Left-handedness in Special Education: A Meta-Synthesis

Abstract

Left-handers are disadvantaged, but despite the fact that universal design favors right-handedness, left-handedness may be associated with cognitive advantages. Left-handedness is considered a fairly normal human condition that has persisted throughout history, and is currently represented in about 10% of the population. Our modern idea regarding hand preference is rooted in the split-brain theory, which involves the contra-lateral control of the left and right hemispheres over opposite sides of the body. Technology has advanced brain research about handedness and brain organization, and this research should help advance early recognition and more successful intervention in the areas of a student’s behavior, learning disorder, and/or other health impairments (that affect their brain functioning, such as traumatic brain injury or fetal alcohol syndrome disorder). This meta-synthesis is an analysis of the literature on left-handedness: It is an attempt to answer whether left-handedness is relevant in special education today.