Dr. Robert Needlman
Specialist in pediatric behavior and development.
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 Ask Dr. Needlman
Writing Letters Upside Down | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Needlman,
I have a four-year-old daughter and she is starting to write her ABCs. Every letter she writes for the first time is written upside down. I have heard of dyslexia but what is this and will it last?— Angie in Selma, NC | | | ANSWER |
October 1, 2001 | | | Dear Angie,
This isn't dyslexia at all, but simply normal early writing. When children are first learning to make letters, they don't understand that the direction letters point in is important. In fact, many three and four year old children don't really understand what letters are for. They simply know that letters are interesting, adults look at them a lot, and when children show interest in them, adults praise them.
After a while of playing around with the letters and getting used to their shapes, children begin to figure out that they only make sense when they're pointing in the right direction. At about the same time, they begin making up spellings for words, using their own invented spelling rules (which makes it hard for them, or anyone else, to read what they have written).
The bottom line is, what your daughter is doing sounds perfectly normal. Let her play making letters to her heart's content. If she asks, show her the "right" way to make them, but don't criticize. What she is doing is perfect for her age.
For more on how children grow into literacy, see the reading aloud section of our site.— by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
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