Mary

Joseph and Sierra both had trouble with those letters also. They even had a hard time with lower case Q because some books didn't even have a little tail on the bottom and it looked the same as a P but turned the other way. So between B, D, P and Q, it was confusing to them. This was before they were reading much. Just words really. So when I would write something for them, I would print in all caps which I always do anyway unless I force myself to do it right. <bg> That way they always knew what the letter was. I never printed in smaller case and the kids picked up knowing what those letters were anyway. When they would write something out, I would just mention that something was backwards. Never made a big deal out of it and they never were really frustrated with it either. If you don't see it as a big deal, they won't either. If they struggled with something, I never went through how they could remember or the differences, I would just tell them what the letter or word was. Same as when they asked me what a word was, I never made them sound it out. I use to hate that as a child. Just tell me what the freakin word is. So that's what I do with my kids. Somewhere along the way they learned.

Every now and then, Joseph or Sierra will still turn a letter or number around. And when they play Twister, I still have to watch because they get right and left confused sometimes. Mostly Joseph. He's a lefty and Sierra is a righty so if they try to see what the other is doing, that doesn't work either!!

My mom was an elementary teacher and also a nurse and she told me from the very beginning that it was very normal for kids to do that. Just keep telling your son it's no big deal and he will get the hang of it. All kids do.

Mary B


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