Reversals in 1st grade - are we in trouble?

[SKL]

My dd5 is entering 1st grade at a Lutheran school. I advocated for early entry, and after much fuss she was accepted. She took the Iowa test in the Spring and scored at the 99th %ile [among Spring KGrs] in each of reading, math, and language. She's reading Charlotte's Web. So, she's clearly ready for 1st grade academics. BUT: her writing is still riddled with letter and number reversals (and it isn't very neat, either).

 

I know reversals are "common" up to the age of seven, but are they common enough among 1st graders to not be a huge problem with her teacher?

 

Or should I pull out the paddle and the dunce cap and attack this problem over the summer? (Just kidding about the paddle and dunce cap!)

 

Any ideas for getting kids to be a bit more aware of this issue?

[chepyl]

I think it is common enough to not he an issue. I would do some things to practice over the summer. Word World has a fun episode on b and d. They teach a little song to help remember. Get some Word World and other phonics/reading cartoons. Let her watch those. It won't seem like school. Have her write letters to grandparents and friends. Play games like Boggle that require writing words. (I play Boggle with my first grader and It works great).

 

Practice, but in non-school ways.

[2smartones]

I also wouldn't worry about it. A good teacher will be aware that it's common in young children and will be able to work with her rather than against her.

[boscopup]

Reversals are very common in first graders. I wouldn't worry one bit.

 

My 8 year old 3rd grader *still* has some occasional reversals, though he usually notices them.

 

One thing you can do is review handwriting instructions. My son had weird formation - starting at the bottom, things like that. While his K teacher taught them to go one direction, he did it his own way, and no one noticed since it was a class of 17 with one teacher. Once I was working with him one on one, I was able to remediate his formation and also give him strategies to remember which way things go.

 

DS2 (who thinks in pictures and may be slightly dyslexic) is learning to form his letters now. I have taught him that 'b' starts with a line and his mouth makes a line when he says the sound /b/. The 'd' starts with a circle, and his mouth makes a circle when he says the sound /d/. This is helping a lot. I just wish I could find something like that for m/n, since he still confuses those in reading. :tongue_smilie:

[jenbrdsly]

Don't worry until Christmas of 3rd grade, even with gifted children.

[boscopup]

Don't worry until Christmas of 3rd grade, even with gifted children.

 

So I should tell my son he has until Christmas to get his b/d issues cleared up? :lol:

 

Kidding, of course. It frustrates him to no end! But he's definitely improving. He reverses a LOT less than he did last year at the beginning of 2nd grade!

[catz]

My kids never had a problem with reversing, but my oldest went to PS through 1st grade and I was in the classroom every week. Plenty of 1st graders were doing it through the year. With a 5 year old, I wouldn't even give it a 2nd thought. I wouldn't sweat it at all.

[Dmmetler]

My only caveat is this-be aware that even if it's a NORMAL behavior among kids at that grade, there are powers that be who will use it against a grade-skipped child, looking for any possible sign of "immaturity", so don't be surprised if it does, so you might want to be aware of how your child's work compares to others posted so you can point out that "immaturity" is actually NORMAL for a 1st grader (been there, done that, although mine was a 4 yr old kindergartner-we pulled her before she became a 5 yr old 1st grader).

[ElizabethB]

Normal.

 

But, I'd still work on fixing it--I really like the HWT chalkboard for helping with reversals. The little smiley face in the corner is helpful and motivational. Also, work with uppercase B and D for a while if there is a b/d lowercase problem, that makes the transition from B to b easy.

[SKL]

My only caveat is this-be aware that even if it's a NORMAL behavior among kids at that grade, there are powers that be who will use it against a grade-skipped child, looking for any possible sign of "immaturity", so don't be surprised if it does, so you might want to be aware of how your child's work compares to others posted so you can point out that "immaturity" is actually NORMAL for a 1st grader (been there, done that, although mine was a 4 yr old kindergartner-we pulled her before she became a 5 yr old 1st grader).

 

That's what I'm worried about. With so many kids redshirted these days, I don't know how typical reversals will be in her class. Even my slower reader (who will be 6 in October) has only occasional reversals.

 

My youngest writes so many things backwards. I see it on her piano theory worksheets, which she completes without assistance and without the benefit of copying. We're talking capital letters B-G and numerals 2-5 being reversed as often as not. It would be very easy for someone to get the wrong impression. (Though one would have to give credit for knowing the difference between a 4th and a 5th, even if the 4 in 4th was backwards. ;))

 

I tried talking to her about it a while back, encouraging her to try to notice whether the letters looked right after she wrote them. It seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Perhaps I should try again.

