5 year old DD dyslexic

[Itsonlybridget1]

I have 5 year old twins, currently in year 1. DT1 is really advanced, reads and writes really well. DT2 is very creative, loves to draw and create things but her reading & writing is very behind, she struggles with concentration unless it’s something she’s really interested in.

when they were in reception I brought up DT2 reading & writing but was always told they weren’t concerned and I was just comparing my girls.

now they’re in year 1 the teacher is being great. She’s started putting ear defenders on DT2 to help with her concentration which is working well, but the teacher has said although it’s too early to be sure she’s showing a lot of early indications that she could be dyslexic.

I’m not at all surprised or upset I just want her to get the right kind of help.

my question is, when she writes backwards - for example she will write to the left rather than to the right but her letters will be the wrong way around too - for example let’s say she had a friend called Pippa - she would first of all do the P the wrong way around and then all other letters would be the wrong side - this isn’t her writing but it’s an example of how she would write.

How do I deal with this? Do I correct her and show her how it should be done, or will that confuse her and just make her feel bad? I had this meeting with the teacher just before we broke up for the October break (we get 2 weeks) so I haven’t had a chance to discuss further with the teacher.

wow that was long, I didn’t expect it to be that long so thank you for reading and any help you can give.

TIA

Thank you for all your ideas. I am going to try the reading overlays, she only has one line in her books these days. And sight reading not sure how we do that, just ask them not to blend the sounds and learn them, I know when my sons were in YR 1 arojnd 7 years ago we were given so many cvcc words and cvc words to practise and memorise daily. It seems they are doing less of that. I also find my school is giving ebooks that doesn’t help, and the phonics little wandle is new and sometimes difficult to remember the handwriting techniques.

Mirror writing is really common with left handed children and it makes sense- they are just writing in a way that lets them see what they've written. I think it would be very hard to spot the signs of dyslexia in Y1 as some children are just not ready for reading and writing at that age.

Wow. That is pretty cool, albeit technically incorrect, to be able to produce mirror writing at 5 years old. My son is ND and hyperlexic, so the exact opposite of dyslexic. He’s able to decode very quickly but has poor comprehension for his age, he’s 3. Also a lefty and has been since forever. With your daughter in theory she should have excellent comprehension skills, but poor decoding skills. As long as she receives appropriate intervention she’ll be away. She has lovely handwriting by the way.

Edited to add that my son is left handed but does not produce mirror writing. Of the letters he can write, they are the right way around.