Is your child still reversing letters and numbers when writing?  If your child is just starting school or younger than 8 years of age, writing letters backwards is not something to be concerned about. 

However, if this continues beyond the first two years of school, it is something that should not be ignored.  

It is important not to leave your child to continue reversing letters and numbers when writing, as this will slow down their reading fluency.  If a child is having to stop and consider which way round their letters and numbers go, they are using up valuable working memory space.  Also, if a child continues to reverse letters in words, they are in fact practicing the wrong formation over and over creating a hard habit to break.

Are letter reversals a sign of dyslexia?

Let me start by endeavoring to answer this common question. 

“Are letter reversals a sign of dyslexia?”

In short, reversing letters is not what signifies that a child is dyslexic.  It can be a sign that a child’s working memory is overloaded and simply doesn’t have the capacity to use correct letter formation.  Just like a buoy on top of the water tells us that something may be going on below the water’s surface, so these can be tell-tale signs that may point to a broader difficulty.

What are some common letter reversals in Kindergarten?

Some letters seem to be more common to reverse than others.  Why is this?  When a child first starts to learn the written symbol that represents a sound they need to be taught the importance of direction. 

This is because, up until this point, an item such as a chair is still a chair even if it is upside down.  This does not work when it comes to letters.  Take a look at this illustration.

Taking that illustration into consideration, we can see that reversing letters and numbers when writing, often happens when the letters or numbers have some similarity with each other.  Letters such as b and d or p and q can be flipped around and look very similar.  The numbers 6 and 9 and 2 and 5 also prove to be quite difficult.

Some general letter and number reversal strategies that are effective are:-

• Teach one problem letter or number at a time.  I would always start teaching how to form the letter ‘b’ and give strategies for memory before tackling its twin letter ‘d’.  I will share these specific strategies below.

• Give lots of multi sensory practice with the correct formation.
  • Writing it large on a full piece of paper. 
  • Using crayons and different colors. 
  • Drawing in a sand tray or in the air with large arm motions.    

• Use memory cues or mnemonics to help teach the direction or formation of the letters and numbers. Keep reading for more on this.

• Give practice discriminating between correct and incorrect formations. Check out a whole resource on this very skill here.

• Teach letters and numbers that start with the same pen stroke together.
  • I would teach all the letters that start with a ‘c’ shape together.
  • a, c, d, g, o & q all start with the same pen stroke.  I call these ‘c shape letters’.

Now for some specific letter and number reversal strategies.

When it comes to numbers, I have found one of the most successful strategies is to:-

•  Group the numbers according to which direction the pen stroke needs to go first.  

Does it go to the left or to the right?  Often, you will find that if you train children to find the correct first movement and give them lots of practice, they will gain muscle memory for that number.

Take a look at the example of how this helps children with the number five.

The numbers 2, 3 & 7 are the only numbers that start with a movement to the right →.  All the other numbers start with a movement to the left.

I have created worksheets to help with this strategy. Grab them here if you want something to help straight away.

Obviously using this strategy means that children first need to know their left from their right. 

Another strategy to use with number reversal is:-

Make it multisensory

• Make numbers out of 3D material.  Let them make the numbers out of clay or silly putty.  Let them say the numbers whilst tracing their finger over the 3d shape.

The most important thing is to make sure they are not continuing to practice the numbers the wrong way round.  This will prove more difficult to correct.  If you see your child reversing a number, begin working towards correcting this as soon as possible.

Sometimes children will have difficulty noticing when a number is round the wrong way.  In this case you can give them practice with visual discrimination activities such as the activity below.  This will help them to focus on the correct formation.

Specific Letter Reversal Strategies

I would like to share some strategies that I have found extremely helpful for correcting this issue with the most common letter reversals.  Reversing letters b, d, p and q seem to be the most frequent. 

Some people ask the question- “Are letter reversals a sign of dyslexia?” Many people think dyslexia is all about reversing letters and words.  However, this is not the case.  Find out more about dyslexia and things you may observe in my blogpost here.

Here are some helpful mnemonics for b d p q confusion:-

When children are writing b and d backwards I like to give them something to say.  

• For the letter b I say, “bat before ball makes b. This helps children to remember that the tall stick like a bat comes first.
• For the letter d I say, “c before d makes d.”  This helps children to remember to form the c shape first.  It is also the same order of the alphabet, so they can say ‘a b c d’ to help with this.
• For the letter p I say, “penguins dive down before swimming around.”  Helping them to remember to dive down below the line first before making the circle shape.  I often see children start with the circle and then not know which side to put the stick on.
• For the letter q I say, “the queen puts on her crown before sitting down.” This helps the children remember that the c shape (like a crown) comes first before taking the straight line down.

In each case I would demonstrate this and say the mnemonic out loud whilst showing the student the right formation.  Then I give them a practice sheet where they would say the mnemonic out loud as they write the letter.

I have cue cards within a resource to help with this to give the kids.  See the picture below.

There are many other sayings and mnemonics out there, so it’s good to try them and see what sticks for your student.

I share more about this in the caption to this instagram reel, linked here if you would like to read more.  

Instead of that try using one of the most effective strategies to help children stop reversing the letters b and d.

This strategy is one that uses the mouth position of the sounds these letters make.

• If you say the letter b, you will see that your mouth starts with lips closed and in a straight line.

• Alternatively, if you say the letter d you will see your mouth start in an open shape.  We always start the letter d with an open c.

Try this out with your child/student and see how it goes.  I would love to hear from you if you found this helpful.  It’s always great to hear when children get the breakthrough with this difficulty.

If your child is experiencing great difficulty with forming letters and handwriting in general and it seems strange to you then it is really important to keep digging deeper to find out what the issue could be.

Dysgraphia is a specific learning difficulty related to handwriting. Your child may need extra help from a professional if that is the cause of their difficulty with letter reversals. Check out this informative article on dysgraphia for more information here. Understanding Dysgraphia? by Understood.org

Check out these resources that help children to stop reversing letters and numbers when writing.

If your child is really struggling with reading and or spelling, I would love for you to download my free guide to show you what you can do to help them.

It will help you to understand the most important things you need to consider on the journey to get your child reading well.

Leave me a comment and let me know how this blog post may have helped you!