Anyone know what age DCs should be able to consistently write letters and numbers the right way round?

[dialpforpizza]

I know a lot of children turn letters round the wrong way when they are learning, but by what age is it expected that they would be able to overcome this? DS1 is 7, and doesn't seem to be improving :(

I think generally by 7ish. I am not a teacher though. how is his reading and writing in general?

Thanks Periwinkle, he's finding both challenging and progressing slowly, going on an IEP. Otherwise a very bright boy with good vocabulary and cognition, able to grasp big concepts etc.

School seem to think it's generally a matter of him applying himself more, as can be quite reluctant at times, but have also posed that he may have some kind of processing problem as he can sit and work with HFWs, recognising them correctly, but then not be able to spot the same words in text moments later. Also needs constant reminding to leave finger spaces.

So there are a few areas of concern, I just wasn't sure what the "normal" (for want of a better word!) parameters are for this aspect, but thanks for your thoughts .

My lovely DS writes his 7s the wrong way round. He's 21. At Cambridge. Studying maths.

I teach Primary 2 and even still at this stage they muddle up the usual letters and numbers eg. 5, 7, b/d etc. I'd say by Primary 3, the majority will be getting them right :)

Ruby

That's very reassuring, thank you both!

Mumsneedwine you must be very proud

DD2 wrote 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 backwards most of the way through year 3 and we were beginning to despair. Then she stopped doing it almost overnight (age 8). She never did it with letters for some reason, only numbers

I am 43 and still do it with b & d

For the averagely able child... By the time they get to year 2 for letters.

For some reason, numbers are harder, but I'd expect them by the end of year 2 for sure.

My ds (also 7, nearly 8) does it with letters when he is tired. I would look into some assessments for him. It's really hard if a child is intelligent but being held back by something specific. There is this organisation called Tinsley House which I am thinking about taking my son to. Have a read. There is something called 'convergence' where the eyes don't focus properly or together (wouldn't be spotted in an eye test).

Bloomin 'eck - just clicked on that link and the site tried to download a trojan.

Thanks for replies, off to work but will come back later

DS2 does this with numbers quite a lot still though he is thought to be good at maths despite that, age nearly 9 in year 4. He has improved a lot over the last year. B and D still tricky for the little lad. Despite this he has also in the last 12 months worked at his reading and now has a reading age of 10. School were a bit more supportive than your one sounds, telling me to keep the faith for year 3 and I am glad they did. Will catch up with the SN teacher towards the end of term to see whether we carry on keeping the faith or get support. HTH.

My DD was 7 and a half when she got it....she's 9 now and her wrting is among the best in the class..her reading age is 14 and she's fine.

OP at 7 my DD was still doing this regularly, b and d were her worst and she had 'bed' written at the top of her page and was encouraged to read back through her work after she had finished.

In KS2 she was out on the G&T register for English despite this issue and her teacher worked hard with her in yrs 3 and 4 so that she could pick up where she was going wrong, by the time she was in Y6 she had cracked it, most of the time, although her writing was always messy.

She has just finished her GCSEs getting A*/A grades throughout so it didn't ever hold her back.

That's weird pizza. We have all sorts of McAfee stuff on here and it's never spotted anything untoward from that site! Sorry.

No worries Merry, oddly enough it was McAfee which quaranteened it, I just wanted to flag it up quickly in case anyone got caught out by it, the buggar.

Will google and go in that way to the site as it does sound interesting.

I will be closely watching how the school support him and implement the IEP over the coming weeks, and make contact with the senco if necessary. It does seem this year will be the telling one.

Thanks for all the replies.

My DS (year 2) does his numbers backwards, I have told him to look for a clock or at the number charts on the walls before he writes an answer down and that has helped a little. Interestingly letters were a problem last year but he seems to have got better at that which fits in with what previous posters said. When he was in year 1 his teacher said that some children have such difficulties into year 3 and that wasn't unusual.