How can I help dd1 to stop writing 'S' the wrong way round?

[melpomene]

DD1 is in reception. She always writes 's' the wrong way round, which is especially noticeable because it's the first letter of her name. Every so often I point out to her that it should be the other way round. I have also tried getting her to trace Ss, and I have written correct and incorrect Ss all over a sheet of paper and then got her to circle the correct ones (which she can do, with a few mistakes). However, she continues to write her Ss the wrong way round.

What else can I do to help her?

No idea ds1 writes half the letters in his name the wrong way round and I remember doing the same myself when I was little. I'd say it's a normal thing to go through.

She'llget there in the end.

But if you really want to do more to help her, get her to make it out of play dough, draw it on her back with your finger, write it in the sand, make it 'physical'.

But she's only 4 or 5? My dd4 writes his 'J' the wrong way most of the time. Don't worry about it.

It is very common for children to write S backwards. Logically they are right, I wouldn't worry too much tbh as they all do it and it soon clicks.

My ds does this and is in year 1. Like you it is the first letter of his name. I asked teacher at parents evening and she said it was very very common and that there was nothing to worry about. However she would expect him to stop doing this by the end of year 1.

ds used to do this, and still does occasionally, it isn't the first letter of his name but it is in his name.
I just kept re-enforcing it, printed his name with a dotty font for him to trace over, did painting big letters, etc
For a while he write his whole name back to front, apparently more common in left handed children (which he is) but not an uncommon thing to do anyway.
I think it will just come with time.

My ds did this until Year 5. Now 14 and completely normal, although left handed, which may have some influence on it.......

I did too, and my 8 went in the wrong direction apparently.

My s-es look like 5s (and vice versa). I wouldn't worry too much - most people don't have perfect writing anyway. As long as it's readable and reasonably neat for his age.

Thanks. I'm not exactly losing sleep over it, but I get the feeling that because she writes her name many times each day, and always does her Ss the wrong way round, she is effectively practising writing them the wrong way round, if that makes sense. So I was wondering if I could nip it in the bud.

We'll try doing it with playdough and sand. We also have a big roll of lining paper so could try writing some very big ones.

Can you make up a rhyme or saying which would help her to remember? Something like "slithery snakes point this way" and draw a snake head on the S for a while? I did this with DD when she couldn't write e. So we used to say make a road (straight line) make a cave (up over the top) and run away (the tail).

I like that idea Chuffinnora! We could put a snake head on the top of the S and say that the snake needs to be facing the rest of the letters in her name...

Yes, that's the idea. Think if you do it for a while it will stick in her head and can be quietly dropped. Worked for DD. Make it a pretty snake though!

The way we did it was to recite the phrase "forwards c, backwards c" whilst they wrote it.

The "forwards c" makes the top loop. The "backwards c" makes the bottom loop IYSWIM

In reception I teach that clever curly 'c' always shows us the way around 's' Obviously this only works if her 'c' is generally formed correctly :-)

Just an update: I've drawn her a snake facing the rest of her name, which she liked. Then we had noodles for dinner, and ended up making letters with the noodles! She made 's' and 'e' correctly out of noodles

well done :-)

Also worth mentioning the role of muscle memory and that gross motor skills are more easily learned. I would give her a bucket of water and a huge paintbrush and get her painting s onto brick walls, pavements etc in water - as large as she can.

Good luck

R x

Letter reversals are common and not a cause for concern here in Ireland until the child has been at school for a while, say around 7. Does the teacher make a big deal of it? If so, tell them to chill and read back on their College notes!