Off Topic Advice needed regarding 8 YO son's handwriting...Dyslexia?

[MdGymMom01]

Hi All! I was working with my ds on his homework last night and noticed his writing and how he forms letters. He is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade. His handwriting is pretty bad--always gets "needs improvement" for the "Writes Legibly" section on the report cards. I was watching how he is writing and forming his letters and noticed that he writes or forms a lot of the letters backwards. For example, his "m's" and "n's" he writes from right to left instead of left to right (if that makes any sense). He also mixes up his "b's" and "d's" and writes them backwards. He starts writing his "e's" from the bottom instead of with the horizontal line like we normally would. His numbers are also backwards (5's, 7's and 9's) so that they appear "mirror image". Should I be concerned with this or is this something that he will "grow out of" as he gets more experience with spelling and writing? The way that he forms some of his letters--should I teach him the correct way to write them or should I just let him write them the way he currently does (the letters end up looking "normal", it is just the process of writing them that seems so backwards to me).

Just a note to add: he is right-handed.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!!!

 

[Gymdad2]

Have you talked to his teacher(s) about his writing? You said that they mention his need for improvement on his grade reports so it would seem that they are at least somewhat aware of it. I suggest you start with the teacher and perhaps also the school counselor and if they percieve any problems, then maybe it would be time for professional attention. Good luck.

 

[bogwoppit]

Check out this link. Dysgraphia It deals with dysgraphia, which would be more correct than dyslexia for what is going on with DS. My friends child had/has this and many of the strategies in this article helped her. Regardless of a diagnosis there are helpful ideas.

THough I agree 100% with Gymdad2, getting in touch with the teacher is the first step as any plan has to be implemented both at school and home.

He may of course just be a boy who is following on a bright and precocious sister. My sons handwriting always looked like a drunken spider had crawled through ink on his workbooks!

 

[MdGymMom01]

Thanks for the advice and the link!! We missed the last Parent/Teacher conference (the Blizzard of 2010 totally threw a wrench in the school activities and they never rescheduled the conferences) so I will be sure to talk to his teacher at the next one. I will keep you posted!