mirror writing

[dancestomyowntune]

At parents eve in Feb I questioned Dd2' s teacher as she writes perfectly only backwards. Like a mirror. Teacher said not uncommon in reception aged children.

In her report she notes Dd2 still doing this and it will be monitored next year. Does anyone else see this as a big red flag for dyslexia or is it just me?

Is she left handed?

I had children in year 3 still do this occasionally, most of them not dyslexic, but pretty much all left handed.

I'm in no way qualified to give any sort of professional opinion but Is she left handed by any chance? I'm left handed and can write backwards easily and several other left handed people I know can do it too, none of whom are dyslexic.

I'm not aware that she's left handed, but I shall certainly observe her to see. I hadn't thought of that. Thank you.

Dyslexia was my first thought because dh and my brother are both dyslexic. Perhaps I am jumping to conclusions though.

No don't see it as a big red flag for dyslexia as your daughter's teacher said it is very common in reception often easily corrected when children are focused on the corrected starting point on the page - try drawing a dot with an arrow pointing left to right at the edge of each line, when reading ensure that she points to the beginning of the line and follows the words left to right, tracking exercises can help.

My dd (just finished reception) does this. She is left handed. Like yours her teacher has said it is very common in YrR and they will monitor it in Yr1.

Dd really struggled with writing in reception. She just doesn't see that her mirror writing is the opposite to what is expected. It looks right to her.

She is doing fine with phonics/reading. How is your dd doing with it?

Has she been taught where to start when forming each letter? Does she for example form curved letters (c, a, o, d, g, e, s ) clockwise or anticlockwise?

DD surprised us the other week by doing this. She's 3.5 but confidently writing her name, our names, short words and can do most letters. We were with a friend who is a child psychologist at the time and she said it's really common as they learn to write.

40 years ago as a child I did this. I'm nt left handed not dyslexic and went on to do very well at school & uni so MAY be nothing to worry about.
I could write perfectly in both directions (couldn't do that now though).

DD did this. She continued to frequently reverse letters even when the actual words were going the right way all the way through Y1 and occasionally in Y2. She's a very good writer now (end of Y2) and has lovely neat handwriting. Also, definitely not dyslexic. Hope that sets your mind at rest.

It's not unusual for children to do this well into yr1 without there being an underlying problem. It can just take a bit longer for their brains to finish imprinting that English writing goes from left to right.

It can def be helped by an adult marking where to start on the page/line and practising writing to one direction only as well as making sure they are doing their letters in the correct direction too.

I'd make sure the school are keeping an eye on it but hopefully it will resolve itself.