I know that reversal of letters and numbers is fairly common in children, but when should it stop? My son turned 8 in September and he frequently makes a backwards d, b, c, p, 9, 3, 5 or 7. Sometimes he catches it and other times he doesn't. Should I be concerned that he's still doing it at age eight? He reads well, so it doesn't seem to affect his reading ability, just writing.
Ems did it on occasion until she was 11. As long as your son can read, I don't think there is a need for concern. Eight is still young and his brain is still developing.
My ds reversed not only b/d, p/q, but 2/5, m/w, f/t, n/u, 3/E, s/z and S/Z, 7, 9/P. This continued until early 4th grade, I'd say, with him just becoming more aware and catching more and more of his own mistakes as he got older. I would scan a page he'd written and say, "I see 3 mistakes. Can you find them?" and he would. When I would have him do a handwriting sheet, I'd put tiny checkmarks next to the "best" of each letter or word, rather than mark the mistakes. However, even into junior high he could still manage to write a B for a D or vice versa IN CURSIVE! Part of it was just inattention to what he was doing, part was just brain immaturity, and part was "boy don't care".
My two oldest do that. The oldest has been diagnosed with a form of dyslexia and it does impact her ablitity to read and write. She also often cannot see the difference. saw and was look the same to her at first glance and etc. My 8 year old still does it but can see the difference and correct herself when proofreading. She is a good reader and it isn't affecting her, so we were told it isn't a problem we need to worry about. She is expected to outgrow it. They told me that most kids do this for a while and outgrow it on their own. (they being the people at the center that tested my oldest.)
my dd9 does this with b/d still. These are the only letters she does it with. I have her look over her work, mainly spelling or I'll tell her and then she sees it. I wonder with dd9 if it is not because she can hardly see in one eye without her glasses.
My 9yo still wants to do it LOL, but he catches himself first now, and will ask which direction the b or d goes in.
I had this problem when I was yonger but my children don't. I had to re-train myself and eyes to look at letters. I latter had to get glasses. I suggest that you get his eyes checked often. Also have him slow down a little when writing he might be in a hurry and writes fast.
How well does he spell? Spelling is more of a sign of dyslexia at a young age than letter reversal or reading.
For b/d, I showed ds (after he'd conquered all the others but b/d lingered on) that if you make your hands into fists with thumbs extended, then turn palms toward you and knuckles toward each other, the left hand will resemble a b and the right will resemble a d. I would trace the b and the d on the appropriate hand to make it easier for him to see and feel what I meant. We read from left to right, and we say b before d when we say the alphabet. We used chants, like "First the bat (the stick part of b) and then the ball (the round part of b), b." and "First the doorknob (the round part of d) and then the door (the stick part), d. Another one was that the letters go b, c, d and c coming before d means you make a c first then turn it into a d with a stick. Also, if you write "bed", the b and d come in the right order and it looks like a little picture of a bed with a headboard and a footboard. It would be so funny watching him do his independent work and every so often I'd see him stop, flip his hands up into a b and a d, look at them, then continue writing. Getting to cursive helped some too.
My 9 y.o. still does this. When I was worrying about it, my husband said, "Just correct it and move on. Obviously it works itself out. There are many kids who reverse letters, but I've never met and adult who does."
My daughter is an 18 year old senior, and she still transposes letters. A lot of the other things like reversals and such have resolved. When she was in public school, she was diagnosed with reading and math LDs as well as ADHD. She will begin testing soon to see if she will qualify for extra time on the ACT test and LD services in college. I started homeschooling her in 3rd grade, so there is no recent testing. She had a hard time learning algebra, but she loves geometry. Bountiful blessings, Susan
