Thanks for all the advice. He and I are working on the letters/numbers individually but also in writing out words/sentences. I saw him do one word backwards this morning (si instead of is), but I asked him to sound out the word and tell me what letter came first...and he changed it! He also wrote the lower case "n" backwards someplace else and immediately erased it on his own, knowing it was wrong. Hopefully we'll get this going in the right direction, soon...no pun intended! LOL

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My son used to this on Many letters and numbers, and still does occasionally. He is 7.5 so I'm hoping it's nearing an end. I've become less concerned about it. He's very advanced in reading (currently at a 7th grade level) and math (is proficient in multiplication/division and does some algebraic equations...) so it's truly not a problem with intelligence. If anything, I think he's so focused on other things and can't be bothered with such things. He could NOT grasp proper letter formation at 4, 5, 6 and still refuses to form letters properly at 7. I gave up and just accept his chickenscratch handwriting as his own.

I've heard this is very common also, ds is 5 and is still doing this, he started writing around age 3. His teachers aren't concerned yet.

Great advice from everyone! My daugher, nearing end of 2nd grade still occasionally writes her lowercase d backwards.

As a Title I paraprofessional, I've learned a neat trick from a teacher to use with kids who know their letter sounds-- write the word "bed" on a piece of paper, then talk about how the word looks like a bed with the b and d forming the head and footboards. It helps them to see which way they face and they can visualize that when writing either b or d later.

That is a wonderful idea. Riley definitely isn't having any problems with letter sounds!! I actually asked his teacher for tips, but she didn't even respond. She just keeps telling me that this is a MUST HAVE skill for him to go to first grade. Well, there is no way he is going to be retained for writing a few numbers and letters backwards...not that she is threatening that.....BUT!!! LOL

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Will did the same thing with a variety of letters & numbers. Both his kindergaten & first grade teachers told me it was very common & that he would 'outgrow' it. He figured it out. I haven't seen it at all since the middle of first grade. This too, shall pass!

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