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Ah - no no. I'm saying, if that's how she enjoys her literacy, then encourage it, because it's literacy and that is the -more- important of the two concerns (whether or not she can read at all, vs. whether or not she can read "correctly").
If she isn't reading correctly -at all- when it comes time for her to actually read and comprehend written words, then I'd look into possible eye-brain coordination issues because that can hinder her in the future when it comes to reading road signs and other fixed text that can't be turned upside down for her reading pleasure
But if it looks like she's just enjoying it that way, and is -capable- of reading right-side up, then I wouldn't give it a second thought.
If she's attentive, and interested, and shows signs that she WANTS to read, then she's perfect for her age. My guess, is that she's emulating what she sees when daddy reads the paper (or you). I can actually remember being that little, watching my dad reading..and I'd walk up to him, facing him, and lean over the newspaper to look at the funny marks he was looking at. What position was I in, when I was doing this? I was - upside down. And that is precisely how I learned to read. Initially at least. It was how I learned to distinguish words, to know that some words were longer than others, and that these were, in fact, words. It was how I learned to recognize text, as text.
The actual comprehension came later but at first, everything was upside down and that's what was comfortable for me because that was my introduction to text, leaning over the paper while my daddy read on Sundays.
If you are talking about books with a large portion of writing and not picture books then it's absolutely age appropriate. At age 2, most kids do not understand the orientation of letters/words to be in a set manner, they don't distinguish letters from numbers and many do not understand the correlation between the written word and the spoken word.
Beginning around 3, often closer to 4, is when most kids begin to understand that letters form words that match what they say and they begin to mimic writing letters/numbers and reading words/sentences. The beginning of writing has letters usually scattered all over a page, upside down or mirror image no matter what age they start. The beginning of reading starts with words that are consistently seen or very familiar-like their own name.
Just before or during Kindergarten they begin to grasp the concept of the left to right orientation for writing, yet still sometimes write letters backwards, mirror images of words and in reverse orders. Many kids in Kindergarten are just learning their left from their right to begin with, so learning to read/write left to right coincides with that particular life skill.
All of that is age appropriate behavior. Some do these things earlier and some later, but they all generally go through the same stages of writing/reading.
If she does this with books that are only picture books, then perhaps her vision is not clear and it doesn't matter how she holds it, it looks the same to her. Or maybe just the general experience of holding a book is what appeals to her. Maybe she just likes the way it feels to hold it and turn the pages and isn't interested at all in what's inside the book.
Ask yourself these questions. Are books the only things she does this with? Does she lay on the couch with her head hanging upside down to watch TV? Does she flip cereal boxes upside down while looking at them? Does she work puzzles upside down? If you hand her a book or magazine open and right side up, does she turn it around? Does she draw/scribble on a paper then hand it to you upside down from the way she drew/scribbled it? There are many many forms of reading and writing, so look at all of them over the course of a week or so and see if this is really a pattern, or if it's just with books. That will help answer whether it could be an issue to pursue or just a normal 2 yr old quirk with books.
Like another poster, I can read things in any way it's written so it was no surprise to me that my son could also do the same. He was a very early reader and was reading things upside down, mirror image, reversed order and with missing letters, so it didn't matter how he saw the books, he could read them.
It was quite interesting recently to visit a DaVinci exhibit at the museum and learn that he wrote, in cursive, right to left and mirror image. I think it would have been easy to read....had it been written in English!
So, it's also possible she could be a child with a very gifted ability to read anything instead of a child with a potential problem.
Does she lay on the couch with her head hanging upside down to watch TV?
No.
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Originally Posted by hypocore
Does she flip cereal boxes upside down while looking at them?
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Originally Posted by hypocore
Does she work puzzles upside down?
I am not sure. She tries pieces in all sorts of directions.
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Originally Posted by hypocore
If you hand her a book or magazine open and right side up, does she turn it around?
She did this today and she freaked me out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hypocore
Does she draw/scribble on a paper then hand it to you upside down from the way she drew/scribbled it?
No...but now come think of it, when she attempts to draw "a baby", she draws a circle and seems to place the eyes towards the bottom. But then again, at 2 and 2 months her drawings are so rudimentary that I couldn't really tell.
Thank you again, I will keep all those questions in mind and follow to see what she does.
Jeez, she's 2. Just be happy she likes books in her hands. What difference does it make that they are upside down or rightside up? None at all. She's 2. And what if she was 4? Same thing.
One thought, when you read to her, does she sit by your side, or in front of you? If she sits in front of you, she might think that's the way things are supposed to look in books. Her view would be upside down.
It's important that you do nothing about this "differentness" at this age. You could make her hate books if you interfere. Just give it time.
Oh, no - I don't, not in that way. I NEVER made an issue of it. I just tell her casually "let's keep the book straight". I simply show her, then let go.
Ending up "hating books" - I don't worry about that.
She does like books, she has them all around her, she gets read to twice a day at least - nap and bed time, and often times, when she has nothing better to do she'll grab a book and look through it. She does this very often. She won't go to bed without books and she actually REQUESTS them. We go to the public library regularly and come back with tons of books. I am a voracious reader myself, father less so. When it comes to what I call the "early literacy hysteria", we've done it all and continue to do it.
