From the author: published in the magazine “Southern Cocktail”, Novorossiysk, October-November 2010. e-mail: germes-nvr@ For caring parents of children through the looking glass. Is your child left-handed? Yes, yes, one of the brightest representatives shod, as we remember, Blokha, thereby cementing his exclusivity in the memory of the masses.....but this is in the legend. But what in reality? A child, being in a world that is designed for the convenience of right-handed people, is forced to adapt even when he needs to open the door. Try...open your door with your left hand. Comfortable? Is it comfortable? And he has to solve such “small” problems every day. After all, even tying his shoelaces is not easy for him. This requires asynchronous movements of both hands. The same goes for fastening buttons, knitting, sewing. The school year is already in full swing and your baby is getting used to the new status of a school student, getting used to new requirements and new friends. How is he able to write sticks and hooks? This is not entirely easy for right-handed people, let alone left-handed people... Imagine how inconvenient it is to hold the pen correctly! How a fist tries to smear what it has just written... After all, the angle of inclination of the notebook should be completely different and the pens used to write with special beveled tips. They can be bought in stationery stores. It is also difficult for a left-handed child to navigate in space (the space of a notebook, of course, but what did you think?) They can write in a mirror or draw upside down, as well as write a word from right to left or from top to bottom, or even diagonally. These kids are extremely vulnerable, exhausted and prone to hysterics; it often seems to them that their beloved adults do not pay enough attention to them. Because the leading hemisphere is the right hemisphere, and it is responsible for the emotional sphere. What may be neutral for us is always deeply emotional for them. Therefore, they need to be encouraged often even for small successes. So, we figured out the left-handers - from early childhood they preferred to do everything with their left hand. But besides the classic lefties, there are also hidden ones. These are children in whom the right hemisphere dominates when the right hand is dominant. And at school, their absent-mindedness, sloppiness, “bad” handwriting, and absurd mistakes in writing and counting are attributed to laziness and lack of diligence. This is how children, despite all their talent and uniqueness, end up among the outsiders. Here are simple tests that can help you identify hidden left-handedness. Ask your child: 1. comb the doll's hair2. pet the dog3. find in which of the boxes the match is hidden4. unscrew and screw the lid on the jar5. look through a hole cut in a large sheet of paper6. look through a kaleidoscope or telescope7. talk on the phone8. check if the mechanical clock is ticking. Remember the rules: the child should not know why he is asked to perform this or that action, so do it in the form of a game. Do not show what needs to be done, otherwise the child will simply repeat after you. And you can repeat these tasks broken down several times. After observing your child, you will determine what kind of dominant hand, eye, and ear he has. What should a parent of a hidden or overt left-hander remember? That this is a beloved and certainly capable little person, he just needs a little help to cope with the difficulties of school life. We invite your wonderful children to the course “Calligraphy for left-handed people”, in which an experienced teacher will not only teach how to conveniently connect written letters and in the right direction How to comfortably hold a pen and position a notebook. The course includes a significant block of psychological training: the development of attention, the development of spatial orientation, the formation of self-confidence in one’s capabilities and abilities, a positive attitude towards learning. The classes are structured with the help of positive emotional reinforcements, which makes the learning process more effective. Good luck and success to you and your children, psychologist Tatyana Valentinovna Lisovskaya