writing letters backwards

[Weegle]

ok, so I've gone from very proud to a little worried over a matter of hours. DS astounded me today by writing his name. He said that he was going to and he did - it's 5 letters. Wow, I was very impressed. It most definitely is his name - except all the letters (except the first which is symmetrical, so you wouldn't know) are literally mirror images of how they should be - in the right order left to right but each letter itself is back to front. Is this something to be concerned about? My sister and father are dyslexic, so maybe I am reading too much in to it and I should just be proud of his achievement, but I'd be grateful if anyone who knows anything about this could give me their input?

I don't think its unusual, mine both did it.

I used to do that, it was cos I'm lefthanded tho. I can remember the teacher telling my mum that I had perfect mirror writing, lol

ok quite reassuring then - he did it holding the pen in his right hand. Don't know if he's right or left handed - he does everything left handed, but with drawing he switches hands frequently, possibly favouring his right slightly. Weird boy!

Its quite common for children to write letters backwards when they start to write, you don't mention how old he is but we often see children in reception switching hands.

how old is he....

My DD occasionally did mirror writing at this age, and (of course) I worried... she carried on reversing some letters and numbers (esp 5) throughout infants...I continued to worry. Till I found an old maths book of mine my mum had kept ...with lots of 5s reversed. I'm not in the least dyslexic, and it turns out neither is my DD.

....its quite normal!

Very, very normal in children who are learning to write. Do NOT worry. Go back to being proud of you ds.

akhesm - yes left handers do it a lot.

DS2 can write an entire line in perfect mirror writing but then the next one is perfect.

Ds is a leftie and he does it.

i did this at 5....i have no probs with reading or writing now....dd, 5, also does it

am right handed btw

DS is 7 and left handed and he still does this with a lot of his letters and numbers too. When he first learned to write in Reception he would sometimes start at the right hand side of the page and write backwards. His teacher says he has 'dyslexic' tendencies BUT he has improved an awful lot over the last couple of years - and I've noticed that on birthday cards etc his friends do this too. I don't think this is a problem yet.

Hope this makes sense...

When children learn to write they don't understand that things can be the 'wrong way round'. Up until that point, anything they draw can go either way round (a house can have a door on the left or the right), a lady can hold a bag in either hand etc. It takes some children a while to understand that when writing, letters should go one particular way round.

Just encourage him loads but continue to show him which way they should go.

Clever boy!

DD often did this in the beginning. (Now, at 9, she does it occasionally because she's a rebel!)

I would let him write with either hand. Out of curiosity - if he were mine - I might ask him if he can write it with his other hand just to see what happened, but I am not suggesting that you do this!

DH's sister can write with both hands, at the same time, one the right way and the other in mirror writing, and two completely different things. Apparently. I've not seen her do it.

Put a dot on the page where the word needs to start and the writing will in the right direction.

Quite normal - unless he's 18yrs old?

sorry meant to say thank you to everyone on here - DS been ill all weekend so forgot to come back.

He's still very proud to show it off though - and is consistently doing it righthanded, and asking me to keep putting the pen correctly in his hand, so maybe he is going to be a rightie despite me thinking he could be a leftie. He's still young yet though so I guess it could change!

Developmentally normal until about 8 - especially (but not exclusively) for lefthanders.