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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

Mirror writing in a yr2 child...problem?

16 replies

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 17:29

I'm putting this here rather than in B&D in the hope that some teachers will see it iyswim...might know how common this is in their year group.

Ds1 is 6 and a half, has always struggled with writing and reading, also with following instructions and suchlike.

He has no dominant hand afaik - he chops and changes, with cutlery, drawing and scissors.

He has never worked out which is a b and which a d...but just now I was amazed to see that he had written me two entire, very neat little notes (he is doing me a 'present hunt') completely backwards. Joined up, straight, but backwards!

In fact on one of them, the top line read backwards and the next line down forwards...it was rather interesting.

The words were spelt OK because I called out the letters to him as he went along, but I didn't see them till after.

He's having a short test for dyslexia in Jan with a friend of ours, but school have said nothing and refuse to test/take it into account till age 7, so I'm unsure if he is getting the support he needs.

I must say he is very confident in his writing/reading now, well usually, but it is often wrong or very hard to read - just that he thinks it's fine, if that makes sense...he can't however read it back to himself.

Any thoughts appreciated.

OP posts:

Original poster

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 17:51

Also could it indicate lefthandedness? I'm worried in case he is being encouraged to use his RH when really it doesn't come naturally to him.

OP posts:

IMoveTheStarsForChristmas · 23/12/2009 17:53

Did he write the note with his left or right hand?

I am right handed and if I write left handed it goes backwards without me even thinking about it. odd.

Original poster

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 17:56

That does sound funny!

He writes with his RH as that's what they do at school I suppose...but just now I asked him to write with his LH and it was great - then I asked him to write backwards with his LH (had to explain this several tiems) and he did that too...no problem

He's way ahead of me there.

OP posts:

emy72 · 23/12/2009 18:07

I will be very interested in your replies as my DD1, who's only 4 and in reception, does the same thing. She wrote her name backwards, mirror image like and also struggles with b and d. She is doing v well at reading/writing though so not quite sure whether the two are linked. I just thought it was really weird when she wrote her name mirror image like, as I couldn't do that without a lot of effort!!! Hope you get some answers very soon.
Emy

mrz · 23/12/2009 18:28

Mirror writing can indicate dyslexia but it also very common in young children and as the school says it is more reliable to wait until the child is around 7 to test.

First you need to do some observation. Check initially whether he has difficulty crossing the medial line of his body - does he for instance use two hands to draw a large rainbow, changing the crayon at the half-way mark in preference to making the rainbow sweep across the body ?
Check carefully and repeatedly for a dominant hand use the information to help teach him left and right. ... try creating a 'script' (instructions for letter formation) for him.

b d p confusion

emy mirror writing is very common in pre school aged children and shouldn't be a concern unless it continues once the child has been in school for quite some time.

Original poster

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 20:20

Thankyou both.

Mrz - that's what I was just reading on a website, about changing hand half way - yes he does this.
It also said don't teach left and right but only one of the two, to avoid confusion...

I think I would rather know whether there is a problem and what it is though before I start altering the way I teach him things - that's probably how the teachers feel too!

Thankyou for your input.

OP posts:

StarExpat · 23/12/2009 20:29

flightattendant - if he is not crossing the midline on his body this might be helped with some OT.
I always refer children who do this in my class to the OT at our school. And the exercises usually help as long as they are followed through at home.

SleighBelleDameSansMerci · 23/12/2009 20:32

I was told this is a sign of genius... No evidence to back it up, mind you. My brother used to do this and is exceptionally clever.

Original poster

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 20:33

Oh cool, maybe I will ask them to do this when he goes back...thankyou. Seeing friend on 16th Jan, she works one to one with dyslexic children during school hours so hope she can tell us more.

Thankyou again

OP posts:

Original poster

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 20:33

x posts...even better!!

OP posts:

StarExpat · 23/12/2009 20:37

Just try not to jump onto the dyslexia too quickly would be my advice. I tend to rule out all other possibilities first. Especially with a young child like your DS.

Does your DS' school have OT's in house? If not, is it something you can ask the GP for a referral? I'm not originally from the UK and the school I teach in here is not a British school so I don't know what usually happens as protocol here . If he's not crossing the midline, I'd really see an Occupational Therapist before getting him tested for dyslexia.

Original poster

Flightattendant · 23/12/2009 20:39

No OT's at school but his TA is the senco, so she ought to know the ropes.

Thankyou very much for the advice, that's really useful.

OP posts:

mrz · 24/12/2009 08:59

It is usually quicker to ask for a GP referral for OT services although the SENCO can request appointments.

Just a point his TA should NOT be SENCO under regulations that came into effect in September.

bethjeff · 31/12/2009 00:13

I did this as a child and once I was told it wasnt normal I just stopped it outright.

It seems that I had done it due to overthinking the task at hand and constructing new language and writing 'rules' that made sense... or seemed to at the time anyway...

I do suffer from OCD however.... which may have been a contributing factor.

I'd get it checked out... if it's consistent he's obviously one smart little boy!

Clarabel22 · 31/12/2009 23:53

My son is in year 2 and when he started writing (late) in reception he would mirror write at home. He was slow to read and write (summer born boy) and I never pushed it. It is only in year 2 that he has started to catch up with reading/writing and interestingly the mirroR writing has returned when he has been spontaneously writing by himself in the Xmas holidays. So, getting constant reminders to start from the left at school obviously works. He gets b and d mixed up and writes some numbers backwards but he is a very bright child and I have no reason to think he's dyslexic. Don't worry unnecessarily, but follow your instincts if you think somethign is wrong. Unfortunately I think expectations are very high for boys of this age as many of them are late starters when it comes to literacy.

Interesting he's ambidextrous with scissors, as this is often a decider when you are unsure if your child is a left hander.

Builde · 05/01/2010 11:15

My dd is left handed and - until the end of reception - would always write in mirror writing.

Now, it is 50/50 whether she writes in mirror or in the standard direction.

She will (depsite being a good reader) always read 'saw' as 'was'. She is in year 1.

She is more likely to write in the standard direction if she writes upside down. It was at this point that her teacher asked an advisor.

Apparently, the advice for left-handed children now is to let them get on with it, however suits them best (even if upside down), but to steer them into writing in the standard direction. (Because, in the end we have to standardise it!)

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