Mirror Writing

[MrsSnaplegs]

Posting on behalf of a non MN friend for advice.

DD and her BF are both in reception.

BF is a bright, articulate little girl. Can converse fluently about volcanos for hours Her DM is slightly concerned as she thought her DD was behind the curve in reading (she isn't - she checked with teacher) but also because of her writing.

She can write clearly but everything is a complete mirror of what it should be. It was mentioned to the teacher and she said "oh but she has written something today and it was fine" at which point piece of work was produced which was all mirror writing, teacher surprised obviously. In the teachers defence the writing is so clear that I think our adult brains automatically put it the right way round so you don't see the error unless you are looking for it IYKWIM
BF DM is concerned as she said she also does this when blending sounds for phonics. If she were trying to sound out C-A-T for cat she will start with the T and say T-A-C unless corrected.

Has anyone come across this before ?

My sister could mirror-write and still can. I was very impressed and still am! She is left-handed - does that have a connection. Someone knowledgeable will be along soon, I'm sure.

Is she left handed?

My dd did this all the time to start with too but has pretty much grown out of it now. I don't think it is much cause for concern at this age.

Someone explained it to me that to a small child the word/letter is the word whichever way you look at it, like a bus is a bus from front, side and back, and regardless of whether it is going forward or reversing. She'll soon work out that there is a "right" way for letters and words (although odd letters and numbers may be reversed for years!). I think if she was still doing it ALL the time in a year I'd start worrying.

Yes she is totally left handed - does this make a difference?

I'm left-handed and used to mirror write as a child - I can still do it more or less without thinking (but my joined up mirror writing is basically the writing of a child, so very different from the adult writing). It hasn't been a problem with learning to write or read at all - I have a bachelor's and master's in arts-based subjects and now work as a translator and editor, a field where language accuracy is all-important.

The other thing is that reception is incredibly early to be worrying about such things. Neither of my children started school and learned to write properly until they were 6 (this was not in the UK), but then caught up very rapidly. I think the early school start in the UK just highlights that the brains of 5-year-olds haven't quite sorted out left and right yet.

Thank you all I will let my df know!

MrsSnaplegs

Mirror writing is not a common occurance even with left handers like myself.
You might like to have a look at a couple of research papers which investigate this issue.
Mirror Writing, Left-handedness, and Leftward Scripts
Mirror writing: neurological reflections on an unusual phenomenon

Dolfrog thank you for those links, they make interesting reading.

Just as an aside, I recently asked my class of year 2s to have a go at writing with both of their hands at the same time, on large pieces of paper taped to the desk, just for fun. When I asked them to try and write their names, it was fascinating to see how many of the right-handed children (and my teaching assistant!) wrote their name in perfect mirror writing using their left hand, without trying to at all. Several of them were really shocked to get to the end, lift their pen off the paper, and see that they'd done it backwards! Some of them just wrote it the right way round with both hands, but they were the minority.

mirror writing study video report

when i was at university i was writing my dissertation in rough- when i was copying it up on the computer i realised that i had written lots of wordsback to front- i then realised i could mirror write perfectly!
i am actually a teacher and have seen lots of left handed children start at the wrong side of the paper adn then mirror write- i have also seen right handed children and my son mirror write if they start too close to the edge of the right hand side of the page-i am going to read the links now.

I have a child in my class - right handed- who mirror writes only when writing the address for a letter in the top right hand corner. He doesn't do it at other times.

Sometimes mirror writing seems to make perfect sense to my year 2s, eg when writing in a speech bubble facing left, they begin with the first letter next to the persons mouth and go from there. I can see why this would seem "right" to them, and they are surprised when I point out that I can't read the writing because it is backwards!

I wouldn't worry about it tbh, seems like a common occurrence for left handers too.

yes, my immediate thought was that she was left-handed.

don't worry, it'll even itself out.

I can write perfectly in mirror (in fact, it's neater than the right way round!)

try writing with your left hand and see it's a natural action!

oh, and I also start mirror-writing if i'm tired.

it's like it's an automatic reaction.

Having read the link provided by dolfrog, I can now 'diagnose' myself as bimanual. Not as early as Reception but within a few years I was writing effortlessly with both hands simultaneously in normal and mirror script. It became a bit of a party trick but didn't interfere with my educational progress in any way. I heard once that the Victorians were keen on making children write like this as it helped to order their brains.

My left handed daughter did this. She probably stopped doing it at school in year 1. (doing joined up helps)

She writes beautifully now. However, she still - at home sometimes - will do a bit of mirror.

Numbers have caused her more problem because not so long is spent on forming numbers and they aren't joined up. She will also quite often write 34 and 43 etc.

Just to add,

My dds teacher actually went to see an advisor about it who said 'not to worry', but though most mirror writers are left handed, very few left handed children do mirror write.

The teacher in all her years of teaching has never taught another mirror writer!

curtaincall "double doodles" (writing with both hands is a modern Brain Gym exercise

Performing Double Doodle

Double Doodle involves coloring or ?doodling? with a piece of chalk or marker in each hand at the same time. The teacher or occupational therapist might ask the child to form simple shapes, faces, letters or designs. This forces children to coordinate using both hands together and to pay attention to the direction of their movements. This activity promotes body awareness since if the child looks directly at one of her doodling hands, she will need to move the other hand without looking at it-by using her kinesthesia sense--that tells her how she is moving.

Read more: www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/76436.aspx#ixzz1GbVVJf2u

I'm left handed and used to write in a 'code' for a long time - from right to left with some of the letters in mirror. much more natural to drag the pen right to left accross the page if you are left handed. right handed writing is exhausting for me (and i assume many other left handed people).

just tried to mirror write and it came pretty easily.