Many people have an intuitive sense that switching a child's handedness is not wise, but many others don't see it as a problem (and may even think it's a good idea). I'm looking for any information you may have on studies that will provide serious information on the consequences of forced switching.
Thanks!
Rosemary West
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Based on the information I have access to, scientific studies that address the consequences of forced switching are essentially non-existent due to cultural blindness that has kept the issue of handedness reversals hidden from society and researchers. The present situation is hard to believe but true.
After consulting experts and discovering a vacuum of both information and research, I took the necessary first step to solve the problem by studying the issue and sharing what I learned in Hidden Handedness.
Sources of information are starting to surface in the form of better models of brain lateralization and information on submergees that can be derived from scanning technologies. However, insofar as I know, a formal application of this data addressing the consequences of switching for submergees has yet to take place.
An excellent clinical resource on submergees exists in Germany in the work of Dr. Johanna Barbara Sattler. See http://www.linkshaender-beratung.de/english/index.htm for a web page of her work that has been translated into English. Sattler posits a reduction in the neural processing efficiency of submergees of between 30 to 300% (depending upon the individual) based upon a clinical database of 4,510 subjects.
Current information from PET and MRI scans shows that the brains of submergees are rewired in significant ways. Interference caused by submergee rewiring, and longer Interhemispheric Transfer Times (IHTT) that result from a reversal in motor cortex wiring in submergees, appears to cause the loss of efficiency observed by Sattler. I use the inability of submergee President Ronald Regan to connect names and faces to illustrate this issue in the book.
On a positive note, the situation can only get better as awareness of the issue grows and as research work focused on submergees and emergees is initiated in the U.S. and abroad.
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