Mirror writing is nothing but writing letters/numbers in reverse direction, they look normal when you see their image in mirror
All thanks to Bollywood, most of us contribute mirror writing to dyslexia. While it might be one of the symptoms, there are many other reasons for this
Mirror writing is not limited to similar looking letters such as “b” and “d” or “6” and “9” but kids can mirror any letter or any number. And its not just horizontal, they can also mirror them vertically. There is something called “Mirror Reading” where kids read “C A T” as “T A C”
Do you know, it is not unusual for toddlers/preschoolers to write mirror images while they are learning to write? It is believed that as many as 30-40% of kids write mirror images in the initial stages of writing. They correct themselves in the due course of time
Having said that, it is also necessary to keep a track of such activities. They might be early signs of something else trying to get uncovered
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| Image courtesy: Internet |
Major Reasons why kids write mirror images:
One of the main reasons of mirror writing is kids not having completely developed direction sense. Take any 3D physical object in the world, say book. Book still remains book even if you see it from any side. They know this phenomenon and apply it to writing too. So if your child writes “d” as “b” and if you ask him to read what he has written, he would still call it as “d” since for him/her the letter still remains same even if the direction is changed.
Another reason being, most of the letters in English are towards right. So in case the ones are in left, are also written in right by kids.
Hand dominance also plays a role in it. There is a high chance of left handed kids writing mirror images
Ways to deal with it
It is okay for kids to write mirror images till 7 years. After this, it is definitely alarming and one should seek expert advice. If kids are younger and still doing it then one could do following things to help them correct themselves
- First of all, no need to make an issue out of it. If you do, chances are more of kids developing hatred towards learning and you will end up increasing the problems. Also, do not discuss this in front of him/her
- Read and write, more and more. The more they see, the more they learn. But make sure you don’t do it with the intent of teaching it explicitly. Do it only fun way and involve your family members in it so that the kid doesn’t feel targeted. Design fun games around it and this will only encourage kids to learn more
- In my opinion, it is also a good idea to speak to class teacher and make her aware of it
- Always sit side to side with your kids while reading/writing so that your directions/usage of hands become same. It will eliminate their confusion about direction
If you are following the posts till now, then you might realise the importance of hand dominance and that everything is related to that. I would sincerely urge to keep the natural hand dominance intact and not get influenced by beliefs that say a particular hand dominance is good/acceptable! 😊
