I Need Advice on My 5 1/2 Yr Old Daughter.

One of my children did the exact same thing. She would bring papers home from school and everything was mirror image. At first I didn't think much about it because I know kids always have problems with writing some letters backwards, but then it got to the point that everything she wrote was that way and even the teacher was concerned. Her teacher suggested some testing. Finally, after testing, it was decided she was mildly Dyslexic. With some extra "training" she was able to write her words correctly though. She is now 28 years old and doesn't have any problems anymore and doesn't even remember having problems. BTW She is also left handed, which I was told is normal for this type of Dyslexia.

I know I am jumping in on this post a little late, but I thought I would share my experience. I worked as a school psychologist for 8 years before staying home to raise my children and have seen many children with reversals who have simply grown out of it. One particular child stands out that I wanted to share with you. She was in first grade and was having trouble reading and writing. She frequently reversed her letters and amazed me with how easily she would mirror write. We did qualify her for special education for a specific learning disability but referred her for outside evaluations because interventions were not helping. After all results came back, this child had a severe vision impairment in one eye. With corrective eye wear the reversals and mirror writing stopped immediately...

I'm a lefty and I was a backward writer. I remember my kindergarten teacher being very frustrated with me because I didn't even realize I was doing anything wrong. She was also a righty and couldn't empathize with me. By the time I got to first and second grade I had perfect beautiful handwriting. Although I wrote completely upside down to make up for the fact that I shouldn't write backward.
I always said that I wanted to advocate for left handed children because when I was a kid noone seemed to understand that my brain worked a little bit differently, and I had a hard time adapting to a right handed world. (still do sometimes;) I wouldn't worry too much about it right now. If she is still struggling by the middle of the year then maybe you'll want to get a professionals opinion. But if you can wait it out, she just might correct it herself.
I wish you and your daughter all the best!

Think about it this way, letters and numbers are the very first time that how somehing is oriented matters. A chair is still a chair if you hang it upside down, but a b is a q and a d is a p. If you draw a crecent moon, it is the same thing if you open the the left or the right, but if you open a c to the left, you are wrong. That is a lot for kids to process. They learn it slowly, and for some, it takes more time than others. It is not developmentally out of line just yet for her to have reversals, although, it is very unusual for her to do so much of it and to still write from right to left. You could call a developmental optomitrist who will do an eye exam for visual accuity, which every child needs anyway, but they will also check her visual motor, occular motor, and visual perceptual skills. If the reversals are an issue that will persist and need intervention, you will find out with this kind of evaluation. Call the nearest children's hospital and ask the Occupational Therapy office for a referal. An occupational therapist could also help you with this issue.

This is not dyslexia, if you are wondering that. Dyslexia has nothing to do with seeing or writing backward, it is the inablity to manipulate phonemes (the smallest sounds in speech) and a deminished ablity to understand sound-symbol relationships and decode the writen word.

M.

My 5 year old is ambidextrous (he writes more with his right since that was what he was taught, but can do both very well) and he was doing this over the summer. I was surprised because I couldn't have done the mirror image thing if I tried. Now that school is back in session he's doing much better with it. I talked to a lot of early childhood teachers and pediatricians and they all said it was normal.

Totally normal util around 7 or 8.

The best thing you can do is to gently correct her. Don't tell her it's "wrong" b/c she's still young enough that directionality is not solidified and it may look "right" to her and using her fine motor skills to write the letter may feel the same motorically.

Get an alphabet strip (in the school supply section) and use it as a comparison. Go through her words and ask her "Do these look the same?" If she says "oops, no" have her correct it on her own. If she says "Yes", then have her "air write" the letter several times (use your whole arm/hand to trace the letter in the air) then have her write the letter several times BIG on a sheet of paper before having her write it small on a line. This will help her "feel" the way the letter is formed while also seeing the visual representation.

No need to freak out about it. If she is still consistently writing things backwards into second grade, request an evaluation through the school.

It sounds like she has some retained primitive reflexes. A retained moro reflex, for example, can cause anxiety as well as hypersensitivity and some vision issues of not being able to make good eye contact. A retained ATNR can cause reversals, problems marching with opposite arm and leg, and difficulty crossing the midline. To see if these and other retained primitive reflexes are the basic problem, you can get an evaluation by an OT who is well-versed in primitive reflexes, or google the topic. For general info, go to www.pyramidofpotential.com. Simple exercises for about 10 minutes a day can integrate the reflexes, and she can then go forward! Good luck!

