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My son is almost 3 years old now. Compared to my neighbour's son who is only a month older, my son seems to have slow development. The neighbour's son is able to speak just like the parent. He can do counting, logical thinking (if a then b will happen.) It seems that my neighbour's son has advanced cognitive development. On the other side, my son is:

  1. Still having trouble in communicating. If there is a three syllables word, he usually only can say the last syllable.
  2. A very sensitive person, it seems that he is a moody person
  3. Still often use his left hand rather than his right hand
  4. The one I like is he likes to play kind a lego toys. He likes to build anything, but used to get angry by himself if he fails to build it
  5. He likes music very much, when he hears music, then he will dance automatically

Should I worry about my son development? I read an article that described Roger Speery's findings about right and left brain. Perhaps my son is right brain dominant?

If it is true, based on this article, he might face problems following along in common school which is dominantly for left brain kids.

Am I right to be concerned, and is there something I should be doing?

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    Without going into the details you describe, keep in mind that all children are different. The other kid may be ahead right now but in half a year it can be other way round. Don't compare with others; there are a million factors that contribute to differences. Just look at each child separately. If your son is happy and healthy, that's great!
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Sep 21 '14 at 13:42
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    What is wrong with using his left hand instead of his right? Plenty of people are left handed, and you will notice that when the kid is 2 or 3. Or are you just saying that you can tell he's more coordinated with his right but he uses his left sometimes anyway? If so you may want to clarify.
    – Philip
    Sep 22 '14 at 2:07
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    Assuming you're in the U.S., you can probably get a speech therapy evaluation at your local elementary school. It would be a free and appropriate place to find out you have a happy, healthy, normal kid. Sounds like you need to hear that. Then there's the small chance that your son could use a bit of help, and you'd want to know that.
    – Marc
    Sep 22 '14 at 2:20
  • @Torben: yes, thank you for positive comment. @ Philip: in my country, using right hand is considered as a good habit.
    – kalingga
    Sep 22 '14 at 5:40
  • @kalingga - that is very interesting! If he is right brained, but forced to use his right hand, that may present you with a new set of problems. It is an interesting question.
    – anongoodnurse
    Sep 22 '14 at 11:57
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You got some good answers in the comments, so I am summing that up here and adding a few comments of my own.

Torben nailed it in the comment:

Without going into the details you describe, keep in mind that all children are different. The other kid may be ahead right now but in half a year it can be other way round. Don't compare with others; there are a million factors that contribute to differences. Just look at each child separately. If your son is happy and healthy, that's great

For your specific issues:

  1. Have you considered his hearing? A friend of mine had a 4 year old who had such a hard time communicating. They figured out she had reduced hearing (enough to react to loud noises and stuff, so they didn't discover it when she was a baby). It made it hard for her to hear how words were pronounced, so she had a hard time speaking. Some work with a speech therapist and hearing aid helped that - she has no issues now. You might want to check your son's hearing.

  2. Some people are moody, and I also noticed that my 3.5 year old who generally has a sunny disposition is getting moody and whiney a lot more recently. I think it is a phase - he is discovering he can get moods, and how different things make him feel.

  3. According to wikipedia, 10% of the population is left handed. From everyone I know who is left handed, do not force your son to use right hand, he is better of using his naturally dominant hand. Once he starts using scissors, be sure to get a left-handed one. Many other things comes in 'handedness', such as baseball gloves and more.

  4. This seems totally normal to me. In fact, wanting to build different things is definitely a step ahead of my 3.5 year old, who hasn't totally understood the freedom of Lego yet. Getting angry when things don't go your way is very normal, I see this in all toddlers I have met :).

  5. Seems normal. Some kids enjoy music more than others.

Your son may be right brain dominant, or he may not. He may just be developing differently than the neighbor's kid. As Torben said, don't compare.

Once he gets old enough to go to school, you can consider if there are other options than traditional 'sit at your desk' schools if you feel that wouldn't work for him. Homeschooling, Montessori, Waldorf, small classroom size schools might all be options, but I don't think you can rule out that he will do fine in a traditional school yet :).

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  • Thanks for the answer.. so the written condition about my son is not enough to say that my son is right brain dominant?
    – kalingga
    Sep 22 '14 at 21:31
  • @kalingga I am not an expert in neuroscience, but I do think that kids develop at different paces, and that he is still very young. I do know that handedness tend to show at about 2-3 years, before that they may use both hands equally. I don't have the reference handy, sorry.
    – Ida
    Sep 22 '14 at 21:37
  • That's ok Ida, and thank you for your share..
    – kalingga
    Sep 23 '14 at 1:04

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