At what age should I expect my students to not write numbers/letters backwards? My 1st grader, age 6, often writes her 2, 3, 6, 7, and 9 backward, as well as her b, d, p, and q. Is this normal for her age?
My son wrote several letters backwards when he was young. He unintentionally wrote a word once that we held up to the mirror to read. Lol. Over the years he has improved, but he still has his moments. Yesterday he was taking notes that contained a lots of s's. He was writing them correctly, then wrote one backwards. I pointed it out to him. We all smiled and he fixed it.
I wouldn't worry too much yet. It's normal for a child that age to still have some reversals. Just give lots of practice. Also, you could make a sort with forward and backward letters. Write them on notecards and have your child sort them by which ones are correct and incorrect.
My son who is just learning to write does this often, pick a letter and it is probably backwards as often as not. My daughter, who is now a sophomore, wrote her b and d backwards all the time. This lasted into 3rd grade and I was assured by her teachers that it was ok and not to worry. I did worry, but it did sort itself out with time.
It's normal at that age. If she continues struggling with it teaching cursive often helps (and is why some curricula teaches cursive in K or 1st grade)
I think it's normal until about 9, or for some kids even 10. My DS reversed b/d, p/q, E/3, often confused s/z/2/5, and flipped f/t, m/w, n/u as well. I just called his attention to it, had him practice a bit extra, and he got over most of it by the time he turned 10.
Thanks for all of this great input-- It's hard to know what's normal! Would you guys mark incorrect/make her re-write backward things? Sometimes I gently say, "That six is backward!" or I will remind her that she can look at the board if she has trouble remembering, but I haven't taken off points or anything for it.
I wouldn't take points off, Meggo, unless the assignment was for penmanship/copywork, and then just minimal points off. Maybe just a tiny tick-mark next to errors until she learns to catch her own mistakes. One thing: when DS was having trouble with this, and he had to write whole lines of the same letter (write a line of b, a line of s, a line of ...), I would put a checkmark next to the best one or two on each line instead of marking an x on the errors.
I point it out every time I see it with my almost 7yr old but I only make him fix it about half the time. Mostly I want him to be aware of the problem.
On untimed math, I will tell ds (7) that any backwards numbers will be marked wrong. He then takes the time, to make sure he gets them right. Otherwise, he really does not care if it is backwards when I tell him. When he seems to say, "so what if it is wrong?", I tell him that it does matter and make him write the number (or letter, but mostly number) 5 to 10 times just to get him to care about what he is doing. The number 5 is our biggest problem. Or, I tell him he can go back and fix it on the page, or have to practice writing it. For writing, we get less backwards items with letters, but even then, I am happy he is writing (he hates it) so I let a little more slide.