K. Johnson, MS Ed

My 4-yr old daughter writes backwards like that, and so does my 5-yr old niece. It does seem freaky to us, but I'm pretty sure it's harmless. My daughter also went through a phase of thinking the wind would blow things away, including her baby sister! She would get very upset!! My husband and I thought it came from the cartoons she was watching (Dora, Kai-Lan, etc....) where the wind always seems to blow things away. If you are worried, you should certainly ask your pediatrician, but I wouldn't stress it. :)

I have the same answer as Lucia's. My daughter also did it when she was 5 and learning how to write and I was very concerned. I spoke to my best friend who is a psychologist at an elementary school and she told me not to worry, that this is normal. Sure enough, she did it for a while and then just stopped, I don't even think I corrected her all that much.

My son is now 5 and does it sometimes, although not as much as she did.

Give her some time.

my daughter-now 37 wrote backwards,right handed;my grandaughter,6,writes backwards,left handed......daughter is archetectural designer now-both seem to draw line designs,lots of color-----both are very sensitive to things around them----i say if you are worried,that is enough to check it out-the anxiety could be from being more aware or something else....best to you

I have been working in the medical profession for over 10 years and after all the things I have seen with children, I say - Please, please get her checked out at the nearest Children's Hospital by referral of your pediatrician. IT CAN"T HURT. Better safe than sorry! She is 5 1/2 yrs. old! I have known three people whose children did this sort of thing and it was the ENTIRE alphabet FROM RIGHT to LEFT every time NOT just a few letters- Just like your daughter. One out of the three was pretty much ok but just had slight processing difficulties which worked out with an OT Occupational Therapist that the specialist sent them to, another had some type of cerebral palsy and the other had some type of dyslexia. What bothers me is that she couldn't even bring herself to put a face on a pumpkin. She did the alphabet again! Makes me nervous enough to say- please please get her checked out! What's the harm? Its SO WORTH the peace of mind. Listen to the doctor you know (they usually have a gut feeling about stuff like that even if its not their specialty!) and get it done before she ends up retaining some of the backwards difficulties and it is harder to undo. If there is nothing wrong then you have peace of mind and if there is something, then you have the peace of mind knowing you were PROACTIVE for your baby's sake! Its a WIN, WIN situation! Please do go- just make sure you don't go to a bunch of idiots. There are good and bad medical professionals just like every other profession has! When my child had problems my pediatrician went straight for the Children's Hosp. in Philadelphia, Pa. I NEVER regretted the decision! These places always have the best of the best working there and its a great place to get the BEST help AND you get more than one opinion which is GREAT because they have a whole team work on your problem- not just one doctor! Early intervention is the ONLY way to go- no matter what as it -prevents a small problem from becoming large and complicated. If this wasn't bothering you, you wouldn't bother to be writing in. Your gut is probably telling you something is not right and it could be very small prob. but you wont know unless you go see what's what! Go for it! God bless! ;)

I read an article about that-all children are born with the ability to see mirror images. As they get older we snuff that out of them by training them to write in one direction. Maybe her's is just taking a little longer to disappear. If it worries you you should talk to her teacher though. You will get much more info from her to help decide if you should do something about it.

That is my child. you described her perfectly at that age. She is now seven and it has gotten a lot better. Now, she usually writes it all correctly with some exceptions, though what she does sometimes do is invert two letters. I was worried, like you, that she had/ has a form of dislexia. I know a few people in my family with it so it was a concern before she was born. There are many forms of dislexia. One form includes switching numbers or letters in your head even though it is shown to you correctly. My husband has that and no matter how many times he looks at someting it could still look switched in his head until someone tells him otherwise. This does not sound like your daughter right now, but my daughter started out with just writing everything mnirror image, and now she does not. Instead she inverts numbers while doing math which worries me about her future grades because her twos will look like fives and her 21 will become 12 throwingher correct answers off. She will tell me the right answer but write it wrong so if you see that all you can do is ask her if it looks right and then ask her to fix it.
The reason they say it is normal is because it is very common for kids to mix up letters that look very similar such as d,b q,p and so on; not whole messages. Really, at the age of 4 it is way too early to tell so teachers are reluctant to do anything until they are older. All you can do is watch her closely until she is a little older and see if it continues to be a problem. As I have stated, my daughter still has some visual issues, (nothing that can be fixed with eye sight because they root in how the brain sees the image), but it has gotten better to the extent that it is rarely even an issue anymore.

