At what age would letter/number reversal issues bother you?

[Jayne J]

DD is in "1st grade" and reverses numbers (2,5,7) and confuses b and d. So far I am not concerned, but I wonder how long before I should be, if it does not improve. :bigear:

 

eta-she reverses the numbers when she writes them, but the letters when she reads them.

[ABQmom]

For me and because of my experience, I would worry at age 9. I might not do anything until age 9.5 or 10 unless the reversals were accompanied by many other difficulties. My children all had reversals until third grade, but I saw improvement through those first years. For instance in first grade, they might reverse ALL the time. By second grade, they might be remembering the right way sometimes, and by end of second grade only reversing sometimes. In third grade, the reversals were almost gone. By fourth--completely gone.

[isitnaptime]

Thanks. I have been wondering this as well. My dd is in 1st also, and has many reversals. Some that just pop up now and then, and some that are more often like 9, b, p.

[....]

When my kids were in ps, the teacher told me that it was very common even through 3rd grade. Every one of my kids did this (even my two kids that went to ps did it).

[Punks in Ontario]

I wouldn't worry at grade 1. Around here I correct them gently in grade 1 and 2. By grade three I'll circle them and have them correct them. By grade 4 or 5, they're fully responsible for making sure their right.

 

BTW, I keep a large print sign with bed and quip up for most of that time.

[boscopup]

Not sure when to worry about the reading... my oldest doesn't mix those up at all.

 

Writing... it's normal through 3rd grade. My oldest (7) still reverses b/d and q/p now and then, but he usually notices it and fixes it on his own, saying "I keep doing that!" in a frustrated voice. It got better by the end of first grade, then between first and second grade, it got WORSE because the physical act of writing got easier, and he stopped thinking so hard about forming the letters. He is back to just reversing on occasion and not every time now.

 

When I set up our school room, I definitely plan to put up alphabet strips and such. Sometimes he just needs to look and see how to form a letter or number again (though I had to laugh when he was doing a multiplication drill, table of 5's, and he said, "I forgot how to make a 5!" :lol: Every.single.problem had a 5 in it :D).

[dixiebuckeye]

My DD (6) struggles with b, d, p, and q in letters. She only does it when writing though and will catch her mistake if I ask her to read what she has written. Numbers, ack. She reverses 2, 5, 7, and 9 FREQUENTLY.

[zenjenn]

My daughter is dyslexic, and I started worrying around age 7/8, but the reversals were not an isolated problem. She had severe articulation delays, lots of letter switching "ot" instead of "to" and math calculation glitches. (Understanding grade-level concepts fine but stumbling over "6+1"), and problems with reading nonsense phonemes. And, even though she was well above grade level if reading in a familiar context, was rendered practically illiterate if reading small and/or dense text or in an unfamiliar context.

[serendipitous journey]

... I'd agree with not fretting 'till 8 or so, no later than 10, esp. if you have no other cause for anxiety.

 

I ran across a website explaining that letter reversals area sign of "immaturity" in the brain ... it actually is that human brains (and primates brains generally) are extremely good at detecting that an object is the same, no matter what position its viewed from. If you hold a pair of scissors so that the handles loops are on the left and the blades point out to the right, and look at them, then flip them 'round so that the blades point leftward and the handles are on your right: are they not the same object?

 

A neat study done sometime in the last year or so (I read the blurb in the Economist) confirmed some predictions that people good at telling "b"s from "d"s (ie, literate people) would have an impairment somewhere else due to having chunks of brain hijacked by the need to prevent letter reversals: there seems to be a small loss in the ability to read subtle expressions on others' faces (in literate compared to non-literate cultures/persons).

 

Today Button and I discussed this when he caught himself flipping his uppercase "p"s. I think it cheered him a bit. A neat story, at least.

[ChandlerMom]

I started having my 1st graders trace numbers (in an iPad app) before math. She rarely has any issues then and I figure even if it is just short term memory, it'll accumulate as he brain matures. I also have her trace letters or words (animals or dolche) every day, usually before we do the phonics part of her reading. I'll start her back into HWOT soon, but for now just tracing on the screen seems to have helped.

[mskelly]

That is an interesting point about the scissors. Never quite thought about it like that.

 

I just wanted to say my DS(7) got so frustrated trying to figure out which way to write a b or d, he just started drawing a circle and sticking the line right in the middle like an upside down lollipop. He was hoping I'd just chalk it up to messy handwriting and move on, but I was on to his little antics! Can't blame him for trying though. :lol:

[Jayne J]

That is an interesting point about the scissors. Never quite thought about it like that.

 

I just wanted to say my DS(7) got so frustrated trying to figure out which way to write a b or d, he just started drawing a circle and sticking the line right in the middle like an upside down lollipop. He was hoping I'd just chalk it up to messy handwriting and move on, but I was on to his little antics! Can't blame him for trying though. :lol:

 

Now there's a smart kid!!:D

[hobbystamper]

There is an article today from the creator of AAS on that issue:

 

http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/how-to-solve-b-d-reversal-problems/

 

Hope the link works.