These kids have been known to go to bed without brushing their teeth (now and then, rarely) but they are yet to have a night (since 5 mo or so) when they were not read to.
But then again, I have kind of "chilled" about this "love of reading" thing lately. Not that I am not encouraging it. We do it all the time and we will continue to do it. But my "guts" know better. I am simply not convinced that this subtle pushing of kids into letters and early reading (like toothbrushing) is an actual recipe for making readers, intellectually inclined creatures out of them later on. All developed, modern societies are now up in arms about early literacy because this is what modern economies requires.
But will these social engineering methods produce more true readers (and ultimately more intelligent people)? Highly unlikely.
I was absolutely NEVER read to, not even one time, as a child. NO ONE I knew growing up was read to as a small child. NEVER. We were sometimes told stories (without books) but we were never sat down before bed, with ritual and the like - and read to from picture books. There were no "baby books" to be bought anyway. There was just a caregiver's tongue.
I just remember my grandfather making up crazy fairytales happening in Saudi Arabia (no, I am not Middle Eastern; just Eastern).
Reading was something that kids did when they went to school and learned to read on their own. THEN my grandmother would let me read aloud TO HER while she was cooking..
I did end up a voracious reader (and not of romance novels) - in 4 languages.
By contrast, my American husband was consistently read to as a child because the fashion and the mandates had arrived in the US at that time, but not yet in my "backward" country. Today I can say he is clearly NOT a reader - though he did manage to collect two graduate degrees.
So I am pretty sure that genes have already decided whether my kids will end up "readers" or not, and I hope they were kind to them.
We will keep doing the "engineering" rituals but ...there is always a but. I belive in the "but" and it is good because it helps me ...RE-LAX.
Now...the learning disability would be a different story and I will take it seriously if it turns out to be real.
I still wonder though why I never heard of a dyslexic growing up.
I mean, I know I grew up in a less developed and specialized country, but even if we did not have a name for it, you would think I would have at least heard of a parent who complained about the kid keeping the book the wrong way. No?
Did they put something in the water in the meantime?
Right now, I am neutral about it. I don't think it means a whole lot.
If she has no TV on, of course she's gonna grab some book or toy, as she has them all around her. What else is she going to do? A small child HAS GOT TO do something with her own existence at some point - especially if "deprived" of electronic visual stimulation (which they both are, severely ).
The girl (younger) grabs books. The other one, the boy, older, first born, clings to me for dear life - to get attention 100% of the time.
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Originally Posted by NoExcuses
What difference does it make that they are upside down or rightside up?
I don't know. I was just asking. I don't know anything about it. I wanted to know whether I should worry.
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Originally Posted by NoExcuses
One thought, when you read to her, does she sit by your side, or in front of you? If she sits in front of you, she might think that's the way things are supposed to look in books. Her view would be upside down.
Oh, OK. She does sit in front of me, in my lap. I will sit her by my side. Thanks so much.
Oh, OK. She does sit in front of me, in my lap. I will sit her by my side. Thanks so much.
I meant facing you. In your lap is good.
If she was facing you, her view of the book would be upside down and she might think that's the way it's supposed to be.
Don't worry about things that aren't anything. Being two, she doesn't know what is upside down or rightside up. Honestly, she'll learn when she needs to. It is not a sign of any problem.
I couldn't read out loud. I was SO bad at it. I would stammer and stutter and trip over the words. They sent me to a speech therapist and told me I was a bad reader and wanted to put me in remedial reading when I was in the 1st grade, all because I stuttered when I read Dick and Jane out loud.
What was REALLY going on, was that I was reading too fast for my mouth to keep up. While everyone else was carefully sounding out words and stuggling with phonics in a single sentence, I was reading, comprehending, and completing an entire page. So of COURSE I couldn't read out loud.
By the time I was in 5th grade I was in advance reading classes, and we were assigned the Hobbit, which at the time (in the early 1970's) was considered high school reading material. I ended up taking exclusively literature and writing classes whenever I had electives in high school. I majored in Print Journalism, minored in Creative Writing, and would've graduated *** laude if I hadn't skipped the midterm of my 3-hour Western Civ course to watch Luke and Laura's wedding (hey I had MY priorities straight!).
I go through an average of a book a week, though I've been toiling to get through Neal Stephenson's "Anathem." It's over 1000 pages and I'm finally into the last third.
I've read Chaucer just for the sheer joy of watching his words create images and even sounds in my head of the stories.
I was a "different" reader, when I was young. I was told I was remedial. My mother was instructed to force me to take speech lessons, I even wore glasses for astigmatism that I didn't have. It turned out to simply be my imagination, literally. I would -imagine- the notes of music sheets moving on the page, I would -imagine- the tiny specks of cobweb on the ceiling crawling toward me, and I would -imagine- that things at a distance were coming closer and moving away. It wasn't my vision, it wasn't a disability. It was a skill that so many people are required to lose or be called "disabled" - it was the skill of a creative, active, vivid imagination.
If your kid is reading upside down even when she's 20, LET HER.
If she was facing you, her view of the book would be upside down and she might think that's the way it's supposed to be.
Don't worry about things that aren't anything. Being two, she doesn't know what is upside down or rightside up. Honestly, she'll learn when she needs to. It is not a sign of any problem.
Oh, no - she is NOT facing me.
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