Your Child Writes b for d. Is It Dyslexia? Watch the Reading Instead.

What does this infographic say about backwards letters?

This Learning Success infographic takes on one worry: letters that face the wrong way. Its message is short. A backwards letter is not the sign of dyslexia. Here is the rest, in plain words:

• The myth: Backwards writing is the main sign of dyslexia. Parents notice it first because it is easy to see.
• The truth: A reversal on its own does not confirm dyslexia. It does not rule it out either.
• The real signal: How your child reads words. Dyslexia shows up as trouble reading and spelling words. It is not about which way letters face.
• Sign one: Word reading stays slow, wrong and hard. It stays that way even after good, step-by-step teaching.
• Sign two: The whole pattern. No single sign tells the whole story. Look at what keeps happening, not at one mistake.
• Sign three: If reading stays hard, ask for clear teaching of letters and sounds. Ask for an evaluation of word reading too.

It ends with one line for parents. Watch how hard your child works to read each word.

Why aren’t backwards letters the sign of dyslexia?

Backwards letters are easy to see, so they get the blame. But dyslexia is not about the eyes. In 2009, four groups of eye doctors and children’s doctors made a joint statement. Reversing letters, they wrote, is not part of how dyslexia is defined.

So is a reversal meaningless? Not quite. One study looked at children in families where dyslexia runs (Brooks and colleagues, 2011). Few of the children reversed letters at all. The children with dyslexia did it more often. So a reversal you noticed is worth writing down. On its own, it is not a finding.

Then what is dyslexia? The International Dyslexia Association updated its definition in 2025. It describes “difficulties in word reading and/or spelling that involve accuracy, speed, or both.” Those difficulties “persist even with instruction that is effective for the individual’s peers.” In plain words, words come out wrong, or slowly, or both. And good teaching has not closed the gap.

What sits under that trouble differs from child to child. The IDA calls trouble with the sounds in words “common but not universal.” The paper behind the new definition adds one more point (Catts and colleagues, 2026). Beyond trouble reading words, no single sign reliably marks dyslexia in one child. Here is a parent’s guide to the signs of dyslexia.

What should I watch instead of backwards letters?

Watch the work, not the letters. Sit with your child while they read a short page. Notice how hard each word is. Does your child sound out the same word every single time? Do words come out wrong, or slow and halting? Jot down what you see, with the date.

Look at the whole pattern. In our view, reading leans on several skills at once. Hearing the sounds inside words is one. Linking letters to those sounds is another. Remembering a word you have read before is a third. One mistake tells you little. A pattern you keep seeing tells you much more.

Do not wait for it to pass. Waiting has never taught a child to read. Teaching does. If reading stays hard, ask for structured teaching of letters and sounds. That means clear lessons, step by step, on how letters stand for sounds. Here is how a structured reading lesson works.

Ask for an evaluation at the same time. In the US, you have the right to ask for one. Ask your public school district. It is free to your family (34 CFR 300.301(b)). It takes time, and the rules vary by state. So ask early, and keep teaching at home while you wait for it. Do both. Extra reading help not working? Here is what to ask for next.