My 4yr old writes his name backwards!?

Celebrate. The fact that a four year old can make legible letters is enough cause to celebrate. To young children, the order (or direction, think backwards R in Toys R Us) isn’t important. They don’t know how to read, so they are just writing the letters. Have you ever noticed too that children will make really big things in pictures small and small things huge. They don’t really have the perception yet to make it legible.

As for dyslexia, it is more difficult for most dyslexic children to learn how to write their letters, so the fact that your young child can write letters is a good sign. If he still has trouble by the time he is reading fairly well, then I would start to worry (but remember back to kindergarten and how many kids messed up the b, d, g, q, p thing). He has no reason right now to care which order the letters go in unless you teach him that the M always goes on a certain side. Usually, if a child starts writing on the R side, they will write backwards, so teach them to always start on the Left.

Writing Backwards Dyslexia

This is why we used to wait until kindergarten to teach kids to write.It’s probably not a serious problem. Try putting a happy face or something like that on the left side of the paper and reminding him to start there. Normally I’d suggest that if he was mirror writing-the letters would look backwards- you might be a little more concerned but he happens to be using 3 letters that can’t be reversed. How clever of you to name him MAX. Seriously, because of your husband’s history if he is still having these problems by half way through Kindergarten I’d tell the school district you want him evaluated. Dyslexia and the related problems tend to run in families. What you would be concerned about is dysgraphia. My son and his daughter are both dysgraphic and neither had a lick of trouble with reading.

I’ve never given so many thumbs down right away. It’s not a sign of dyslexia yet. They won’t even test for it at this young of an age.

He’s just beginning to learn reading/writing. It is very normal at this age. But it is also a common question we get from parents. Give it time. If he’s doing it around age 6-7 still, then start to consider the possibility of dyslexia.

One thing that might help with this is if he is interested in practicing writing, put a red dot on the left side of the paper and tell him to start at the red dot. If he’s not interested in that, let me know and I’ll try to think of other ideas.

Matt

I am left handed, and when I was a child it felt more “comfortable” to write backwards until I REALLY learned how to write and form words. I didnt know what I was doing, but I knew being a south paw I was “different” than my right-handed fam 🙂 I think I felt if I wrote that way, it would turn into right handed? It really makes no sense – but when I started school, I had no problems when I learned the proper way in class. Hope it helps! This is just my expierence – she could very well have dyslexia too. But why diagnose with out knowing!

Some children do this because this is how it looks to them from across the table when someone writes their name for them on a paper. I had one child that could write their name perfectly- upside down and backwards, since that was how his mother had taught him from across the table! Weird, but it just takes some practice with Max. Sit next to him when you practice writing, and make sure to make the distinguishment between the letter arrangement, saying it outloud. Dyslexia is genetically linked, however, so dont’ count that out entirely. If he is still doing this by the time he enters kindergarten, ask that he be evaluated for dyslexia or other learning disorder.

Don’t listen to the people claiming it’s dyslexia.

He’s only 4, and it’s only 3 letters. He probably knows the A goes in the center and gets the other two confused. It’s probably nothing.

If in a year or two he simply can’t get it right then maybe it would be dyslexia, but I seriously doubt it. More likely he just doesn’t completely understand the concept of letters and spelling. It’s possible all he understands is the letters all have to be there, which he’s accomplished.

Don’t rush into conclusions, that problem is very common and if that’s your only sign, then you should not worry, many children when start writing do that mistake (my son did) and not necessarily mean is dyslexia. Check for more signs, the problem of writing will disappear with time and practice, if he still have that problem after 5yrs and you see more signs of dyslexia then you should take it to the doctor for a test or in the same school just ask the teacher.

Check the link for signs and symptoms

My son did the same thing perfectly at about 5 or 6, turns out he is left handed and dyslexic. He is now 29 and the first to tell you there is nothing wrong with him, he is just a little different. Love him for who he is, if you let him be himself you will get a lot of joy out of raising him… and humor. LOL In other words do not focus on the fact that he might have a problem or he will reflect that all his life.

Yeah, he has an easy name to write, but writes it BACKWARDS, why is that Thank-God??

For a 4 -year old, probably normal but it might not be.

4 year olds don’t really read and write, do they?

Luckily, he is not from The Shining, spelling demonic messages!

Try just getting him to try a few other simple words, such as DOG and CAT, and see how he does with these..

He likely hasn’t been trained to read from left to right..