My daughter is a lefty and did this too. Everything was mirror image. She is now 6 and does it less than she used to. We did discuss it during the time with our pediatrician, he said she would grow out of it and she is. Lefties see things differently. It wouldn't hurt to mention this to the doctor though, just to ease your mind.

Definitely. If it is normal, then it is normal. If it is dyslexia of some sort or something else, then the earlier she gets help, the better. My friend has dyslexia and went to Princeton and is a teacher; another friend refuses to have her daughter tested and her daughter cannot read at age 11 (the daughter doesn't want to be tested either - but that is why she has parents). It is tragic b/c her daughter's life is being severely limited.

Hi! My daughter did it too! I was worried about the same thing. Everyone told me not to worry, it's normal. She is now 7 and doesn't do it anymore. She's an excellent student. We did just get her glasses, which may have had something to do w/it earlier? If your worried, it certainly can't hurt to have her checked out. They should be able to do it at her school. Good luck! I'm sure it will be fine!

You might as well get it checked out. If she's in kindergarten, ask the school to evaluate her. My twins are in kindergarten and they write an occasional letter backwards, but not the whole alphabet. It might be normal but you might as well get it checked out for peace of mind...

Keep working with her and at her next dr's appt ask the pediatrician. Maybe she needs an Occupational Therapist to help her along. I believe most elementary school districts have them. Can she read yet or is she having trouble learning to do that too?
She also just started kindergarten( I assume, at 5) this is a big step and a huge stressor for some kids.

Dyslexia is normal. If she is having trouble in school due to this, the school can test her for dyslexia and set her up with special help to be able to calm her brain down enough to process the letters in the right placement.

As far as the other stuff goes...think about what has happened in her life within the last month that altered her behavior.

Nanc

My son did that in kindergarten and freaked me out. His teacher assured me that it's common. He did it a few times and never again. : )

She sounds like my daughter, now ten, who was diagnosed last year with ADD and dyscalculia. She also tested as highly gifted, which meant she was able to compensate pretty well for the deficits caused by her learning disability. But she wrote everthing backwards and had irrational fears: the neighbours could hear us talking, if the window were open, she would worry about the wind, monsters in the bathroom and other very weird stuff that worried me. I wish with all my heart I had listened to my gut and not the whole host of people who said "It's normal" and "She'll grow out of it". Then we could have reacted earlier to her issues and she might not have the self-esteem problems and fear of failure she has now. I say might, because low self-esteem is often part of ADD. I felt she was different, she felt she was different, and knowing what the difference was back in 1st grade would have helped us both.
This in no way means your daughter has the same kinds of issues. But now that we know, my daughter is much happier and getting the help she needs from a therapist. It has improved life for her 100%. So I would consider getting her evaluated by someone you trust, just to rule out an issue that needs to be dealt with earlier rather then later.
My daughter is a very happy child now with wonderful, supportive teachers and friends. I am so grateful for the help her therapist has provided.

A little bit of mirror writing is is common at this age. I know I used to do it in Kindergarten myself (mom saved a lot of my old schoolwork). It took me a while ( age 8 or 9) to get good at handwriting and be able to write neatly. I would talk to the teacher to see if she is doing it a lot more than most kids. Also, watch if it improves as the year goes on. If you still see problems that are not improving by midyear then see about an evaluation. If you want the school to evaluate then make sure there is at least 2-3 months of the school year left (some schools are slower than others at getting to the evaluations).

I don't think its completely normal to write the whole alphabet backwards. I might be a simple explanation. I have 3 kids and I am currently teaching my 4 yr to read. My two other kids are 6 1/2 and 10 1/2 yrs. My 6 1/2 does write some letters backward or a p instead of a b but not the whole aphabet. Better safe than sorry.

It doesn't hurt to ask your doctor (or the school district) for a referral for her to have an evaluation. It's quite possible that she is totally normal in every way and outgrow this habit. My daughter still wrote some numbers backwards in second grade - she is now a high school student in honors classes with a 94 GPA! Don't stress until/unless you find out you have a reason to. The anxiety is really more of a concern