Scissors Skills and Hand Preference: A Pilot Study

In response to a question posted on an American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) listserv about the proper direction in which left-handers and right-handers should cut a circle with scissors, a poll was taken of AOTA's school system and sensory integration listservs and Yahoo Group's ot-peds listserv. It investigated the relationship of scissors skills to hand preferences and implications for pediatric practice. The answer to the original question was that all right-handers, and most (but not all) left-handers and those with mixed dominance cut a circle in a counter-clockwise direction. Narrative comments revealed that therapists teaching children to use scissors consider not only handedness but environmental factors, hand-eye congruence, muscle fatigue, scissors use as a bimanual task, and the effects of scissors training. Suggestions for practical intervention activities are provided.