Early reading - word reversal

pwurple

Is this common? One of my children is reversing words when reading this year, she is in senior infants.

Pin is written down, she reads Nip.

Lip, pil, dog god etc. Not every word, maybe 1 in 10.

She has glasses, and when I ask her to look at it again, she said the letters are moving around. Her next eye test is in 6 months, I'm wondering is this normal reading development as they learn to read left t right, and I am overthinking it, or is it something I should say to the teacher, or bump that eye test up.

(The teacher situation is a little complicated, only a few weeks in, and there have been 3 subs already, her main teacher seems to be on long term sickness leave)

mordeith

Letters moving around is often a symptom of dyslexia?

pwurple

Will the school assess and identify that as a matter of course, or would I need to bring her somewhere to check?

jlm29

pwurple wrote: »

Will the school assess and identify that as a matter of course, or would I need to bring her somewhere to check?

As far as I know, to be officially assessed she would need to see an educational psychologist. If there’s a lot of inconsistency with her teacher, it sounds as though it’s unlikely anyone will have time to pick up on it. I would probably approach the principal in your position- the school might have access to services for assessment, but I’m sure as with a lot of things, it might be more efficient to go privately.
If you have concerns, maybe the resource teacher would have some time to work with your daughter 1:1- at least that way you could get an opinion from someone with a background in education before going further

Gatling

Could she playing up by any chance ?

mordeith

It may of course not be anything to do with dyslexia but these are the recommend steps:

Contact the child’s school, which may agree that a problem exists.

Have the child’s hearing and sight tested to ensure that there are no acuity problems.

Arrange for an Educational Psychology Assessment with a qualified educational psychologist. This should describe the nature and extent of the problem and provide recommendations for useful help. Before attending for assessment, make a list of the child’s earlier and current problems and take it along. A teacher’s report is always very helpful in this process.

pwurple

Not normal so is what you guys are saying anyway....

I just read over the other signs of dyslexia, she doesn't seem to have any of the others. no speech delay, no difficulty with recognition of sounds or combining them etc. No motor skills problems, can tell the time on a simple round clock , understands sequences of events, and is sometimes organised, which is ok for a 5 year old. She isn't the last person out the door, usually knows where her shoes are...

I might try getting her to do the homework without her glasses on, see if it is the glasses prescription is out of date as well.. their eyesight changes quickly as they grow maybe?

I don't think she is playing up, she seems genuinely annoyed and frustrated when it happens.

I will say it to the principal too, but they really are up in a heap in the school at the moment with staff.

shesty

Try writing her words on coloured paper and see can she read them easier.Letters moving around can be a sign of dyslexia I believe and I have heard off-white backgrounds can help (don't know the science behind it).Might give you an idea of where to go.Definitely get the eyes checked, if only to rule them out.And I would raise the issue with the principal, explaining you don't know who to approach first with the current teacher situation, and could they give you some pointers.

Hi. I had this problem as a child. I'm not dyslexic, though several of my siblings are so it may be related. There's a condition called scotopic sensitivity, basically not seeing things in the correct order, e.g. I would see a word from the line above and include it in the sentence I was reading. I only had a mild form of it and I got special coloured glasses that really helped but they looked weird so I never wore them at school :rolleyes:

Shesty is right about the coloured paper. Another thing you can do is get coloured plastic sheets, like what you'd use for a projector but with colour, and put it over white paper. If that seems to solve the problem you might be looking at something like what I had. It's not a problem for me at all now, by the way. I do dislike reading on a computer screen a lot, I'm a little sensitive to florescent lighting and I always buy yellow paper notebooks rather than white. Otherwise, not an issue.

I also wanted to say, though, that it could just be nothing. My 5 year old just started JI and she writes backwards as often as forwards and sometimes will read words out backwards, too. I'm not in the slightest bit concerned about her and nobody has ever suggested it could be a problem (including my mum who knows my daughter well and figured out my youngest brother had dyslexia before he had even learned to talk)

pwurple

That is reassuring, thanks. I managed to catch the deputy principal, (no joy with either the principal or her teacher)... she said it was fairly common at that age in senior infants, because they are taking quick guesses at words rather than still sounding them out. She might just be getting ahead of herself trying to read faster.

So we'll just wait a bit and see how it goes.

shesty

That's good pwurple.Maybe revisit in a couple of months if there is no improvement?I was going to say my own junior infant writes things backwards too (she is a leftie which can complicate things for her!!) and I know it is very normal.But since she isn't reading yet I haven't been taking much notice of it.

afkasurfjunkie

pwurple wrote: »

That is reassuring, thanks. I managed to catch the deputy principal, (no joy with either the principal or her teacher)... she said it was fairly common at that age in senior infants, because they are taking quick guesses at words rather than still sounding them out. She might just be getting ahead of herself trying to read faster.

So we'll just wait a bit and see how it goes.

I wouldn’t worry too much yet either. Left to right orientation has to be taught too. Lots of kids won’t automatically pick it up.

byhookorbycrook

SEN teacher here. Reversals up to age 8 are common ,which is why most educational psychologists don't assess for dyslexia any earlier. If issues persist, she could be wait-listed for the school psychology service, NEPS. NEPS aren't prioritizing children with suspected dyslexia any longer, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

She won't get one to one with any SEN teacher even if it transpires down the line that she has dyslexia. Only the children with the most complex needs would get one to one- and unless she is under the cut off in tests down the line, may not even get any extra support due to DES cutbacks.

yellow hen

I just got my daughter assessed by a behavioural optometrist as I felt her blending of isolated words was great but that her reading of a sentence can be awful. Something didn't sit right about it so I got her assessed and it turns out her tracking is off and she's losing her place on the page frequently (even though there's only about 12 words max.). Pronably not at all the same thing ad your daughter but just thought I'd mention it as it doesnt seem to be very commonly recognised.

byhookorbycrook

yellow hen wrote: »

I just got my daughter assessed by a behavioural optometrist as I felt her blending of isolated words was great but that her reading of a sentence can be awful. Something didn't sit right about it so I got her assessed and it turns out her tracking is off and she's losing her place on the page frequently (even though there's only about 12 words max.). Pronably not at all the same thing ad your daughter but just thought I'd mention it as it doesnt seem to be very commonly recognised.[/QUOTE
Way up there with Brain Gym:

There is a continued paucity of controlled trials in the literature to support behavioural optometry approaches. Although there are areas where the available evidence is consistent with claims made by behavioural optometrists (most notably in relation to the treatment of convergence insufficiency, the use of yoked prisms in neurological patients, and in vision rehabilitation after brain disease/injury), a large majority of behavioural management approaches are not evidence-based, and thus cannot be advocated.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19154276

yellow hen

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

yellow hen wrote: »

I just got my daughter assessed by a behavioural optometrist as I felt her blending of isolated words was great but that her reading of a sentence can be awful. Something didn't sit right about it so I got her assessed and it turns out her tracking is off and she's losing her place on the page frequently (even though there's only about 12 words max.). Pronably not at all the same thing ad your daughter but just thought I'd mention it as it doesnt seem to be very commonly recognised.[/QUOTE
Way up there with Brain Gym:

There is a continued paucity of controlled trials in the literature to support behavioural optometry approaches. Although there are areas where the available evidence is consistent with claims made by behavioural optometrists (most notably in relation to the treatment of convergence insufficiency, the use of yoked prisms in neurological patients, and in vision rehabilitation after brain disease/injury), a large majority of behavioural management approaches are not evidence-based, and thus cannot be advocated.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19154276

Really interesting. I never realised that. I think in my daughters case it happens to be correct but I would certainly have reservations about going again in light of that research.