And almost every time I tell them that it is perfectly normal for a child of that developmental stage to be reversing some letters and numbers. The most common are b,d, [...]]]> Almost every time I evaluate a 5, 6, 7, even 8 year old’s work, the parent asks me about letter and number reversals.

And almost every time I tell them that it is perfectly normal for a child of that developmental stage to be reversing some letters and numbers. The most common are b,d, p, q, 3, 6, 9.

Recently I learned out about an exercise (from Brain Gym) that helps with neurological integration and can be useful for helping both halves of the brain work together (a skill that is lacking at this point, thus causing reversals.)

The exercise is sometimes called Rhythmic Eights or Lazy Eights. Here are two links to help understand how it works. The first is from Brain Gym (it’s about 2/3 of the way down the page.)

And this youtube video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWZzDNGUFk

Note: Have the children do this exercise much slower than is shown in the video.

If reversals continue on a consistent basis around age 8 you may want to look closer. Until then, have fun with this exercise and don’t make a big deal about reversals; they will usually take care of themselves.