Dyslexic? | ADHD Information

My son has exactly the same problem. He changes order of letters and also switches d for b and the opposite. My ds is 6 years old. He has been wearing glasses for hyperopia for about 5 months. On his last eye checkup I asked the doc about this. He told me that this is part of a natural process; in my son is kind of more evident because of his adhd but is not dyslexia.

Anyway, it is not a bad idea to take your son to an eye checkup just to get the doubt out of you.  Adhd kids tend to take longer in the reading and writing process.

you might be able to talk to another member here.  her name is lillian.  i think one of her children is dyslexic.  she might be able to help you out.Dillons teacher said she is not a doctor and can not diagnose, but has been teaching for 10 years and she thinks I should get Dillon tested for dyslexia. I know he always writes some letters and numbers backwards and says some words backwards when reading, but I just figured his brain was taking a little longer to get it right, he's only just turned 7 and boys sometime take a while. I looked up dyslexia and it said many times they will for instance see b as d and read won as now.....so I wrote down a b and the word won, asked Dillon to come over and read the word, he said won, what letter is that he said b. I notices on his homework all his b's and d's where backwards though. (and he spelled guna instead of going to LOL) What to you guys think? Is this normal for his age? Should I have him tested? I am making an appointment with the eye doctor soon too. My oldest son, now 14, did this too as a young child. Not only would he mix up the b's and d's, but sometimes he would totally reverse everything and write backwards, and it continued into 2nd grade. He didn't do it all the time, but still it worried me I remember going to the 2nd parent-teacher conference in April of that year when my son would've been turning 8 that June, and talking to his teacher about it. But she said not to worry, some kids take a while to get it right, and it was too soon to think about dyslexia. She said most kids have got it right by that age, but it isn't so unusual to have a kid (usually a boy) continue to get mixed up at times. And she was right. By third grade it had completely stopped.

It seems like these teachers are expecting so much of these little kids, I mean the poor kid only just turned 7? He's just a little boy, he's not allowed to forget? It seems the expectations are so much now. Too much.
I suspected that my son was dyslexic earlier this year - he reversed b's and d's, to the point of writing them as p's.  He sometimes got s's wrong too, and e's.  When reading them he got it right though.  His teacher taught him something I thought was pretty cool.  Make a thumbs up with your right hand and you've got a d, make it with your left hand and you've got a b.  I think this is what finally got him to see the difference, and now i'm not worried about testing him for dyslexia at all.  Lillian, at what age was your son diagnosed? It's my feeling if he's only just turned 7 to give him a bit of time still, however if you're anxious perhaps chat with your paed about it?

Yes, I have a dyslexic thirteen-year-old son. 

Reversing letters is quite common with young children and should not alarm you.  Some common signs of dyslexia in a child your son's age are:  difficulty recalling the alphabet (both orally and writing it), difficulty associating sounds with letters, difficulties rhyming (HUGE clue in a child your son's age), difficulties with phonics (can say "cat" but cannot take that phonetic knowledge and apply it to "rat"), appears to memorize the entire word instead of knowing the sounds in the word, avoids reading or dislikes reading, may also struggle with handwriting and/or math calculations, and may have outstanding oral comprehension and reasoning skills (when read to, the child GETS it, big time, but does not begin to show as strong of an ability to do this when the child must read the material himself).  The official definition of dyslexia is that it is a phonological disorder, not a visual disorder, though there is little doubt that many dyslexics have trouble in the visual sphere, as well as the phonological.  Why this is so, we don't know. For dyslexic children who have trouble in the visual sphere, as well, the child may have troubles with left and right, up and down, over and under, tying shoe laces, distinguishing directions on maps, etc. 

Here's a good link:

http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html#sum

Yes, it's quite common for children to reverse letters through second grade.  It is a developmental issue and should not alarm a parent, at all.  It's actually quite interesting that it is this developmental issue that is most often related to dyslexia, when, in fact, only 20% of dyslexics reverse.  Parents should not be nearly as concerned with reversals, as they should be with putting sounds to the alphabet (particularly vowels), remembering the alphabet, and rhyming.  If your child is in second grade and has great difficulties with those three, THAT is cause for alarm, whereas reversing letters is not. 

My son was twelve when he was dxed, though I strongly suspected he was for three years prior to his dx.  He came to live with us as a foster child when he was 8.11, and we adopted him when he was 9.  His schooling had been sporadic before foster care so having him labeled LD was problematic.  I went ahead and did dyslexia interventions with him through private Orton-Gillingham tutoring and sent him to a private school for two years that focused a great deal on decoding and other basic reading skills.  After he had been with us for three years, I had him formally dxed, for then I felt that we could distinguish between his educational/social background and an LD. 

lillian39021.268599537My son is still doing those things this year in the 3rd grade.  It is normal for children up to age 8 or so to have problems with reversals and such, and none of my son's testing indicated dyslexia.  I kind of figured the reason it's still going on with him is that he's immature, as all our kids tend to be, and it will just take him a little longer to outgrow this than the other kids.I really feel I should not be alarmed and I will let the teacher know this in our meeting coming up. Like you said, he JUST turned 7 for goodness sakes, they DO expect too much from them these days. He is back in 1st grade this year and he is a huge boy, so I think she forgets he is as young as he is. He can say his ABC's well, I have never really made him write them all at once, so i don't know about that, he is really good with phonic sounds, he always scored high in that, but low in how many words he can read in a minute. He hates reading, but is pretty good at it. He can rhyme. He is not too good in math, but does get it. His writing is OK, he hates to write though. He's good with left and right, up, down, he can tie his laces.......I think he just needs time. Thanks so much, you have made me feel better. But I will get his eyes checked. (mine too)Well......I just read through the site lillian put up.......he does have many of the symptoms....if the school tests for it, maybe I should have him tested just to rule it out, or get the help he needs if he does have it. I'm confused now.