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I truly admire your tenacity, Gray, I'm not sure I have it in me to do what you did, but if the time ever comes when I have the need (my right hand is affected, too) I will remember your example and try to live up to it. Claudia Goldberg L. Gray Miller wrote: > At about 4 years into this adventure I realized > that writing was becoming a major problem for > me. I could no longer take meeting notes at > work. I thought about using a pocket recorder but > that had little appeal since I would have to > listen to the entire meeting again. > > So, I decided to teach myself to write with the > opposite hand. I'm naturally right handed and pd > has limited the fine motor skills with my right > side. But, fortunately, my left side is affected > very little at this stage. So I started the > journey to becoming left handed. I have a few > observations that I'd like to pass on to others > that may be in a similar situation. > > I've been at it for almost 6 months and now write > exclusively with my left hand. I can take meeting > notes which has been a great accomplishment. I'm > slower with my left hand than I was before pd > with my right hand but speed is coming. > > I got a theme book for writing practice so I > could see my progress. I began using a pencil. > This is a MUST. Pens are too difficult to start > with since the angle of contact with the paper is > critical with a pen but not with a pencil. > > I made a pact with myself to practice my > handwriting daily regardless of how discouraged I > got. And, initially, I was very discouraged. It > seemed an impossible task. > > I drilled myself on printing upper case letters > then lower case letters (printing, no script > yet) followed my numbers. I did four line of the > upper case alphabet; four lines of lower case > alphabet; four lines of numbers 0 through 9. At > the end of this drill I wrote a half page essay > on any topic. > > Letters were very difficult when I started but > got easier with time. Initially, I had to > experiment to figure out how to write a letter. > I would write the letter right handed, try and > remember the order of the strokes then repeat it > with my left hand. Its not exactly "Rocket > Science" but it took some concentration. > > Script seemed to come naturally as I wrote the > essays. I began printing but slowly a cursive > style just naturally occurred. > > At about four months I realized I was no longer > thinking about letters but, rather, I was > writing words. That was the major breakthrough! > Since then I have shifted to using a pen (which > was very difficult at first) and now write a > full page essay after the same alphabet and > number drills. I continue to practice daily. > > Writing with the opposite hand has helped > immensely. I can now write checks again! Speed is > improving and, most of the time, I can read what > I write. :-) > > Gray > 51/4