I hope you can give me a little insight. We have suspected and been told that it’s possible that our oldest daughter may be dyslexic (she was only 4 when we had school personnel working with her). She is almost 6 now. As she is learning to read and as we work more and more with writing, I’m becoming more concerned that she is dyslexic. (Her father is.) Our little left-hander is constantly mixing up which way that letters go (which doesn’t concern me in and of itself, I’ve heard it’s normal at her age), but she knows her letters VERY well now, and still has days when she will write her name completely backwards, and from left to right. Looks like a mirror image. When she is copying, she does the same thing, and will write letters several different ways on the same page. As she is learning to read, 9 times out of 10 she will flip the sounds around. For example, we will be learning the word “SHOP,” and if we are sounding and blending the “O” and the “P”, for “OP,” she will instead sound out “PO.” By the time she throws in the “SH,” we have a big heap of sounds that don’t make any sense at all. What is normal? We have almost completed a phonics program, but I just don’t know what to think about all of this—and how I, as a mother, am supposed to approach correctional methods. Please give me what input you can.

Wow—I’m so impressed with your letter. It sounds like you are such a great mom and care so much for your daughter’s well being! You’re right in thinking that writing letters backwards in and of itself at this age is common. And if that were her only issue, that wouldn’t be too big of a concern. Children from 3-6 often write backwards for a period of time in their development, even when they have written forwards before. But it sounds like there is a pattern of backwards thinking here, not only in her writing, but in her reading and seeing as well. Also, the fact that her father has it is an important consideration.

I’m not a learning disability expert so my advice will be from a teacher/parent point of view. If this child has Dyslexia, she will need to work with experts in the field who can help her. She’s about the right age to begin the diagnostic process. I would start with her school psychologist and her pediatrician. Carefully describe to them her symptoms and tendencies. Then I would get on the web and learn everything I could about the condition. What works, what doesn’t, what the experts say, how they disagree, etc. Knowledge will be your best tool. There is help out there for Dyslexia and there are experts who will know how to work with her and how to help you work with her.

Trust your instincts, you know your child and you know what will be best for her. The sooner you can get help for her, the less frustrated she will be in school. Good luck and enjoy the process of working with your child. It sounds like you are doing a great job!