DS still writes figures backwards

[NickNacks]

He's 7 and it's not all the time but around 50% of the time he gets 2,3,5,6,7 the wrong way around.

Is this likely to resolve itself or is there anything I can do? We obviously practice but he lapses again.

[mrz]

Does school correct it?

[NickNacks]

Yes they do.

[pepperrabbit]

DS2 still does this, he'll also spell words curiously, so back is written BAKC.
The school are "keeping an eye on it" and he has extra worksheets to practice the numbers in particular. We have just got him some glasses as he is slightly longsighted, to see if that helps. early days but his writing has improved a little - I suspect the act of putting on the glasses seems to make him concentrate a bit more.
We have an apt with the school to discuss it further in a couple of weeks.
Are your school more engaged, or simply correcting it as it happens?

[NickNacks]

Just correcting it as it happens.

What worries my slightly is that he can't recognise that it's wrong iyswim. I'll tell him he's got one number back to front and can he tell me which one it is- he just guesses tbh.

[pepperrabbit]

I think you need to take it further with the school to be honest.
I was just floundering around trying to guess at what to do until I spoke to his teacher.

[NickNacks]

Thank you. We have parent evening in a few weeks. I'll raise it then. :)

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

My DD is the same, she was 8 last week, She reverses 3,4,5 and 6 and also uses q for p and d for b (although not the other way round any more). School have been writing "bed" on her worksheets and have given her a chart to follow as she works. I've been working on it at home, she just says she forgets when she's busy writing, I think it's become a habit now. Her writing is good otherwise and she reads very well. I am going to school to talk about it again tomorrow, will post back again.

[juniper9]

Does he do the same with letters? Is he left handed? Does he mix capitals and smalls? What's his spelling like?

It could be a sign of dyslexia but more likely it's something he'll grow out of. Assuming he's in year 3, I'd wait until the end of this year and then push for as assessment.

His teacher must be aware if his work is corrected. If I were you, I'd ask the teacher if they have any addition concerns about his formation / spellings etc and, if so, if there is an occupational therapist he could work with, or if the SENCO could do some fine motor control practise with him.

[NickNacks]

Letters - occasionally he gets b/d mixed up and sometimes does a j in the wrong direction but that's it I think.

He's right handed, spelling average I think, reading he's on stage 10 so ok I think.

I'm slightly concerned about dyslexia and it's very prevalent in DH's family including dh himself.

Do all schools have a senco? It's a small village school.

[NickNacks]

Oh and no he doesn't mix capitals and small letters.

[Celeriacacaca]

DS was doing the same until he was around 8 then grew out of it. He's left handed so not sure if that was a factor. I bought some of those handwriting books and got him to do a little bit of work every now and then but again, not sure if that helped or if it was just something that eventually righted itself on its own. I was concerned about it being something like dyslexia and had an assessment but nothing showed up at all. Do get an assessment if you're worried.

[maizieD]

I think that you have to work on strengthening kinaesthetic memory of the 'correct' way to write the symbols. Which can be done by a few minutes daily practice of writing the symbol correctly and saying the 'sound' (or letter name if your dc spells with letter names) or number associated with it until the action becomes automatic.

Kinaesthetic memory is the process everyone uses when they write or type a familiar word without consciously thinking of more than just the word. No-one writes 'and' thinking 'a' 'n' 'd' as they write it, they just think 'and' and their hand writes it for them!

When practising similar letters like 'b' & 'd' get one mastered before you do the other one.

Of course, the sticking point comes if your dc isn't prepared to put in the practice.

[maizieD]

P.S Letter and number reversals are not a sign of dyslexia, whatever you may be told!

[Parietal]

there is an exercise where you have the child write the tricky letters in a different colour of pen. e.g. write a sentence but put 'b' or 'd' in red. apparently it helps the child slow down and remember which is the right way around. It is meant to work, though I haven't tried it.

[LiberalLibertine]

Very helpful Maizee thanks. My son is similar, though only 6.

[ohdofeckorf]

Hi my Ds is almost 9 and he still does this and at times writes/says his numbers the wrong way round too e.g 42 is 24.

I have mentioned it so many times but nobody else seems too bothered (everything is ALWAYS put down to his asperger's ) and he just has messages in his book pointing out his mistakes and telling him to concentrate more.

I read somewhere that is was common until the age of 8 (I may be wrong there....if so blame the tinternet ). Does your DS know his left from his right....just out of curiosity......

