[blindkid] braille reversals

DrV icdx at earthlink.net
Wed Mar 21 05:11:07 UTC 2012


Hi Penny & All,
I agree. Reversals seem pretty common. This is not dyslexia, but rather
just reversals - it is a phase.
Both my kids had this problem. They could both write the letters fine,
rather the problem occurred only with reading.
The older one just had it with i & e & thus 5 & 9; the younger one
confused the whole spectrum with d f j & h & the corresponding numbers.
Eventually context in reading helped.
Math was particularly challenging, especially for the younger one since
there is no context to rely on.  While we worked on this, for testing the
teacher would let him do the math problems orally - he knew the math; the
numbers confused him.
This can be - & is - very frustrating. We used flash cards & lots of
repetition. 
In both cases the problem seemed to fade away during the summer between
2nd & 3rd grade if I recall correctly.
Make sure she reads in only one direction - some kids backtrack & scrub
back & forth -> going forward the second dot in e goes down to dot 5;
going back the other way, the second dot in the e goes up to dot 1.
My wife can read braille without looking now - she says the trick for her
is not to just feel what is there (the dot), but she feels for what is not
there - the empty space.
Both my kids read well now.
To promote reading, entering a reading contest helps tremendously.
My 4th grader joined the 4th grade "book club" at school (this is the
first year they are doing that) & that has been a blessing with respect to
motivation & reading speed & goal setting, since there is to a certain
degree peer pressure to show off that you read the whole book.
We now try to have a dedicated "Family Reading Night" - we all read
together a few times a month.
It sounds like you are on the right track - the letter reversals will pass.
Hang in there.
All the best,
Eric V

On 3/20/12 7:51 PM, "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org> wrote:

>Sounds like you're doing great. The reversals are pretty common as far as
>I understand it. Kendra certainly did a fair amount of reversing at
>first. I've been trying to work on Braille myself and find I'm doing it
>too. Context and practice are most likely the cure. Of corse, it happens
>with sighted kids too. Our kindergartener (typically sighted) still
>occasionally mixes up print B's and D's for example.
>
>Sent from my iPad
>
>On Mar 20, 2012, at 7:16 PM, Penny Duffy <pennyduffy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Abby is advancing quickly in reading. She is picking up new contractions
>> all the time.  One of the biggest issues right now are her reversals.
>>The
>> letter and contraction reversal.  She has slowly gotten better with time
>> but she still struggles with it.  It was first I adn E she would get
>> confused with now its mostly contractions.  She seems to correct them
>>with
>> more practice.  She also figures it out in context while she is
>>reading. I
>> tried searching online for information on it. Does anyone know of any
>>good
>> links?  Or have any advice.  She is doing great and with practice she is
>> over coming these issues.  I just want to make sure I am doing the right
>> thing.
>> 
>> For information Abby (8 years old and second grade) was introduced
>>braille
>> 14 months ago She is now reading pretty good and the team is working
>>hard
>> to get her up to reading level.
>> 
>> -- 
>> --Penny
>> ----------
>> A lucky mother to two amazing children - visionfora.blogspot.com
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