Fluke or BIg Red Flag?

Hannah has always written many letters and numbers backwards, ever since she started writing. Her Kindergarten teacher has mentioned it during the fall conference but said while she does it more than average it's not unusual for Kindergarten & he didn't sound that concerned about it. Then, a few weeks ago, he came out to talk to me at pick up. They often draw a picture and then write about it. She had written her story starting at the bottom right-hand corner of her paper and wrote a whole page completely backwards, from the bottom to the top, right to left. Then, when she ran out of room, she started a new page writing from the top, left to right. She didn't even notice what she had done until he pointed it out to her. Her teacher gave me the original but had made a copy to "go talk to some people" and, I thought, get back to me. He is normally super laid back (our oldest had him too) but this day he seemed a little...well...rattled is probably too strong of a word but he made a point of telling me that the folks at (local private school for children that "learn differently") will tell me she needs a special school but many kids that need additional help can thrive in the PSS. Well, I haven't heard a word from him or anyone else from the school. So, I'm wondering what I should do now. I'll start with asking him, of course. But since it hasn't happened again and he hasn't gotten back to me, I'm thinking he might suggest not doing anything at this point. If that's his/the school's suggestion - then what? WWYD?

 

Flipping some letters isn't unusual through 2nd grade. Writing an entire story mirror image is--especially if she didn't notice it. I wouldn't say that means she needs a special school. She is probably very bright, and may have dysgraphia or some other type of learning disability. The earlier you can get her help, the easier it will be for her to progress. I would look into having her evaluated--no lose situation there. It may be nothing--win. It may be that she has a learning disability, and she can begin to get help--also a win.

Good luck!

 

You know there are people who try to cultivate that skill--Da Vinchi was famous for writing letters to people in mirror image. Of course, she needs to be made aware that most people would have a lot of difficulty reading things written that way, but she could do it at home for fun.

I posted once that one of my daughters was writing numbers on our white board at home and I was really freaked out because she had written all the odd numbers backwards and all the even numbers the right way around. It was creepy. But now she's in third grade and doesn't do that. My husband thinks she's supposed to be left handed. I've suggest she try her left to imporve her handwriting, but she wasn't confortable that way. She does do most physical activities like a left person would. Holding a racket, catching and throwing, kicking with her left, pushing her skateboard with left foot, etc.

 

I used to do this when I was a kid! I wrote everything backwards, talked backwards.. was generally backwards. I just flipped out of it at some point without intervention, but that was the 80's when resources weren't that common. Like the others, I'd probably have her evaluated just in case there's a disability that can be addressed, but I would guess that it's not terribly serious. She probably just thinks a little differently than most, which can be a really valuable skill!

 

Jessica used to do this exact thing. She is left handed but would start from the right side of the page not only doing the word backwards but each letter backwards so I guess thats mirror image. I have kept some of it and was looking the other day at it, really is quite amazing. I remember trying to get her to start on the left side of the page and she would get upset with me. She didn't do it all the time, I think more when she wasn't focusing, this seemed more natural to her. I honestly don't know when she switched out of it, but thinking senior kindergarten or grade 1 When I had spoke to her kindergarten teacher about it, she had said was totally normal for children to do this. So not sure at what age it may be a concern.

 

Thanks everyone! I spoke to her teacher again. He says whe she is really focusing and thinking about the placement, she does fine. He says is just doesn't come naturally to her. Wednesday in class she wrote a 9 page story in about 20 minutes. Of course,the K paper only has four lines each and her writing is pretty big, but he said he's never had a student do that before. I think she has a lot to say and is in a hurry. He did an analysis on her backward writing on her papers, # of letters that are an issue, how many right & how many backward and designed an extra hw page for her, focusing on lowercase d for now. He wants to work on the five letters he identified as her primary issues, and with focusing on left-to-right with her for the next three weeks and see if it's improved by Spring Break. There hasn't been any additional mirror writing. He doesn't think she needs to be evaluated. I'm not so sure...but I'm holding off for now.