Reversing numbers... DD6

[Lovedtodeath]

I know I am bugging with questions lately, but I will try to make this brief! DD transposes most of the numbers she writes. If it is 12, she does not write 21, but the 2 is backwards, so are 7s, 9s, 5s, 6s... basically any that can be transposed are. Should I be concerned? Make her do more copywork? Or chalk it up to age and keep plugging with our normal math work? Thank you!

[susie in tx]

My 7 yo dd does this. She doesn't reverse letters, mostly because she writes in cursive, I think.

 

I'll tell her that the number is backwards and have her rewrite it. I don't make a huge deal out of it.

[Annie Laurie]

My dd is 6 and also reverses numbers and some letters. I also just tell her it's backwards and she fixes it.

[Colleen in SEVA]

I feel your pain.... Blue is a math whiz, but almost all numbers are backwards. For us, it is every time he writes 4, 7, 9 and about half the time it is 2, 3, 5, 6. I tease him that at least he always gets 1, 8 & 0 right. ;) We have been through several HWT books, and I think it has actually made it worse because he tends to draw a straight line (like a 1), then figure out how to turn it into whatever number he wants. Since HWT letters go to the right from the straight line, his 4, 7, & 9 always have the straight line on the left, with the extra part off to the right.

 

For us, it does help to do a quick review of problem numbers on a regular basis. I make him write a whole line of each set of numbers, saying the little reminders out loud.

 

I have him write the number 17 across the page and say out loud "down" while writing 1 and "over-down" for writing 7.

 

Then the next line down he writes the number 23, saying "big curve-line" for 2 and "little curve, little curve" for 3.

 

Below that he does a line of 45, remembering that each of these starts with "a tiny uppercase L", so while writing 4 he says "L, line down" and 5 is "L, curve, top line". Eventually I will let him do the top line first, but for now I make him do it this way so all letters are going from left to right, as in reading. (His reply the first time I pointed this out was "Otherwise the numbers would be counter-reading." LOL!!)

 

Doing all of this on a regular basis does seem to be helping. Of course, many of his numbers are still backwards randomly, but overall he is getting more letters the right way. I don't make him go back and fix backwards numbers for math (only on handwriting pages) because I don't want to interrupt his math-logic-thought process. From time to time, I will make him go back over a drill sheet and circle all of the numbers that are backwards after he has checked the answers. I want him to be aware of the issue, but not dwell on it to the point where it interferes with his love of doing math.

[...................]

he used to reverse 2, 3, 6, 9, even 7 and 5. It seemed like there was no number that he would write correctly. I used to stop and make him re-write it in the moment, but that was very very frustrating for him. So I took the advice of some people here and stopped correcting all together. Not even after the fact.

 

Now magically he is only reversing number 6.

 

So in my mind, time is the best answer. Another method is to just make her practice the proper way to write the numbers...just pick one number and have her copy it ten or twenty times while saying it aloud every day. I did that for a while with the number 3 because that was the one he did the most, and maybe it worked. But then again he also used to reverse all the other numbers and I did nothing and they fixed themselves.

 

So I am waiting on number 6...maybe I'll wait a year and if he's still reversing it at the end of this year, I'll start with copywork on it.

 

:)

[Mandamom]

and I even find my 8 year old periodically reversing letters. I don't make a big deal about it. It is pretty normal until the age of 8.

[woolybear]

I think it's very normal for the age and will change. I would just point it out and make sure you write numbers out enough for her to see or point them out in stores,books,etc.

[AngieW in Texas]

Reversals are common up to the 8th birthday. If she's still reversing on a regular basis at that point, there may be a problem.

 

My oldest reversed numbers a lot until some time between her 7th and 8th birthdays. She had occasional reversals (maybe 1x/week) up until her 10th birthday and still has a reversal now and then at 15yo (maybe 2-3x/year). I made a number strip that I always put out on the table in front of her until she was only occasionally reversing numbers.

 

My youngest is dyslexic and had lots of reversals. She is 10yo now and still has reversals, but not as bad. Mostly she has problems with b/d, but she sometimes write numbers backwards too.

[Lovedtodeath]

Thank you! I will not worry about it. I can set my mind (and her father's) to rest on the matter. I appreciate all of the responses!