Bright child still reversing letters and numbers

[Cat98]

I'm just wondering if this could be indicative of a problem.
Ds (5.4) has just started year 1. He is v bright , his reading age was assessed at 7, and his numeracy is amazing - possibly gifted levels.
However his writing isn't great. School havent raised concerns but we have noticed his pencil grip isn't particularly firm, and also that he reverses letters and numbers a lot. It's odd because it doesn't seem to match his other abilities.
I'm just wondering if this is a cause for concern and if We should mention something to the teacher? Or do any special practice with him? He's not that interested in writing (probably because he finds it hard- he loves doing numeracy because he finds it so easy, it's a vicious circle!) so getting him to practice wouldn't be easy .. Or should we just leave it for now and see if school mention it?

Thank you.

Very common at this age I don't think its any concern at this stage

I'm a year 1 teacher- I see it all the time from bright children as well as lower ability one. Just keep reminding them about grip & which way their letters/ numbers go but don't worry too much about it, it will come x

I used to do mirror writing as a child. I am left handed, but it gave no long lasting problems and it did not hold me back one iota.

I hope helps to reassure you :)

Totally agree with Bunny. My DS is the same nearly 8 and just doesn't like writing. He used to hold the pencil strangely and we got one of the triangle grips which has helped massively.

Ds2 aged 6 is like this..... Does maths with yr 4's , can read beautifully but his writing /pencil control is terrible. School are aware (in fact early yrs teacher spotted it!)... They give him special hand exercises to do:). He also has problems sitting still for very long and is not great at sport. At the moment we are trying to persuade him that in order to get his maths answers/ideas down he needs to practice writing. He does enjoy mazes/puzzles as a way of practiving his pencil control.

personally if you have concerns then I think parents should feel able to make an appointment to talk to the teacher. It is the start of the school year, you could put a note in his bag asking if it would be possible to meet the teacher to discuss a concern with her and then just say exactly what you have said here.

now the chances are they will say not to worry about it, it isn't unusual at this age but they will keep an eye on it.

then going forwards you need to monitor it yourself to a point, not constantly but say at the end of term or parents evening find out if there seems to be any improvement or is he still consistently reversing letters and numbers.

My daughter is ok with letters but still reverses some numbers. if she was writing a list of numbers say 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 then she would have them all round the right way but if she was adding 7 and 6 she would probably have 31. I have been trying to explain to her about tens and units to see if that might lock the numbers into the right order for her. We managed to address the issue of actually writing the numbers back to front with practice. she still does it but not as much as she used to and it is perfectly normal and I think usually sorts itself out in Yr1.

do keep an eye on it though

it's because the small bones in his hand aren't actually formed properly yet
he hasn't got the physical capabilities to hold a pencil properly it doesn't really develop until about 6 or 7
you could try other things that help with small muscle control
things like lego bricks and other building sets
playdough is very good, as is harder materials like clay
peg boards and threading will also strngthen these muscles

it is 2 different things though isn't it

one is the pencil grip which can be helped through strengthening exercises

the other is the reversing of the letters and numbers which is a different thing and which normally corrects over time and with practice but which CAN sometimes be an indicator of dyslexia or disgraphiwhatever its proper name is

His being bright however is totally irrelevant.

Thanks for the replies.
We have a 'meet the teacher' morning next week so if I get a chance I'll mention it then. Reassured that most people think its not a big deal though.