The effects on auditory and linguistic deprivation of lateral preference of deaf children.

In the light of recent evidence for an altered pattern of cerebral specialisation among the deaf, this study compared hand and foot preference of age-matched samples of deaf and hearing children. Significantly fewer deaf children were fully right-handed and there was a small shift to the left on the handedness continuum. This shift was more marked in children with a greater hearing-loss but was not particularly related to the cause of deafness. No significant difference was found in foot preference. The variation in hand preference is thought to be a function of the differences in hemisphere specialisation found in the deaf, but other explanations are also considered.