A right-handed friend in high school was so worried about breaking her right hand -- thus leaving her incapable of taking high-quality notes -- that she would practice writing with her left hand just so she could be prepared. But kids whose dominant side seems to vary naturally? They concern researchers.
A new analysis has found that kids who are "mixed-handed," or "cross-dominant" -- that is they do some tasks better with one hand, other tasks better with the other hand -- are more likely to have language, learning and mental-health problems, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms, at least compared with right-handed kids.
That's the word from a long, large study from Finland published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The researchers conclude that mixed-handedness, which indicates the brain is wired differently than is the norm, could be used to help identify kids at risk of such problems.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
How to calm a baby Baby expert Dr. Harvey Karp knows the skill new parents crave: the ability to calm their baby. Here's his take on:
"The fourth trimester": That's what he calls a newborn's first few months. "Our babies are born about three months before they're ready for the world." Once parents realize that their babies are more like fetuses, everything else makes sense, he said.
What a baby's cry means: A baby crying is like a telephone ringing, he said. You can't get a message from a ring. It could be that somebody in the room laughed loudly. As long as the baby has been fed, "in the first three months, all bets are off," he said.
The "calming reflex": "It's a virtual off switch for crying and on switch for sleep that can calm even colicky babies in minutes or less," he said. The key is to imitate the womb environment with the five S's: swaddling, side or stomach position, the "shhhhh" sound, swinging and sucking.
