Should a ten-year-old child be able to tell left from right?
She's almost eleven and is having some problems in school, so I'm starting to look at different issues she's had in order to try and identify any inborn problems. Frankly, her school trouble looks like bad attitude. If there's another reason, I'd love to find it quickly. I've been looking at symptoms of dyspraxia in an effort to work out just what the heck it is, but it's looking as vague as all those various syndromes and disorders that fit a few people and are believed to fit more, if only there was a way to test for them...
Anyway, I've noticed she never seems to remember right from left. I don't know if she's just having a lazy moment when it comes up and not really trying, or if she's tired or nervous and her mind went blank... I will have to ask her directly about it today, cold, to see what she does. But it seems every time she is asked to do something based upon right or left, she hesitates or chooses the wrong one. I remember taking at least as long to get it worked out myself, though, so does anyone know what's standard?
Cindy B2008-10-31T15:12:02Z
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I just happened to recently hear a science report about this. There are lots and lots of adults who hesitate about right vs left. it does not seem to be correlated with intelligence or lack of intelligence. This makes sense to me. I was always years ahead in math, but didn't really learn right from left until I was driving a car. Even now I sometimes make a mistake. Of course she could have dyspraxia too... but the right/ left thing is not concerning at all to me.
My 10 year old daughter sounds like yours. She doesn't have an attitude at school but learning for her is harder than it was for me. She has a horrible time telling right from left. I tell her to make the "L" with her hands, but yesterday I noticed her drawing an L backwards on a school project, so alot of good that would do. She is also the captain of her dance team, so I know there are no issues with coordination or direction taking. There must just be some part of the brain not firing correctly. She gets straight A's so she's either good enough or they've lowered the standards... Take her to a developmental specialist if you think you have serious concerns though. Catch it before high school.
There isn't actually a standard. She's not necessarily behind or anything. My mother had trouble telling left from right as well, and she got her Master's degree in computer science in America before she could speak much English. It's possible that she has dyspraxia or some other disorder, but not necessarily.
What else is troubling you? The right-and-left thing isn't too worrying, but it seems there are other issues that are worrying you.
As long as that's the only problem she's been having, I wouldn't worry about it.
My best friend can't tell right from left (unless she looks at her hands...the left hand is the one that makes the "L" with the pointer finger and thumb) and she's 21 and applying for graduate school to get her PhD. The only time it becomes an issue is when she's trying to follow driving directions.
Just try to get her used to the different directions, give her opportunities to practice. Eventually, it should just click. If you're driving, ask what direction you need to turn, right or left. If she's right handed, help her understand that "right" is the direction of the hand she writes with (or vice versa if she's a leftie).
My 10 year old son is in 5th grade and gets all A's and every once in a while he will have to stop and think about which is left and which is right. Their brains really do work a lot harder than an adult brain and these little things get pushed to the back when harder school subjects get introduced. If it is a bad attitude, she maybe doesn't want to respond and enjoys getting you frustrated.