The Development of Hand Preference in Children’s Early Signing

Abstract

Hand preference during signing was examined longitudinally in nine very young children with deaf parents. These children typically showed a distinct and consistent hand preference in their signing, beginning with their production of their first signs. For most of the children, their preferred signing hand was their right hand. This hand preference in early signing, moreover, was significantly stronger than that for the children’s production of nonsign actions and gestures. Also, the children’s hand preference in their early signing predicted their eventual hand preference.