[jenbrdsly]

So I should tell my son he has until Christmas to get his b/d issues cleared up? :lol:

 

Kidding, of course. It frustrates him to no end! But he's definitely improving. He reverses a LOT less than he did last year at the beginning of 2nd grade!

 

 

:lol:

 

I looked for this on my blog but can't find it. Have you taught: BED with thumbs up for the B and D? A picture would be really helpful here. I'll go search some more...

[ElizabethB]

I tried talking to her about it a while back, encouraging her to try to notice whether the letters looked right after she wrote them. It seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Perhaps I should try again.

 

You need HWT. The directions, starting at the smiley face, and wet, dry, try make it super easy to form the letters right. After practice on the chalkboard, it transitions to regular letters and numbers.

[boscopup]

:lol:

 

I looked for this on my blog but can't find it. Have you taught: BED with thumbs up for the B and D? A picture would be really helpful here. I'll go search some more...

 

I have done that, but haven't been consistent with reminding DS1. Yesterday, we talked about the /b/ sound making a line with your lips, and the /d/ sound making a circle with your lips. I know that has helped DS2 a LOT (he may be mildly dyslexic like his grandpa).

 

And btw, speaking of DS2, I got a copy of the letters page of PAL Writing yesterday that has 'm' and 'n' on it. I'm going to see if those two pictures will help DS2 with those letters. He cannot for the life of him figure out which is which. He just guesses /m/ and then looks at my mouth to see if he's right. :lol: He used to confuse those sounds in his speech, and that's been corrected (we had to work on each word individually), but in reading them, he just can't tell the difference. Otherwise, his reading is coming along really well. We haven't gotten to writing those two letters yet, so that may also help. We'll see. WRTR has the mouth/sound correlation for 'b' and 'd', but does not have any such thing for 'm' and 'n'. PAL Writing says 'm' is the "mountain letter", and you can see where you can drive your car between the mountains. "n" is the "nose letter", and it shows a face on the left part of the 'n', with the hump being a really long nose. :D We'll see how that goes.

 

Sorry for the tangent there. :lol:

[slackermom]

That's what I'm worried about. With so many kids redshirted these days, I don't know how typical reversals will be in her class. Even my slower reader (who will be 6 in October) has only occasional reversals.

 

My youngest writes so many things backwards. I see it on her piano theory worksheets, which she completes without assistance and without the benefit of copying. We're talking capital letters B-G and numerals 2-5 being reversed as often as not. It would be very easy for someone to get the wrong impression. (Though one would have to give credit for knowing the difference between a 4th and a 5th, even if the 4 in 4th was backwards. ;))

 

I tried talking to her about it a while back, encouraging her to try to notice whether the letters looked right after she wrote them. It seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Perhaps I should try again.

 

Is she left-handed? If so, it may take her longer to really be able to tell the difference. My DD is a lefty, and she could tell right from left very early on, but once she began to write, her left-right orientation got mixed up a bit. She would even reverse entire words (mirror writing) at times and not notice. I think that when she looked at the page, her brain would flip it into place, so it looked normal to her.

 

DD never used a handwriting program at home or school, but everything is fine now. I'm not sure what made everything click into place. Just time and practice I guess. Her teachers in K and 1st never made any fuss about it.

[SKL]

Is she left-handed? If so, it may take her longer to really be able to tell the difference. My DD is a lefty, and she could tell right from left very early on, but once she began to write, her left-right orientation got mixed up a bit. She would even reverse entire words (mirror writing) at times and not notice. I think that when she looked at the page, her brain would flip it into place, so it looked normal to her.

 

DD never used a handwriting program at home or school, but everything is fine now. I'm not sure what made everything click into place. Just time and practice I guess. Her teachers in K and 1st never made any fuss about it.

 

No, she's a righty. But she can't tell her right from her left. (I used to have the same problem most of my life. I even failed my first driving test because I turned the wrong way, LOL. So I don't know if this is likely to resolve any time soon.)

 

When my other dd was in vision therapy, they had me do this brushing thing on one side of her body and that helped amazingly with the reversals. I've thought about bringing out the brush again for this dd, but she has something going on with her skin right now, so I'm reluctant.

[Maus]

A very personable professor I had in college for Human Development explained letter reversals were very common until a certain stage of development because, after all, ” your dog is still your dog whether you are looking at his right side, his left side, or his belly.” Those pesky two-dimensional letters, especially 'b,' 'd,' 'p,' and 'q,´ change who they are when they turn over.

 

He said letter reversal is quite common until somewhere around the age of eight.