Should This Be Something To Worry About?

[Princess_Aurora]

Sorry about the largeness of this pic. DD drew this a couple of days ago. She's 4 and will be 5 Dec. 29. My mom and MIL keep telling me its nothing to worry about at this age, but she can write things backwards. In fact, that's the way she writes her name the majority of the time. She CAN write it fowars but the fact that she perfers to write it backwards is what worries me.

This is a picture of her and her Nanna. She wrote her name and "Nanna" totally backwards. Is this something I should be worried about or is it something she'll grow out of???

 

[Michelle]

Is she left-handed by any chance? Sounds like it's pretty common at her age:

http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/preschoolaged/reversewriting.html

If it doesn't resolve itself I would get it checked out, though.

Good luck!

 

[Princess_Aurora]

Nope, she's completely right-handed. She just has the ability to write fowards and backwards I guess.

 

[janette]

The fact that she can write the words is a good sign

Does she recognize most letters & and associate them with sounds? It looks like she's doing okay, I believe at that age transpositions are considered normal.

My 8yo DD is dyslexic and didn't write her complete name without help until she was almost 6 backwards or forward. She was very delayed in recognizing numbers & letters. She transposes letters & numbers and has just started noticing it. Most of the time she doesn't notice until it is pointed out and not always then.

 

[snoopy]

I'm left handed and apparently I "mirror wrote" as a child. I'm not sure its common in righties, but maybe it is. In any case, at age 5, I think its still too young to be a concern.

 

[KimR]

My DD does this, too (she'll be 5 Dec 16). My oldest used to write backwards once in a while, although its was usually single letters rather than entire words, but the teacher said it was very common and nothing to worry about.

Kim

 

[aahmom1]

It's perfectly normal, my step-daughter wrote things backward when she was in 1st grade. I called the teacher and she said it ws totally normal and most kids do it, don't worry.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

Okay, I feel a little better now knowing that others do it. I guess I should be glad that she knows how to write. She can write quite a few words actually. She does recognise all her letters and knows what sounds they make...although she can't quite put them together to figure out how to read. She knows words by sight though but she doesn't know why a certain word is a certain word. She's working on it though.

 

[janette]

Sounds like she's doing great with reading skills, most don't go into Kindergarten so ready to read. She'll love Kindergarten and be writing stories before you know it

 

[RNMOM]

If you are really worried, you could call a pediatric occupational therapist. They specialize in fine motor control and this kind of stuff. They also have a bunch of tests. They could give you an idea about what is a concern and when to have her tested, if ever. I think a child who can write legible words backward at almost 5 is pretty darn smart and talented. IMHO.

 

[KimRaye]

THANK YOU PA, for posting this!! My DD, also going to be 5 in Dec, has had this 'talent' since she started writing. It isn't ALL the time and, it has been reduced to only single letters now and then but, I was worried too! (Her z's are backwards currently)

Thanks also to snoopy for describing the 'mirror' writing. I didn't know how else to say that, you did it great!!

You've ALL helped me as well, feel better about my DD!

She spends ALOT of time writing and asking the spelling of names & things and, asks about numbers alot, like when we're driving, she asks about people's license plate numbers/letters and, vans with phone numbers, etc.

She's writing her own BD/Christmas list, with spelling help from me!

This thread was a great relief! THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!!!

 

[sammi]

Many young children start out printing "reversals" but as they grow and learn they will start printing the right way. I wouldn't worry about her printing right now.

 

[Tartan Tigger]

I work with 4 year olds and the majority of them go through a stage of mirror writing.