Number formation

[Dottymum2]

Hi, just some advice please, my reception (almost 5) dd is repeatedly writing her numbers 2,3,7 and sometimes 9 the wrong way round. Now please don't attack me I know she's not been in school very long but my worry is that no matter how many times she is shown or practises the next time she writes it down its back to front again, just wondering if it's normal. She does it with a couple of letters too but thu seem to have mostly clicked now. Thanks in advance.

I'm not an expert but I think this is perfectly normal up to around the age of 7 or 8 and usually corrects on its own. see here www.justmommies.com/gradeschool-kids/special-needs/reversing-letters-this-dyslexia) for example. It;s only an indication of dyslexia or learning disabilities when it persists beyond the normal age (so if she's still doing it in three or four years time you might need to look into it, now it's perfectly normal).

Dd is five in June and she does this with some letters and numbers. I thought it was pretty common to start with so I'm trying not to worry!

Just get her to practice eg writing whole lines or pages of 2 then the same for 3 and so forth. Her brain will then start doing it automatically. Our nursery and reception did lots of this. repetition is a good tool

Give her different things to practice with - so not just pencil and paper, but in a tray of dry sand or flour, and make the ones for her to copy really large. Make sure she starts at the top each time.

Or with a thick felt tip marker, or crayon. Does she know what the different numbers represent? Invite her to write the number, then next to it draw the appropriate number of 'smarties' or 'kisses'. (Don't be too surprised if she finds this difficult, particularly on the the higher numbers. If necessary, help her to count one-to-one correspondence.)

If you have any old junk mail or catalogues with numbers in, show her the numbers in different 'fonts' so she can see the same number doesn't always look exactly the same. With letters, 'a' and 'g' are often more ornate in adult fonts, but simpler in children's books, more like the child will learn to write at school.

But as others have said, it is perfectly normal and to be expected at this stage of learning.

My dd is in Y1 and still does this. She also reverses numbers so 10 is 01 and 13 is 31 (with the 3's the wrong way round too). Bit tricky! I am hoping she'll learn as she gets older. She does it with words too, so she knows 'ea' makes 'ee' sound but instead of writing 'read', she writes 'raed'. She's not struggling too badly though and is happy, and confident at school. If it doesn't improve and it impacts on her self confidence, then I will pursue it.

DD was reversing loads of her numbers until well into Y1 (she is one of the oldest in the year and considered confident with maths). It gradually sorted itself out some time before the beginning of Y2. Don't worry! It is definitely normal in Reception.

They all do that, and grow out of it! My son 7, still occasionally does this, but less and less than he used to

Hi Dotty:

Just wanted to add my agreement that this is often the case in young children - both my girls did this and DH (who is severly dyslexic) of course was panic stricken that they were dyslexic too.

I found two things really helped them sort this out:

We drew characters for numbers and made up little stories - shorty six and nifty nine. Because DDs drew these characters themselves they got used to how they looked and then that translated into writing the numbers the right way around.

The other thing was to remind them that most classrooms have a clock - so if you can't remember look up at the clock and remind yourself which way 3 faces, etc....

Like anything - familiarity, regularly working with numbers, seems the key. Card games and board games where they see numbers a lot really helps.

HTH

Thanks all, some really handy tips there, I will be trying some out with her, really appreciate the reassurance that this is quite normal for a while to come yet too!