Writing backwards

[hamish]

Hi,

 

At the end of school on Monday Ds's teachers showed me a picture he had done, they were clearly pleased with the effort he had put in (picture of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk) he had wrote his name on the back which they showed me as an example of how well he is progressing, which he is..but... his name was written from right to left in a perfect mirror image. I don't recall the other kids ever doing this.

 

What is this a symptom of? ASD? Dyslexia? I swear I have come across this in one of the many books, articles etc.. I have read over the last 18 mths. Reason I ask is that he has a paed appt in May and I am trying to collect 'evidence' that there is more going on with him than ADHD, his current dx. Not that they will probably listen but one has to keep trying

 

Thanks

 

S x

[frogslegs]

My daughter (who seems to be NT) used to do that before she had started school and write with either hand. You could have put a mirror above what was written and seen her name. It was peculiar. Now she is in year 3 and would be incapable of doing it if she wanted to and uses her right hand to write. Bizarre.........

[Mum of 3]

I've seen this in lots of children I've taught, some of whom have 'grown out of it', and others have had to have extra support in the classroom due to other needs as well. One girl I taught wrote back -to -front and upside-down as well! It is worth talking to his teacher and finding out if he does this alot, as he may need to be assessed, as you say, for dyslexia. You didn't say which of your boys it is, but if it's the 5yo, I shouldn't worry at all, just give him more writing practice, maybe. If it's your 8yo, then you need to be looking at his other writing, and see if he does this alot, or if it's just a momentary lack of concentration.

[chris54]

My sister did perfect mirror writing when she first started school. The teacher put it down to her being left handed. the teacher was not worried and it was not long before sister was writing correctly, left handed.

 

This was 50 years ago when children were still being punished for being left handed so teacher was quite forward thinking for her time.

 

 

 

My son use to writes back to front upside down and sideways, all in the same sentence so nothing surprises my.

 

He gets the letters all well almost all facing the right way now but I still need the teacher to interpret a lot of it for me.

[bikemad]

My lad used to do it right thru infants and into juniors only recently age 9 has it begun to correct itself.

[hamish]

Hi,

 

Thanks for replies. It's the 5yr old doing this, sounds like it might be fairly common so I won't worry about it just yet. I am probably guilty of jumping on every little thing he does. I guess going through the dx process stops you seeing normal stuff for what it really is!

 

S x

[ScienceGeek]

I used to write backwards when I was younger too. I'm left handed

[Sally44]

My son also does this. Not only is it mirror image, but sometimes upside down. He is also ambidextrous. Now he is 8 he is mainly right handed, but can still swop to his left hand at any point. He is also said to have difficulties consistent with dyslexia and dyscalculia.

I find it hard to understand these difficulties because he is absolutely brilliant at building lego models. And yet really struggles with the orientation of letters/numbers.