Letter / Word Reversals - Learning Disability?

In your classroom, do you have students who reverse letters or words such as “b” and “d,” or “saw” and “was?” Truly, this is very natural and normal for young children to make these errors. It does not necessarily indicate that there might be a learning disability or dyslexia. Our brains are designed to be able to interpret objects in 3D. Written communication is a man-created/designed form of communication using letters in the case of English. Our brains are designed to see an object and remember that object in 3D, such as a cup. When we see a cup our brains know it’s a cup if it is on its side or upside down. We are also able to transfer that information we know about a cup if the cup is larger or smaller. A cup is a cup. When we move to learn about writing, all of a sudden the rules change. The letter “b” they discover is no longer a “b” when it is turned around. It is a “d.” Upside down it is a “p.” Until the student is able to understand that letters do not operate the same way as objects. all children might have reversal problems (Macdonald et al.,(2017).

Seeing letters backwards is not an indicator of dyslexia. Macdonald et al. (2017) found that 50% of educators and 76% of the general public felt that children seeing letters backwards were an indicator of dyslexia. Students who struggle with not being able to recognize letters in isolation or write them might need some scaffolded instruction in letter identification. They need to be seeing letters in words where both letters the student is struggling with appear, such as teaching letter-naming using words like, bed, bip, dip, was, saw. Their brains need to become aware that writing is not like seeing objects, and are found in specific places in words to represent sounds.

Macdonald, K., Germine, L., Anderson, A., Christodoulou, J., & MaGrath L. M. (2017). Dispelling the Myth: Training in Education or Neuroscience Decreases but Does Not Eliminate Beliefs in Neuromyths. Front. Psychol., 10 August 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01314