Transient mirror writing sometimes occurs in both left-handed and right-handed healthy children as a normal phase during writing development.
However, that's just a myth. A 2016 study found that mirror writing occurs about as often in right-handed kids as in left-handed ones. Others think mirror writing is a sign of dyslexia. That's not the case, though.
It's not unusual for young kids to reverse letters when they read and write. But when they still frequently write backwards or upside down beyond age 7, it could signal trouble with reading or language. People often think writing letters backwards is a sign of dyslexia, but that's often not the case.
Ability to write mirrored text
15% of left-handed people have the language centres in both halves of their brain. The cerebral cortex and motor homunculus are affected by this, causing the person to be able to read and write backwards quite naturally.
Letter reversals can be common in many children up until age 7, or 3rd grade. Occasional reversals past age 8 are common too. The reason for this has been suggested to be poor working memory and also a lack of visual processing skills. This does not mean your child has a learning difficulty.
A child who has visual impairment, can struggle with letter formation as a result of decreased exposure to letters during reading. In certain cases of ADHD, impulsivity can lead to letter reversals, particularly when a child rushes the pen strokes of a letter and does not proofread his or her own work.
Difficulty seeing (and occasionally hearing) similarities and differences in letters and words. Inability to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word. Difficulty spelling.
Most people think that dyslexia causes people to reverse letters and numbers and see words backwards. But reversals happen as a normal part of development, and are seen in many kids until first or second grade. The main problem in dyslexia is trouble recognizing phonemes (pronounced: FO-neems).
The nature of mirror writing
Mirror writing is unusual as it is sometimes executed by entirely normal people, and at other times is only seen in the wake of a variety of neurological disorders.
Reversals in children under the age of 8 are normal, however by third grade this should be a thing of the past. At this point, if your child is still reversing letters and numbers or mirror writing, this is a huge red flag for dyslexia.
Letter reversals, when children write letters backward or upside down, can be common up until the age of 7 years. It is often called mirror writing. This is due to poor working memory as well as weaknesses in visual processing skills. Children typically reverse the letters b, d, q, p, and the numbers 9, 5, and 7.
The 4 types of dyslexia include phonological dyslexia, surface dyslexia, rapid naming deficit, and double deficit dyslexia. Dyslexia is a learning disorder where the person often has difficulty reading and interpreting what they read.
Mirror-writing arises in three main ways. It is common, even ubiquitous, amongst children learning to write. It can appear abruptly in adults, often after damage to the left side of the brain, or at times of extreme psychological stress. And sometimes, it is done deliberately.
Reversals can happen when a child has poor working memory. For example, he can't remember what a letter exactly looks like. It can also be caused by visual processing issues, like when young children can't tell the difference between similar letters (like b and d, or p and q) or the direction they should face.
Often the concept of reversing letters is immediately associated with a dyslexia diagnosis, but that's a bit of a misnomer. In fact, dyslexia is a condition that affects how people read letters and words, while dysgraphia is the condition in which kids reverse their letters while writing — they're quite different.
Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities. Specifically, the disorder causes a person's writing to be distorted or incorrect. In children, the disorder generally emerges when they are first introduced to writing.
Mirror writing, or specular writing, refers to the tendency to write letters or numbers (even whole words or paragraphs) in reverse, as if reflected in a mirror. In fact, the characters are correct when looking at themselves in a mirror.
It is very likely that, at some point, your child will write their letters backwards as they learn to write. This is usually nothing to be concerned about: number reversals are also very common. Most children will reverse some of their numbers or letters up to around the age of seven.
These may include: reversing letters or the order of letters (after first grade); spelling phonetically; having accurate beginning and ending sounds but misspelling the word; not using words in writing that they would use in oral language; and disorganized writing, such as a lack of grammar, punctuation, or ...
According to UMHS, the following conditions can present similar symptoms and difficulties to dyslexia: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Executive Dysfunction. Memory Impairments.