[Moon Faerie]

My ds (3 next month) knows all his letters now, "big" and "little" and the sounds they make. Now he's started spelling out the words in picture books when we're reading. He generally reads the letters backwards though. For example, if he "reads" cow, he'll say w-o-c. Is this something to be worried about, or it it normal at his age?

 

[wombatclay]

Heyla mama!

It may be totally normal, but is there a history of developmental reading disorders (dyslexia is one type of reading disorder) in your family? It's hard to test for reading disorders in a young child, but they often run in families and since early intervention can make a HUGE difference you might check out the information on these two pages...the webmd page is more cut/dry detail oriented (with a section on "the pre-school child"), the article on dyslexia in the young child has more "fun things to do with a young child" to help them integrate symbols.

http://www.webmd.com/hw/parenting_news/te7212.asp
http://www.dyslexia-inst.org.uk/arti...oung_child.htm

I'm sure more mamas here will be able to help with BTDT advice (dd isn't reading yet!) but I know my DH had undiagnosed dyslexia and so I'm keeping an eye on dd...

Does your little one follow corrections? I mean, if he reads "w-o-c" and you say "yes, that's a c-o-w", does he correct himself? Or does he read "w-o-c" again the next time as well?

Good luck mama...and don't worry! It sounds like you have an amazing little one.

 

[Strong Mama]

My son read at 3, and did this, and now is 12 and had no problems. One thing that helped is tracing the letter as you read it with his finger and then say *letter C* or whatever it is. This helped my older son tremendously and is something that they do in Montessori schools.

 

[Fiestabeth]

My dd (20mos) has been doing this with speaking rather than reading (she's definitely not anywhere near reading!) But she will say words, or at least the sounds in words, backwards. The word "chip" sounds like "pitch" and she will say "puc" for cup. She has a lot of other words that come out right, but there have been several that she does this with. I will be curious to see if she does the same thing as your son when she is learning to read, and if it is a sign/symptom of a possible reading disorder. Interesting.

 

[wombatclay]

I just want to say...it's probably totally normal! But if you check out reading disorders and some of the other "symptoms" seem familiar (or you have a family history) then it would be worth getting it checked out since the earlier the intervention the better! My dh wasn't diagnosed till he was in college and it made a huge difference in his life.

 

[Moon Faerie]

Thanks for your input mamas. There's no family history of dyslexia, to my knowledge. My step-dad has it, but he doesn't count, genetically speaking. I'll double check next time I talk to our families. Most of the symptoms he doesn't have. He is still ambidextrious (sp?), walked and talked late, andmixes up the oder of words (benjamin is jedabin, computer is pecuter, etc), so I'll schedule a well-child visit and ask our Dr about it.

 

[nonnymoose]

We're doing the same thing in our house at the moment (over the last two weeks or so). We just keep re-showing him the left-to-right thing, and he does it properly more than not, now.

 

[faithnj]

Could be dyslexia, but your DC is probably just fine.

It's a part of pre-literacy skills to know that words are read from left to right. You might have to work on that concept with him, because it's not like people come to earth knowing this automatically. In fact, since there are other languages written top to bottom and right to left-- it's no wonder kids have to be taught to read from left to write. Just keep working with him. He'll get it. Look into some books or websites that teach parents how to teach kids how to read for more ideas.

Faith

 

[faithnj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiestabeth My dd (20mos) has been doing this with speaking rather than reading (she's definitely not anywhere near reading!) But she will say words, or at least the sounds in words, backwards. The word "chip" sounds like "pitch" and she will say "puc" for cup. She has a lot of other words that come out right, but there have been several that she does this with. I will be curious to see if she does the same thing as your son when she is learning to read, and if it is a sign/symptom of a possible reading disorder. Interesting.

My DD does that same thing with sounds. No-- she hasn't said "God" when she means "Dog." LOL. In general, she's a very good a precocious speaker. But that "puc" for "cup" type of thing is classic Dharma. When she says something I don't understand, I try to remember to switch the consonents around to see if it rings a bell. Occasionally, I can decipher new words that way.

Faith