MY 5 Year Old

Most times it is normal and children grow out of it. Just keep an eye. It doesn't necessarily mean she is dyslexic.

I would say normal--but keep an eye on it. My son used to write his name in complete mirror-image writing.....weird.

I have a 5 year old that does the same thing. When he is reading, I told him to use his finger as a guide to help him say on course. He is now reading at the beginning of the page. I was wondering also, when my son was doing this. Now I see that once I show him properly, he follows through. I wouldn't worry, just monitor her.

I am a certified elem teacher working on a masters in reading and want to tell you that at this age this is normal! I also want to mention that the basic conceptions of "dyslexia" are incorrect. While most people assume dyslexia is letter/ number reversals this is not true. These errors are usually a result in a child still learning (or having difficulty understanding) directionality of the reading and writing process. That we read and write from left to right. Our eyes and brains simply do not choose a letter or a number or even a word to flip. It would be like you looking at a picture of a forest and your brain/eyes flipping a single tree upside down. So be very careful with people who claim dyslexia. Most educators do not use this term at all any more because of the misunderstandings it brings. Your child is just learning to read and write. She will make a few mistakes, it is normal and most will self correct. Those that do not will be helped as she moves through education.

Totally normal and a "phase" that most 5-6 year olds go through - according to my daughter's kindergarten teacher. My daughter is doing the same thing! And I'd be surprised if your two older children "never" did this . . . :o)

Is she left handed? The reason I ask is my only lefty would write everything completely backwards. You could literally hold it in front of a mirror and read it perfectly. And the odd thing is she never realized it, never thought it looked wrong. She did outgrow it. So part of me thinks it was jute the left hand thing.

If she is in school, I would just discuss it with the teacher and see what he/she says - it could be that this is really common and eventually they will outgrow it, or it could be a form of dyslexia, but I would run it by her teacher. Hopefully, if her teacher really thought there was an issue, she would have discussed it with you already.

My stepdaughter did this, and other reversing while writing, up until 2nd or 3rd grade. There was dyslexia in the family, so we were concerned. It turned out to be not a problem at all. At age 5, this is just a phase of learning.

its normal at this age, one of my kids did it till age 7 and then just stopped

I don't have any experience with this and I don't anyone that has had this problem so I googled it and there is something called 'Visual Dyslexia'???

http://www.medicinenet.com/dyslexia/article.htm

"Dyslexia may affect several different functions. Visual dyslexia is characterized by number and letter reversals and the inability to write symbols in the correct sequence. Auditory dyslexia involves difficulty with sounds of letters or groups of letters. The sounds are perceived as jumbled or not heard correctly."

This may or may not be what is going on....maybe this is just a stage she's going through! I thought this info might help. And please don't take this the wrong way...I'm not saying this is what is wrong. Some parents ask questions then get mad when you answer. Good luck!

This is very normal for this age.

However, even as early as 5, my "mother's gut instinct" told me something was very wrong with my intelligent younger daughter's writing. She wrote backwards and transposed letters even using moveable letters (like magnetic ones) yet read years ahead of her age. I worried because it was identical to another family member's who has a writing disability. We were repeatedly told her writing was normal and she'd grow out of it. So, I listened to the "experts" and dropped the subject.

I wish I had not, because she really had a specific learning disability in written communication. She struggled and I just wish I'd started with getting her help earlier - like maybe when she was 6.

I suspect my daughter's problem was more severe. Does your daughter write her own name correctly? Can she write a sentence? Does she fairly consistently write letters backwards? How long has she been writing? Ask yourself all these things, and realize what you have described so far is NORMAL, but if there is more to it, and you ask yourself these questions, and your gut says "something is wrong," and at 6 there are still problems, then you may want to look into an evaluation, OT (occupational therapy) and therapy for whatever they say she may need.

But for now, I'd watch, and give her lots of opportunity for games involving sequencing, word finds, manipulating small objects, finding hidden pictures and following maze with a pencil. These are things the OT had us do with my younger daughter - but by then she was already 10 years old!!!! (Like I said - I stupidly kept trusting "the experts" at school - but at least I got her help with the writing when she was 7.5 yo, but if I could have a re-do (I made a lot of mistakes-got a few things right (http://www.ItsNotMental), I'd have gotten it when she was just turning 6. Oh, and she had excellent manual dexterity, so that really was not the issue. It was a true brain related glitch. But there are a lot of wonderful techniques they learn to compensate and improve).

Lucky for you, though, it sounds like you just have a very normal 5 year old learning to write.