hello all, my fiance's 5 year old nefew just started school last fall and started writng, well he was up here the other day and he wanted to make a picture for my daughter (who is 6 months old) and anyway he asked how to spell her name and i told him "a-u-t-u-m-n and he wrote it from right to left (instead of left to right like normal) so it looked like "nmutua"
his older brother has failed one grade so far and i believe has failed again this year (he is 9) because of reading difficulty
what could the 5 year old have?

Actually, he may not have anything at all. I see kids all the time that write backwards, it is just a prewriting skill. A lot of kids do this, and turn themselves around, some need help learning that we write from left to right.
You might help him out by writing her name down for him, or pointing to each letter as you write it for him. When you read to him, use your finger from left to right and point to each word as you read it.

Give him time. It does seem strange, actually I just marvel in the fact that kids can do this! lol lol

Lindy

It is very common at this age. Actually its normal for kids to write some letters backwards up until about second or with b's and d's, even third grade. Keep in mind that we have been reading for a number of years but its all new to five and six year olds. They just don't understand the left to right progression yet.
Nancy

My brother did this many years ago when we were young. He wrote backwards and tried reading from the right to left. We all assumed it was because he was left handed. He grew out of it with help from the teachers and parents.

Hi all, I am a special education minor with a major in Elementary education. This is completely normal at this age. If however, he is writing everything from right to left, I would intervene. If only some of his words are like this, I would let it go for a while. Here's a tip we learned: teach students to write in cursive from day one. It is impossible to write backwards, and they'll learn print along the way. Hope this helps! Good luck to all!