Some children have a LOT of trouble with writing because they are using the wrong hand!  It happens.  A left handed child may attempt to be like everyone else, and use his right hand to write.  In fact, very intelligent kids can make this mistake, because from a young age they notice that we live in a right-handed world, and thus they copy everyone else.  They use the right hand, instead of doing what comes naturally.  These children have a very difficult time getting the words onto the paper, they are slow and sloppy, disoriented, and they may end up failing to thrive in school... and no one knows why.  

I recently met with a mom whose son had this problem.  Instead of teaching him to use his left hand, the doctor encouraged the parents to let him use a computer and type out his schoolwork, rather than use a pencil and paper.  He was only a second grader at the time, but this seemed to work well. 

After hearing this story the mom showed me a little test the doctor did with her son.  To see if he was right or left handed.  I tried the test and realized that although I grew up right handed, I have many left handed tendencies.  That evening I decided to put a pencil into my left hand to see if I could draw.  Well, my left hand surprised me!

Look what I drew with my left hand: