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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

5yo - pls could you look at these numbers. Should I be worried?

47 replies

Phoebefoibles · 28/04/2014 14:57

Hi - please can you give me your honest opinions on this for my recently turned 5yo as my MIL seems to be hinting that something is wrong, and I'm not sure what to think. My dd wrote these numbers out herself in a car journey and MIL kept to show me, and asked if I could see what was going on. I'm not sure I do. Is she really behind?

5yo - pls could you look at these numbers. Should I be worried?

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THEBESTPIGEVER · 28/04/2014 15:01

I think it shows a fab VERY EARLY interest in maths and numbers!
Don't worry about them not adding up or being back to front or numbers missed out. That take's a while (years!). Just encourage it and buy some number books if you've not got any.

alanmckinney · 28/04/2014 15:02

Nope, I think she is doing a fantastic job!! My soon to be 5 year old is probablyabout the same (if not as good as your daughter)

Kids all develop at different rates anyway so even if she was behind (which I don't think she is) then I wouldn't worry even then!

CocktailQueen · 28/04/2014 15:04

What, the reversed numbers? Don't worry about it at this stage! (some of my Year 2 ds's numbers look like this sometimes...)

Why doesn't your MIL say what she means instead of hinting?? Odd behaviour!

MagnaCharge · 28/04/2014 15:04

I agree they look fine about the same as my almost five year old.
Are you sure MIL didn't keep them because she was impressed?

LiberalLibertine · 28/04/2014 15:05

Looks perfectly normal to me :)

BertieBotts · 28/04/2014 15:05

Looks totally normal to me.

Forago · 28/04/2014 15:06

Looks entirely normal, if not slightly advanced, to me

JoandMax · 28/04/2014 15:07

They look great! My 5.9 year old gets numbers back to front sometimes, as do lots of his friends who are all 6+

Are you sure your MIL wasn't impressed?!!

PatriciaHolm · 28/04/2014 15:09

They look just fine for a reception child, honestly. Reversing numbers at this age is completely normal.

DeWee · 28/04/2014 15:10

It looks like she's secure on numbers up to 5, but is a bit shaky after that, which is perfectly fine for reception.

stealthsquiggle · 28/04/2014 15:12

What was MIL trying to get at? Both my DC routinely reversed numbers at that age and they are both very good at maths for their respective ages.

Original poster

Phoebefoibles · 28/04/2014 15:14

Not to drip feed, but dd is left handed, and I know MIL regards this as almost indicative of a learning disability in itself! I have had the odd concern that there may be something like dyslexia going on, as she seems to struggle at times with following instructions - but then she's 5yrs old. She is not deliberately disruptive, but sometimes appears not to understand what is asked, or doesn't hear e.g. We've had to take her out of swimming lessons as she stood out as always being told off every week for not listening, or doing as the instructor asks. We are awaiting a hearing test referral.

She's quite fidgety - e.g. Wants to go and play within minutes of sitting down for a meal, easily distracted, basically seems to want to be active a lot - but then she can sit and play with dolls by herself quietly at other times too, so it's not always the case.

Have mentioned to the teacher who said they'd monitor, but she is too young for diagnostic testing at the moment. At the last Parent's evening we were told she has improved a lot on her letter/number formation and there were no concerns.

OP posts:

PatriciaHolm · 28/04/2014 15:17

DS is left handed, and his handwriting was illegible until year 2 ;-)

She sounds like a normal 5 year old, though it's a good idea to check her hearing. DS had horrible glue ear and needed grommets at that age and it's not uncommon.

Original poster

Phoebefoibles · 28/04/2014 15:17

Gosh cross posted with replies so soon! Hmm quite reassuring so far...maybe it's MIL putting the wind up me again after all.

OP posts:

stealthsquiggle · 28/04/2014 15:26

Being left handed just means she needs to be taught properly - MIl is being a loon on that one.

The rest you have in hand already in terms of school monitoring, etc, but if she is choosing to write numbers for fun then I wouldn't say there are any huge issues there .

CecilyP · 28/04/2014 15:47

So she was sitting in a moving car - not at a table - trying to write, and the numbers aren't as neat as they could have been! I don't think your dd is behind and your description of her sounds like that of a normal 5- year-old. Being left-handed simply means she has to push the pencil rather than pull it across the page - more relevant to joined writing than numbers.

Flexiblefriend · 28/04/2014 16:20

She sounds like a normal 5 year old, and the numbers look fine to me, especially given that they were written in a moving car. Your MIL sounds like she is looking for problems!

DeWee · 28/04/2014 16:37

I wondered with the bottom one whether she was left handed. It looked like it was done right to left to me. But that's common at reception level too.

GobbolinoCat · 28/04/2014 16:41

Hello

Can I ask why MILS opinion carries so much weight here, is she trained in early years, teaching, problems, physcology and so on? Does she have specific training in any area here....LD?

If not tell her to bog off and make sure she does not pass on her attitudes to your child.

BTW at 5 my DD could not write as well as yours, at 6.5 my DD's writing is beautiful.

Original poster

Phoebefoibles · 28/04/2014 17:42

GobbolinoCat Yes she was a teacher (albeit many years ago). She favours my eldest, and I take some of what she says with a pinch of salt due to this, as there is an element of scapegoating of my youngest. No idea why.

So mostly I ignore, but because of the teaching background, and when she seems to keep giving me examples that may/may not point to problems I don't know what to believe after a while. A few months ago she gave me an example of dd writing her name backwards, like mirror writing (but a couple of letters were the right way), and said how 'fascinating' it was as though it was highly unusual, and suggested I check it out with her teacher - which is what started my dyslexia concern.

This time she again said it was 'fascinating' about her development, how not everyone would pick up that dd had written the 3's backwards etc, and wonder what is going on etc. It seems as though she feels quite strongly that dd needs extra support or help in some way, and it then makes me wonder.

Anyway I do feel reassured that it's nothing to worry about. Thank you Mumsnet for a reasonable second opinion!

OP posts:

mrz · 28/04/2014 18:14

Did she teach 5 year olds or older children?

GerbilsAteMyCat · 28/04/2014 18:18

Don't worry. Mirror writing is quite common among early writers even with right handed kids. I showed 5 year old DS a few weeks ago how we could read what he had written, provided we held it to a mirror! He is right handed. It's just a stage.

Chuffinghormones · 28/04/2014 18:29

Hi, I work in a Reception class and to be honest the children's ability range from being able to read/write and order numbers to 20 confidently and correctly to some children still learning to read/write and order 0-5.

Its normal for children in Reception and yr1 to write some letters and numbers backwards.

I would say forget what your MIL is saying and go with your own intuition.

Hope this helps

tobysmum77 · 28/04/2014 19:50

my Mil thinks my backwards-writing just turned 5yo is really advanced (she helps with reading at her local primary school so is an expert) .

She is just normal like yours .

JimBobplusasprog · 28/04/2014 20:24

My numbers were much worse than this at age 5 and I was still reversing them well into y2. Didn't hold me back in my maths degree.

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