Anyone had this problem with their child ? Did you or the child get frustrated ? How to avoid the frustrations?
Any other tips ?
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
Anyone had this problem with their child ? Did you or the child get frustrated ? How to avoid the frustrations? Any other tips ?
They usually outgrow it, and the 'problem' should auto-fix. My nephew is ambidextrous, and favors his left hand a bit more occasionally. When he was learning to write, he used to write inverted letters randomly, even though he would know that it was wrong. He corrected himself soon enough.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
how old is the child? It is very common in preschool and kindergarten.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
The thing is when I ask him if he had written correctly he will say yes even though the letter is inverted. Initially it was mostly b,d,p but now he writes, 2,3,7 inverted as well. When I see that he had written wrong I tell him that it is inverted and he should write it the other way, he still continues to write it wrong atleast 4 to 5 times before writing correctly. I show him how it is supposed to be and he still writes it wrong. In the meantime, we both get frustrated.
Should I just let him write wrong and it will go away?? Is it better to correct him so he knows he is writing wrong or let him write the way he does. Would that not make him think he can write wrong and its ok (in case he knows)
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
how old is the child? It is very common in preschool and kindergarten.
3.5 yr
Also I am not sure if I should just let him write incorrectly or should I correct him.
kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
Sometimes kids grow out of it and sometimes they don't.
Monitor whether the writing is getting more or less. Yes since he is almost 4, you need to teach him the correct way. Ignoring it can make it more worse or harder to correct in the future.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
3.5yrs... i would just let him write at this point and not stress too much on the orientation of the letters. i will write more on activities you can do with him later.
Lusi-
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
It is common among children but try to teach him to write in a correct way otherwise it may get habituated!! 
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
Sarad, I wouldn't make it a big issue with the child at this time. You don't want the child to get frustrated, that would mean he would start running away from this activity. Let him do as much free writing as possible. Mostly, children grow out of this by the end of kindergarten. You can do activities like making numbers and letters in corn meal. You can make dotted letters and numbers, have the child trace/ connect the dots. You can make the letters with pencil on the paper and have the child trace over it with a crayon. While you are doing all these activities, let the child, write letters and numbers by himself as much as he wants, don't stress too much on the orientation. They will write numbers and letters backwards, they will print their name backwards or in other strange ways which might annoy you but remember it is a big accomplishment for your child. Make sure when ever you are working with letters and numbers, it is fun and your child is not frustrated. That is the last thing you want from a 3.5 yr old.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
Thanks Lusi and everyone.
I will let him write the way he does and just point out that it is inverted without too much fussing because it seems the correction and fussing is driving him away from writing/practicing at all.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
I would say, RELAX! 3.5 years old are just learning to write, these are very common. Enjoy and let your kid enjoy his/her childhood.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
If they're actually writing the letters then it's important to correct them from the start otherwise they'll develop bad habits. having said that, 3.5 year is very young...I would worry more if the kid was bit older (5 and above).
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
Thanks everyone, just an update:
He still writes mirror image of some letters. For instance he was suppose to copy some small words like ‘cap’, ‘ham’ etc. He copied ham correctly but wrote p in cap as mirror image but when I told him to correct it and then just left him, he corrected it. Sometimes he still insists on writing mirror image but I think it was more of me getting upset that made him keep on repeating the mistake.
If I stay cool and calm he follows instructions and corrections.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
Thanks, teaching kids is sooooo hard. You must be very patient and definitely awesome to home school your kids.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
I think supplementing your child’s education is equally hard. Good on you for doing it. :k:
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
3.5! cut the kid some slack
btw my son does it while writing arabic, he is almost 6. he wrote the whole ا ب in mirror image, funny thing was when he writes arabic words (joined) in mirror image and we r like how could u do that its so damn hard to write like that.
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Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
are you making him copy those words or is he doing by himself? does he knows his letter sounds? please remember your son is only 3. if he is writing letters inn any orientation, he is already ahead in his game. instead of forcing him to do stuff that is not at his level, why don’t you do activities at his level.. teach him making shapes, how to color, letter names, letter sounds, read stories with him, ask questions about them.
Re: kid writing mirror image of a letter ??
He is 3.5 and knows all his phonics. He likes to write his name on all his drawings, sometimes he asks me to spell my name, his sister’s name so he can write that as well.
So we started writing small words like bat, cap etc. I am trying to make him learn how to read but we are very far from that.
I am happy to see him being able to do whatever he can. Its just that it was the first time I saw it and got so worried and frustrated, and frustrated him as well.
He knows his shapes and traces them but drawing the shapes is a good idea. I will try that.
He has not written 3,4 and 7 inverted lately but 2,5,s,d are still mirror image so inshaAllah he has no problem I think. He will grow out of it.