[juniper9]

maizieD, this is from the British Dyslexia Association

Dyslexia: Dyslexia is a hidden disability thought to affect around 10% of the population, 4% severely. It is the most common of the SpLDs. Dyslexia is usually hereditary.
A student with dyslexia may mix up letters within words and words within sentences while reading. They may also have difficulty with spelling words correctly while writing; letter reversals are common.

[mrz]

That may tell you a great deal about the BDA juniper ...

dyslexia.yale.edu/clues2.html

www.interdys.org/MythsAboutDyslexia.htm


Myth: Dyslexia is a visual disorder marked by reversal of letters.

Truth: While some dyslexics transpose letters, dyslexia is a language processing disorder which includes difficulty associating particular sounds or phonemes with particular letters or symbols.

www.prometheantrust.org/dyslexiamyths.htm

Myth 10: Reversing letters is a good indication of dyslexia.
The facts: If children are taught to form letters properly (something which almost never happens in primary school) they never reverse letters, dyslexic or not. Children who are encouraged to copy letters however they choose—lest their 'enthusiasm' for writing be dampened—usually go through a phase of reversing letters or numbers. Dyslexics may take longer to recover from this, which has given rise to this myth.

[Em1503]

I teach year 3 and a number of children do still reverse letters and numbers at this age. With reminders/awareness/ practice/ visual prompts and so on many of these children do correct the habit. Some children who do this may have dyslexia and it can be an indicator, along with other signs, however reversing letters and numbers doesn't automatically mean a child has dyslexia. I have seen many children grow out of the habit.

[mrz]

The point is that reversing b/d/p/q is something found in all children so not a sign of dyslexia although some dyslexic children may have this problem just as many non dyslexic children will have the same issue.

[Badmumof3]

My dd also did this. Her yr1 teachers expressed that they were keeping an eye on it but said she may be dyslexic. We couldn't get her screened until she was 7, which was the end of of year 2 and the screening showed that she wasn't dyslexic. However by this time she had started to fall behind in reading and writing, as well as numeracy to some extent, so I raised my concerns with the senco. My daughter said that words looked funny and were wiggly. Anyway cutting a long story short, turned out she has Irlen Syndrome. She has coloured glasses and since having them has gone from strength to strength. She is above average in most subjects and very happy. All I'm saying is if you are concerned, keep pushing for answers. Having said this, most children grow out of writing back to front.

[pimplypoppet]

My year 2 7 yr old DS has also been reversing nos. for the last 3 weeks I've been getting him to correctly write 2, 3, 5 and 6 every morning and every evening. It only takes a minute, I'm not a real slave driver!! I have noticed a massive improvement and his teachers have also commented on the improvement this week. In my case it was simply a need for practice.

[fluterby]

Mine did too and also d's and b's. It went with practice. We did Kumon for a few months for maths (not suggesting you do) but that involves lots of repetitive number writing - it went. What I'm trying to say is that just do loads of practice and it might well go.

[AuntieUrsula]

DD2 did this until she was in Year 4, even though both her teacher and us would always correct her, and then it just stopped. SHe's not dyslexic and never did it with letters. SHe's also left-handed but her teacher didn't think that had a bearing.

DD3 (age 8) occasionally writes a p instead of a 9 or vice versa!

[PastSellByDate]

Hi NickNacks:

Both my DDs were writing some letters backwards at age 7 (and beyond).

Various things worked:

We drew numbers with faces (so DD2 who always got 5 backwards - started to draw 5 with 2 eyes above the top, a nose at the return at the top left and the circle at the bottom became the mouth). By doing this over and over again - she got used to 5 looking a certain way and suddenly got it right all the time.

With DD1, we reminded her that she could check the clock in her classroom to see if the number was facing the same way. (DD2 also had clocks in her classrooms - but somehow this never really worked for her)

DH and I tried to tackle just getting one number right at a time - so didn't worry about everything (which just made the girls feel they were no good) but started targetting things they always got wrong - so 5 and 7 for DD2 and 6 and 9 for DD1.

I can also add that neither DD is dyslexic and DH is dyslexic and has never had a problem with number directions (but he is very visual with photographic memory - so picks up on details like this very quickly).

Finally we also found that there were some letters of the alphabet they also consistently wrote backwards at this age as well. We took the view water dripping on a stone slowly makes a dent - and just slowly slowly one by one tackled backwards numbers/ letters. We got there in the end. Part support at home/ part children 'just getting it' and part practice (?muscle memory - just writing something the same way over and over, until you don't think about forming the shape any more).

HTH