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DS is starting year 3 next year and he still writes his S's and G's backwards on occasion.
His hand-writing was the goal that me and his teacher were working towards this year and he has improved out of all recognition but he still does the backwards letters.
He's doesn't have any learning difficulties, he's not dyslexic he just can't seem to break the habit.
Any tips? It would be great if we could get on top of it over the summer holidays.
My DS1 used to do the same, he could write his name backwards perfectly 'mirrored', I was amazed and so was his teacher, if you held a mirror to it, it would be his name the correct way.
He also had the same problem with 'S' and it was one of the letters in his name.
It just seem to correct itself. We would get him to practice and if it was wrong, ask him if he thought that was the right way. Then get him to write again.
Have a list of words for him to write that have G's and S's in them and get him write them down over and over.
DH said it not normal but also not uncommon for children of this age to write some thing backards.
DH said there are some good apps available to help them overcome the habbit. He thinks one is called 'Red Apple" where it shows them the starting point of a letter
I had this problem as a child, I was given an exercise book to practise in, pages and pages of 5's, s's, and there was another one but cant remember... that was in year 2....yeah, that stopped me.
I think I know at least 5 people off the top of my head who have had the same problem, my little bro and my BIL all wrote their names backwards... (Tim and Tom...wonder if there is anything in that?)
I think its fairly normal and something that just "clicks" eventually...
I'd be getting him to practice writing silly sentences or poems with loads of alliteration for those letters, doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just something that will get him focused on that letter. Also other things would be playing puzzle type games with him using blocks or even turned over scrabble pieces and have him copy a letter that you make. Anything that is going to make him stop and say 'hang on, it goes like this' is going to help. If that's the only thing that he does, it's not likely to be a problem and he will probably grow out of it eventually. It is probably going to bother you seeing them backwards more than it bothers him kwim?
Normal and he'll grow out of it in time if you (and his teachers!) are willing to wait. DS does this - we write things for him to copy and let him know if a letter is backwards so he needs to write it again.
We did do some "join the dots" letters this autumn for him to combat it, which he loved. But his school won't mark his spellings correct with a mirror letter, so we've had to step in and take action.
Don't worry too much it usually goes away on it's own....I find kids who want to "get on with" writing and words tend to get the ideas down and not be too worried about the actual spelling and letter formation. One thing that helps heaps is lots of reading especially of signs.......stop and give way........draw your sons attention to G's and S's in the regular world.....his mind knows what he's writing he just is getting it out a bit oddly.
I was told by my son's teacher that this is actually quite common in kids, and no longer thought as being dyslexic.
Practising writing will help him...
I've heard it's quite common too.