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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 24 2005 at 7:15am | IP Logged
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I have a question for you all -- when do you become concerned about letter reversals? Emily, 11, still reverses letters at times (b and d, mostly) and will often do so in her spelling (for example, the other day she spelled juice as jucie, and servant as srevant).
(As a funny aside, these words were in a "Decree from the Emperor" that Emily wrote, saying she would "hereby be Lizzy's srevant and bring her all the jucie, JellO and popsicles she wants.")
I've never thought of her as dyslexic, because she's always been an excellent reader. She's extremely bright and in many ways has an almost photographic memory. However, she taught herself to read before preschool -- consequently, I didn't give her as solid a phonics base as she could have had.
Does this sound like something within "normal" range, that we can remedy with phonics/spelling/writing reinforcement? Or has anyone had experience in detecting something more serious that needed to be addressed?
Thanks,
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Karen E.
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alicegunther
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| Posted: March 24 2005 at 8:47am | IP Logged
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The sample you sent sounds normal to me (not to mention extremely sweet). Also, I find my children are a bit less careful about spelling when they are jotting down notes to each other.
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Lissa
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Karen, I can't speak to the larger question, but I do know a good trick for helping with b and d reversal--you think of the word "bed." It's actually shaped like a bed, complete with headboard and footboard. Since B comes first in the alphabet and in the word 'bed,' you can picture the word in your mind to help you remember which direction b faces. If you reverse them, the word doesn't look like a bed.
Hard to explain but it really does help!
By the way, I LOVED Emily's note. Hilarious!
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juliecinci
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Lissa, that's a great trick!
Karen, does your daughter write quickly? I ask because I reverse letters all the time when I type. I am moving too fast and I wind up with 'ahve' instead of have every single time.
For reversals, I put the correct directions (3, 9, 7, 2, b, d, p, q) in front of my young writers so they have something to look at when they come to that letter. Also, in the editing phase, I usually suggest checking for reversals so that they self-correct.
My oldest reversed until he was about 12. I have one who is 10 and he is still reversing most of the time. Neither is dyslexic, one is a leftie.
Don't know if that helps.
I will say that your daughter's writer's voice, however, is powerful!
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teachingmom
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Both of my lefties struggled/continue to struggle with reversals! My 8 yo is basically over it now. But my 6yo first grader still reverses about half to more than half the time for b and d. Even the lower case d in her name at times, much to my chagrin! I assumed that there must be something in the brains of left handed people that makes reversals more likely. Anyone ever heard of a connection?
Oh, and my 10yo, who is a great speller when it comes to spelling as a subject, regularly misspells simple words or switches letters in words when she is writing quickly or for fun. I think she is just not thinking carefully or proofreading at those times. Hope that reassures you that it can be normal.
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MaryM
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| Posted: March 24 2005 at 12:58pm | IP Logged
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I still have quite a few papers of mine from when I was in school. I've looked back at my writing and was always surprised to see that they sometimes contained mistakes like that - transposing of letters - at times like junior high level when I would have expected not to be doing that. I fancied myself to be quite intelligent and I did do well in school. I'd concure with the others that it is completely "nomral".
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MacBeth
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teachingmom wrote:
| I assumed that there must be something in the brains of left handed people that makes reversals more likely. Anyone ever heard of a connection? |
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Neither my dh nor I has ever had a problem (both lefties), nor does Libby (ambidextrous), but 2 of my righties sometimes reverse. I have a feeling that the complexities of handedness make our righties act more like lefties  .
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teachingmom
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| Posted: March 24 2005 at 8:14pm | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
| Neither my dh nor I has ever had a problem (both lefties), nor does Libby (ambidextrous), but 2 of my righties sometimes reverse. I have a feeling that the complexities of handedness make our righties act more like lefties . |
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That is interesting, MacBeth. Is Libby really ambidextrous? Can she write just as well with one hand as with the other? I've never met anyone who could do that.
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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 24 2005 at 11:01pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, all, for your ideas, reassurances and insights. Nice to know we're probably in the "nomral raneg"
I love the "bed" idea, Lissa, and thanks to all of you who noted the "quick/casual" notes vs. more formal writing. I don't know why I didn't think of that, but it certainly makes sense.
Thanks!
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Karen E.
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Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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MacBeth
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teachingmom wrote:
| That is interesting, MacBeth. Is Libby really ambidextrous? Can she write just as well with one hand as with the other? I've never met anyone who could do that. |
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Not quite as well, but she can write legibly; I had an uncle who could write perfectly backwards with his right hand and forwards with his left. Libby writes with her right hand, eats with her left hand, bats left, throws right, and is very left handed on the violin...sweeps like a lefty, golfs lefty...
Handedness is a very complex thing. Don and I are different kinds of lefties. He is much more left dominant than I am. Like Libby, I do some things righty, though not as many as she does lefty. My poor cousin was switched, and I am sure it hindered his ability to do many things. We just let it go naturally.
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Karen T
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| Posted: March 25 2005 at 12:43pm | IP Logged
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I am fairly ambidextrous myself. My mom said I was leaning toward left-handedness as a toddler but I was made to use right hand in first grade. No one else in our family (immediate or extended) has been left handed so I'm not sure if I was really meant to be or not. My left eye is dominant, so maybe.
I can write pretty well with either hand but much faster with my right one. I play piano and several other instruments, so that probably helped strengthen my left hand fingers.
Karen T
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TracyQ
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Karen,
If this is the only thing she does, I wouldn't worry too much. We have a son who was doing this, PLUS number reversals in his math as well. But he also had some other problems as well. He could read any word on a page by itself, but when words were together, he'd skip lines, and/or words, and put throat stops in.
We took him for an evaluation with the behavioral optometrist, and he was found to have vision learning problems. His were vision tracking, and visual sequencing. So he had 6 months of vision learning therapy, and is a new kid! We still have some learning issues, but we're working on it, and what a blessing to know how to help!
I think simple reversals is normal. But if you (or anyone else) suspected any vision learning problems, you can check out this website to see what you'd be looking for in order to know whether or not to be concerned. Children's Vision
Vision learning problems do not have to do with their vision (eyesight), but the connectors between their eye and brain.
Hope this helps!
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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 29 2005 at 9:07pm | IP Logged
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TracyQ wrote:
Karen,
I think simple reversals is normal. But if you (or anyone else) suspected any vision learning problems, you can check out this website to see what you'd be looking for in order to know whether or not to be concerned. Children's Vision |
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Tracy,
Thanks for this info -- interesting! And helpful to know what else one might be on the lookout for ....
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Karen E.
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Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: letter reversals
