Why knowing which is your left foot helps learning to read and write!

Which is your left foot?

Which is your right hand?

Have you ever been driving the car and been told to turn left? Suddenly you make the turn and... oops! You meant the OTHER left!?

Spatial awareness is knowing where we are in space:

• What is to the left and right of us.
• Which way our body is facing.

It is a skill we learn when we develop as children but it is not always solidified in our minds and it can leave our "rights and lefts" a little confused.

So why is an optometrist writing about this?

Simple.

When we can't tell the difference between our rights and lefts, then some letters and numbers can be easily confused when they look the same.

• 'b' and 'd' 
• 'p' and 'q'

They look like exactly the same letter! 

And how about words:

• 'was' and 'saw'
  
  

Reading the letters or writing and forming the letters can be easily confused when we don't know which side it is meant to start from.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
It is never too late to re-learn our right-left awareness.

CLICK HERE to see the next blog post to read about exercises to do at home to train the rights and lefts of our body!