Writing Letters & Numbers Backwards

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Laura from youngwritersworkshops.com, and I'm going to talk about writing letters and numbers backwards. I think just about every parent has had a moment where they've seen their child writing backwards and kind of though "oh" and had a really nervous feeling in their stomach that perhaps their child is dyslexic or has a learning disability, and I just want to reassure you that it's a really normal thing, and that... up to a certain age... it's so common, and you're more likely than not to see that in a child who's learning to read and write. So try not to worry too much. Of course worrying is part of being a parent, but try to remain calm and just know that writing letters and numbers backwards happens really commonly for a child younger than seven or so. It isn't an indication of dyslexia. Now, there are certain situations... if the child is older than seven and continues to do this, or if the child is unable to copy from another piece of writing--for example if you made a 3 for him and he copied it backwards--then you might... if you're seeing this over and over and this is a pattern that you're seeing that he's having difficulty copying from another piece of work... then you might want to get an evaluation, either with a learning specialist or an eye doctor. There's different reasons that he could be having this problem and it could be related to a vision problem, or it could be related to a learning disability. So, don't panic. Pay attention to the situation where the backwards writing is happening, and help him by showing him an example of a made correctly and see if that resolves the problem, and if it's a continuing problem in that situation you may wish to have some evaluation, but try to remain calm. Those are some things about writing letters and numbers backwards."