Letter Reversals
Why do dyslexic children reverse letters and/or numbers?
A dyslexic individual thinks in very visual terms. When they see a letter, they know the shape, but they sometimes don't realize that the direction of the shape counts. For example, a chair is a chair, no matter which way it's facing. That's how a dyslexic child sees a letter or a number. They think that a "b" looks like a "d" - so it must be the same letter (just like the chair).
Letters and numbers can be flipped both vertically or horizontally.
The most
common reversals are:
*If you child is under 8 and reversing letters and/or numbers,
don't be alarmed, this is normal. By third grade, this should
be a thing of the past. At this point, if they are not reading
at grade level and reversing letters and numbers, you should
have your child tested.
What to do about letter/number reversals?
The main idea is to teach the child that direction does matter. Then provide a framework for the child to remember the direction of that letter or number. Here is where you must work with what the child knows. Keep an eye out for which letters and/or numbers they are reversing and then come up with a way to teach the proper direction that the child can remember. For example, the most common letters that dyslexic children reverse is lower case 'b' and 'd'. To remedy this, have your child write a series of uppercase ‘D’s across a line (using a pencil).
Now, using a marker, have your child write lowercase ‘d’s
directly on top of the uppercase ‘D’s (that they just wrote) so
that the vertical lines line up
Now ask your
child what the letters look like when they are on top of each
other. Hopefully, he or she will say that the uppercase ‘D’
looks like it has a bump sticking out of one side. You can point
out that it takes MORE room.
Do the same thing for the letter 'b': Have your child write a
series of uppercase ‘B’s across a line (using a pencil).
Now, using a marker, have your child write lowercase ‘b’s
directly on top of the uppercase ‘B’s so that the vertical lines
line up.
Ask your child what the letters look like when they are on top
of each other. Here they should notice that lowercase ‘b’ fits
right into uppercase ‘B’, they don’t take up more space (like
the ‘d’s did). If they don’t notice this, point it out.
Ask your child what differences they can see between what
they found for the ‘Dd’s and ‘Bb’s. They should notice that
you could fit the ‘Bb’s on top of one another, not needing
any more room, however, the ‘Dd’s will take up more room,
since little ‘d’ sticks out one side. If you have any
suggestions to help dyslexic children with reversals that we
could post, or include in any future workbooks, please send
them in!
click here for suggestions.
Suggestions
From Dawn: I found that if you
tell a story like b bumps bellies with d - bd- then my
daughter knows the direction to write them.
From Joanne: I have always provided my students with a visual. I draw a donut hitting a door for lower case d. That also reminds them of the d sound. I draw a lower case b as a blue man with a big belly. The kids have fun making their own illustrations that serve as reminders.
From Roseanna: Upper case and lower case Bs both face the
same way, toward the back of the sentence or word. Ds don’t.
The emphasis is on the letter sound beginning ‘both’ and
‘don’t’. Bs both and Ds don’t.
From
Gary: Make a fist with both hands, thumbs pointing in the
air, fingers facing each other.
b d
When you put your fists together, it makes a "bed" . . .
therefore, you see which way the "b" and the "d" go .
top of page
