As a child I constantly used both hands, as non felt better than the other. Now it is the same again, I spontaneously use both hands.

Does that mean I may be ambidextrous?
(I mean the original meaning of ambidexterity: Co-dominance in both hands without training.)

Is anyone here ambidextrous? How would I know what handedness I have?

I am ambidextrous.

Like you, I use different hands for different tasks. Ignore the person who told you to stop using both hands - just do what feels right.

Oh whatever. The other person has hand jealousy. Tell them to quit using whatever hand they used and give a reason like it will make your hair fall out.

I favor my right hand, but CAN write with my left, etc... I consider myself ambidextrous, even though it doesn't show all the time, or to an identical degree in both hands. That IS to be expected. Writing a west european, or many other languages, with your left hand is HARD, EVEN for left handers! THAT is why so many have problems with smudging and why there are at least TWO ways to write with the left hand. BTW that is not a slant at left handers. Arabic, Hebrew, and some other languages are JUST as hard for a right handed person, though left handers would find it easier.

Still, I am CONSTANTLY told that MOST people that are right handed do this or that with a certain hand, and I often switch. I may take my car keys in my right hand, and put them in my right pocket while taking my credit cards out with the left to pay for something, or may even toss the keys from my right to my left to open the door with my left. I am just as likely to do the opposite with the passenger door.

I am HORRIBLE at catching things, but when I throw them to myself, I do REALLY well. I may have missed 3 times in as many years, even though I may have caught things in such a way many thousands of times during the same 3 years.

So I don't know. If you see me write, or throw, you will figure I am right handed. Otherwise, you will have a hard time.

BTW DON'T favor one side, if you can avoid it. It helps balance things out if you don't. As for your brain getting mixed up? Well, you might find you do more with less conscious thought! What is so bad about that!?

I had a hard time in early childhood selecting a dominant hand. They both felt the same to me. I remember my K teacher switching my pencil to my right hand on several occassions. So now I'm right handed. But I can play baseball, or shoot pool, or skateboard on either hand/stance.

I use my left hand to write. I use my right for almost everything else.

I can write with my right hand too, but I do it better with my left one.

I think that this might be down to practice?

When you bolt on your cyborg hands in the morning and you get them backwards?

Yes, the more I practice writing with my right hand, the better I do it.

I use whatever hand works best. This can be quite useful when you are short and can't reach as far as a taller person.

---

If you have the opportunity to learn to play the piano a little (using both hands), you'll likely figure out a little your natural handedness. Other possibilities: jump rope, hopping, snare drumming with two drum sticks, trying to juggle three rubber balls in the air using two hands, etc. An ambidextous person can draw a circle on a sheet of paper equally well with either hand (simplified). If you look carefully at the general area of gross and fine motor control, some persons can have subtle variations as to it all. Some persons can have some very subtle challenges in the area of motor control due to microscopic or smaller gitches in the cerebellum/other areas. Practice in many cases is slightly helpful but if there is an underlying glitch, the practice may not lead to great improvement. That's my understanding.

Interesting--I found it took three tries with my left hand to get "up to speed" in drawing circles--the first two weren't too good but then I got the hand/brain synced up so the overall roundness is better--though there is more waviness with my left compared to the right.

Oh FFS.

Congratulations. You've just found out.

Also check dyspraxia, which can present as ambidexterity (i.e. not preferring the dominant hand, using the closest / most convenient hand instead). Dyspraxia is associated with motor planning and sequencing difficulties, and people with excellent fine motor control may have dyspraxia secondary to ASD.

"Cross-laterality, ambidexterity, and a shift in the preferred hand are also common in people with dyspraxia." - http://www.autism-help.org/comorbid-dys ... autism.htm

I am mostly left-handed, but for some things I use my right hand...

writing - left hand
computer mouse - right hand
peeling carrots/potatoes - right hand
eating - whatever feels convenient
(trying to play) guitar - right hand

However i'm not ambidextrous, as the motor skills in my right hand aren't as good/refined as those in my left hand...

I write with my left, throw a baseball (or really anything) with my right. I can bowl with either, I type poorly with both.