6 year old writing backwards

[Scarlett]

It has been awhile since I've been around a 6 year old doing schoolwork.  My boss's dd is here with me today.  She has a difficult last name and I just watched as she took her dad's business card and carefully wrote all of the letters correctly, but in the reverse order.  

Is that common?

[HomeAgain]

It's normal.  She could be playing, or it could be that she understands symbols = words, but she hasn't intuited that there is a specific order or direction to see them in.

[Katy]

If she's in regular school I'd assume she knows how to write her last name and is playing.  Totally normal.

[fairfarmhand]

I did that in kindergarten. It corrected itself in a year or two.

[Scarlett]

2 hours ago, Katy said:

If she's in regular school I'd assume she knows how to write her last name and is playing.  Totally normal.

She is homeschooled.  

She can write her first name and has for a long time.  I asked her today to write her first name and she did it correctly.  Her last name is very long and difficult.  Not surprised she can’t write it out without looking yet.  

But I am glad to know it is normal to write the entire word backwards.....I knew backward letters were common,  but  I have never seen the whole word written backwards.  

Edited March 15, 2019 by Scarlett

[OH_Homeschooler]

My youngest did that too, but at 8 she no longer does. It was interesting as she learned the correct way to write letters, because sometimes she would revert to writing letters backwards.

She was our only child to do this, and she's our only left-handed kid. Do you know if this kid is a righty or a lefty?

 

[Rachel]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

She is homeschooled.  

She can write her first name and has for a long time.  I asked her today to write her first name and she did it correctly.  Her last name is very long and difficult.  Not surprised she can’t write it out without looking yet.  

But I am glad to know it is normal to write the entire word backwards.....I knew backward letters were common,  it I have never seen the whole word written backwards.  

My daughter had trouble with single letter reversals past when most kids usually work it out. She seemed to have completely outgrown it and then one day wrote her full name in a mirror image of how it should be and was oblivious that she had done it. It ended up being a time time deal but definitely made me question whether I should be her teacher!

[Scarlett]

1 minute ago, Rachel said:

My daughter had trouble with single letter reversals past when most kids usually work it out. She seemed to have completely outgrown it and then one day wrote her full name in a mirror image of how it should be and was oblivious that she had done it. It ended up being a time time deal but definitely made me question whether I should be her teacher!

My mom, a teacher, said it is just a clear reading readiness indicator.  You teach kids how books work in our language.,,,words go from left to right and from top to bottom.she reminded me I taught this to ds. 

[Ottakee]

I did that some....I am a lefty.

[Moonhawk]

DS5 does this sometimes with his long complicated first name, He knows it starts with M, ends with Y, and that every letter has a specific place. And sometimes he writes it backwords (ha..ha..) or all jumbled up. I don't know enough to say if it's normal for other kids, but he can read and write basic words so I'm not concerned. It does seem to happen either when he's play-writing or a way of telling me he's done for the day, etc. 

Also, when he is copying longer words down from the board or something else, he has once or twice written the entire word backwards. I think he is focusing so hard on getting the letterforms right, and next to the right other letters, he just starts at the wrong end of the line. 

 

[Noreen Claire]

DS6, my lefty, does all his school work properly but oftentimes will write his creative writing-type stuff completely reversed, mirror image, starting at the left and going to the right. It's happening less and less as the school year progresses. I'm not concerned.

When I was bored in school, I taught myself to write my name backwards in cursive. I still do it sometimes, because it's fun!

[Farrar]

My understanding is that before about age 8 it's a brain development thing. Little kids see shapes that are rotated or flipped as the same as the original shape because their brains are actually more flexible in their thinking. It usually clears up with minimal instruction over time in part because thinking gets more rigid. Of course, it can be an early sign of dyslexia, but without other indicators, totally normal.

[Tanaqui]

Da Vinci did that, so she's in good company.

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, Noreen Claire said:

DS6, my lefty, does all his school work properly but oftentimes will write his creative writing-type stuff completely reversed, mirror image, starting at the left and going to the right. It's happening less and less as the school year progresses. I'm not concerned.

When I was bored in school, I taught myself to write my name backwards in cursive. I still do it sometimes, because it's fun!

 

2 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I did that some....I am a lefty.

I’m left handed too, the only one in my sibling group and the only one who did the mirror image thing.