DyslexiaHi all, This is my first time posting here and I've got a question. Do you think a 9 year old (3rd grade) who still uses a letter "d" when he means to write "b" or most often uses a capital B could have dyslexia? That seems to be the only letter he reverses now. He has always had poor handwriting and hates doing his homework, and I've always contributed that to his PDD-NOS. Of course the school is no help in evaluating these things because he's making B's and C's so that's good enough for them to say that he doesn't need an IEP. He would have gotten a 100% on his spelling test had he not used a "d" in the word "verb" but I know he can spell it correctly. I would think if they are going to mark him wrong on a test for a letter reversal error then we ought to look into why he's still doing this at his age. Of course the teacher's theory is that he was just in a hurry on the test, but it's all throughout his homework so there is a consistant pattern. Letter reversals are not necessarily dyslexia. From what I have read, they indicate immature development of the left temporal (?) I think? anyone else correct me? lobe.Just keep correcting it, gently. And shrug off the teacher, unfortunately. If that's the only letter, then I don't think it is dyslexia. He does need to have someone work with him if it's a consistent issue. It is not uncommon to see children between the ages of 4 and 7 years of age making letter reversals. When young children learn to write, many initially reverse letters or write letters and numbers backwards. This is more a result of motor function than mental perception. For kids without learning disabilities, this letter reversal will be temporary and last just a short while. The most common letter reversals are “b” and “d”; “p” and “q”. Other letters, like “s”, “e”, “N” and “h”, are often written backwards by young children. Reversing letters while writing should disappear by the time the child is about eight years old or in the second grade. There may be a need for some concern if a child continues with letter reversals into and beyond the 3rd grade. However, if the child has a developmental disability such as PDD-NOS, that time frame may be somewhat expanded to account for the developmental delay and motor function catching up.
Most teachers have discovered that there's no magic cure for children who display reversals in their reading or writing. One of the best strategies to use is to help the child develop a habit. One example is: The word dog begins with a "d" and dogs have tails. Therefore the 'stick' is his tail and comes after his body. Use some dot letters to help the child work on properly writing the letter, and have pictures to accommodate the dot letters. When working on a "d" dot letter, make sure the picture of a dog accompanies the dot letters, so that the child soon associates the letter "d" with the picture and can follow the pattern logic through. Another strategy: If the child has a freckle or mole on one hand or the other, use that freckle to remind him/her that it always points to the stick/circle part of the letter, depending.
One good note - most of the letter reversals will go away once the child uses cursive writing.
Another thing to note - if this is a consistent pattern and he is continually faulted for it (points off, teacher remarks, etc), you may wish to document this in writing and look into requesting accommodations that provide the teacher NOT count off for letter reversal, poor handwriting, etc. As he continues in grade level, it may become more important and apparent he be provided those types of accommodations based on his disability. Having passing grades is not a reason NOT to have an IEP or Section 504 accommodations if the child needs them to be successful in school. Letter reversal had been common for her until she was 8 or 9 years. (M and W etc) She had even mixed up her name with other twin until 5 or 6 years old. However she grew out of it and got over 700 for SAT Verbal and now in the second year of one of the top University. (She has major problems I mentioned in the other thread, though.) Hi. I''m coming to this discussion late, but here's my two-cents. My NT daughter is in fourth grade. When she was in third, she had a lot of letter reversals. In her case, it was more with her spelling (ie. heart would become "haert".) She could get the word right on her spelling tests, then in less than a week blow it in an assignment by using letter reversals. But, she could spell it correctly out loud. And we do have a history of dyslexia in the family (my husband). Her teacher continued to monitor it because my daughter is very smart in all subjects and just had this issue with letter reversals which affected her grade on an assignment and tests. Patience and extra attention from her teacher has helped along with telling her to slow down when writing! Now in 4th grade, she has the same teacher and the letter reversals are much less prevalent. She is learning to use a strategy of looking through her tests or workbook pages to find a word she needs to spell so she can spell it correctly. I was flabbergasted at a recent Social Studies test (all answers written on notebook paper) to see how much she spelled correctly because she looked through the test to find the words she needed. (all the kids are being taught this as a strategy for the state exams that they will take this year). So, I don't think I would worry about it too much if this is the only problem your son has. He may outgrow it. He may need to slow down. The teacher may need to give him a little more attention to help him "police" his work. Good luck! [QUOTE=3forme] I made up a trick where he writes the capital letter "B" and then takes off the top part. [/QUOTE] Oh, I like that! Smarty! |
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