writing from bottom to top and right to left

[The Amber Lily]

I've been working with my 3 yo dd on writing letters, and I've noticed that her 'natural inclination' is to start from the bottom of the letter to the top, and from right to left. Even after I've written them with her, hand-over-hand. Examples are H and P.

Any idea if this is significant in any way? It's interesting to me how her brain works, and I don't want to 'crush' anything artistic, but I assume it's expected that children write top to bottom and left to right. I don't want to tech her the wrong way, you know? She is left-handed, by the way.

Thanks!

[numericmama]

Hi Amber,

IMHO, she's too young to start with letters. Right now her brain isn't really ready for the mid-line crossings, etc required for writing. But, if you really want to teach her to write. Hand writing without tears has a nice curriculum. They suggest that you put a smiley face in the upper left hand corner of the writing pad to provide an anchor for the child.

When I am teaching my son to write, I put a green line on the bottom of the page and call it a forest path, or the grass. The letters walk on the forest path. Then if he tries to write from bottom to top, I remind him that "rain falls from the sky." You could probably find a gentle, fun way to remind to write from left to right as well. Maybe tell a story about the letters walking into their house, and draw a little house on the right hand side of the page. They can start from the tree you draw on the left, walk along the forest path up to their house. Or their picnic blanket in the meadow. Whatever she is interested in. Then it will be fun and you have a short sentence to use to remind her. "Feet on the path".

Good Luck!

[One_Girl]

At this age I think that it is great if she just chooses to right letters no matter which way they go. The teachers in our area tend to encourage a natural development of writing skills with some gentle introduction of conventions and that is what I have gone with while I am homeschooling her. Until almost the end of kindergarten my dd wrote her words all over the page wherever they would fit when she wrote a sentence (She would include captials and periods in funny places), but her teacher was fine with that because that is very typical for kids even at that age. Once her reading skills grew she started writing sentences in a more readable format. I think that you should relax and let her develop at a natural pace. Let her see you when you write and show her how you would write a letter if she seems to be stuck on one particular letter, but otherwise let her explore writing in a fun way.

[linclane]

I wouldn't worry at her age. My ds is 6, and with gentle reminding, he writes the "right" way ... but left on his own, his words are often written right to left. Since he can read, after he's written it, we look at it, and talk about how people would read the words backward. He thinks it's funny then to read the words backward. Anyway, my point is that I wouldn't worry at this point. It will work out fine!

Oh, and with starting letters from the bottom, he's been known to do that too. And I've talked to him about how *I* think it's easier to start them all from the top. He will try both ways, then do whichever he wants.

[The Amber Lily]

Thanks all! I'm glad to hear you experiences.

numericmama: I love the anchor points and the lines, and DD thought it was great too. We used grass, sky, a smiling face, and a house.

Letters and writing is just something we do for fun. She loves to draw and color and we play card games with animals and letters, so then we draw animal figures and letters and color them. It's not a structured thing that we do for an hour 'until she gets it right', you know? It's just for fun and for whatever her interest is. We've always drawn little figures with her, so it seemed a natural progression to letters and more detailed figures.

[Just1More]

I've read that anything tactile is good to train their brain in the correct formation of letters. It's supposed to be good for dyslexia, too, but I don't have any experience there.

So, without a pencil, just have her trace the letter with her finger, write it in the air, write it in sand, rub it in the carpet, etc. Use the large motor skills to help provide muscle memory in the fine motor skills.

[bass chick]

My son is 3 and asked a while back how to write his name. He writes his name on his own now (capital letters only) but sometimes writes it in perfect mirror image. It is interesting to me.