Maths & problem-solving

Left-handed children often think about space and number from the other side. Their reasoning can be strong while their written work looks weak.

What you'll notice

Correct answers when explained aloud, wrong ones on paper.
Digits drifting across columns in written addition and subtraction.
Number lines and graphs read or drawn from right to left.
An unusual order of solving: starting from the result, or from the end of the task.

Why it happens

Written methods were designed for a right hand: it moves to the right and leaves visible what it has written. A left hand covers its own work and, in column methods that run right to left, the next step as well.

Many left-handed children also build their spatial picture from their own dominant side. Their solution is often valid. It simply takes a route the textbook did not foresee.

Shaded squares: what a left hand covers while writing the units column. The next column to carry into is hidden.

In the classroom

Use squared paper with one digit per square, and write carries above the column, outside the hand's shadow.
Ask the child to explain the solution aloud before marking the written result.
Accept a different, valid solving order. Grade the reasoning, not the route.

At home

Play number games aloud: in the car, while cooking, while shopping.
Do homework at a desk lit from the right, with the paper tilted clockwise.
Ask "how did you work that out?" and listen to the route before correcting it.

Exercise to print

[EXERCISE NAME FROM THE BOOK] A4 worksheet with squared columns and space for the child's own explanation. [N] pages, PDF

[SHORT QUOTE FROM THE BOOK ON HOW LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN SOLVE PROBLEMS] ([AUTHOR NAME], [BOOK TITLE])