Writing

Heather - posted on 05/02/2010

My son does the same thing. He also writes half his name on one line and the rest on line #2 lol

Amie - posted on 04/23/2010

I am a primary school teacher and a parent and I just wanted to let you know that it is very common for children even up to the age of 7 to write some letter and numbers reversed. My 4 yr old son Nathan will often write nath on on line then na on the next line but this is because he ran out of room and just went round the corner with his writing. Make sure your daughter is holding her pencil with the correct pencil grip as this can be hard to change when she is older but other than that I really wouldn't worry yet.

Sarah - posted on 04/23/2010

*sigh* I know how you feel...My son is just over 4.5 years old and is about to finish his second year of preschool. He is technically a special needs student ( he has verbal apraxia) so I am trying to be on top of things. Without pushing him, he has begun wanting to write and read at home. Recently I noticed that he had issues with reversing letters ( such as S and C). I sent samples of his handwriting into school for the OT to look at... The OT sent me home a note telling me that my son was actually AHEAD of the typical kids his age. In his school district they expect incoming kindergarten students to be able to COPY their name and 4 additional letters. She also said that the letter reversals are very common at that age.

What I have done for my son is make sure he has a example to look at. He has gotten to the point where he will ask me to show him how something is spelled or how a letter is formed.

Charlene - posted on 03/05/2010

My 4yr old son is also left-handed though luckily just has a natural tendency to want to write 's', '2' & '3' backwards! Sure it'll come with practice but I just think at this age you cant push it! Perhaps, for now, observation when looking at letters in stories is the key eg."look how this 's' curves round to the left first, what about this 's'?" etc. Maybe familiarity with how letters/numbers should LOOK might help before worrying about practicalities? Or make up a game where you write a short word with a letter backwards & the same word again correctly, then see if she can guess which is right & tell you why - with a reward sticker for right answers! :)

Laurel - posted on 02/22/2010

Thank you Krista

Krista - posted on 02/17/2010

I'm left handed and my son is right handed. I stand at his right side when I'm helping him so that I can help with the pencil without reaching in front of his face, blocking the paper. Some kids write things backwards at first, but if it continues after her first or second year of school, you might want to get her checked to see if she's dyslexic. In which case you would just need to get her a special tutor to help her out.