Mirror-Image Reading and Writing (Homeschooling with Peter Watt: Episode 2)

My first child learned to read effortlessly. It was so easy for her that she believed she had taught herself. So, of course, I assumed I was an expert at teaching reading. Then came my second child.

This daughter had the peculiar habit of reading backwards. Instead of reading “Jane sees Spot” (from secondhand Dick, Jane, and Sally readers), she read “Spot sees Jane.” Her writing was even more intriguing. She wrote her name in an exact mirror image. I was confounded.

It just so happened, that my husband had recently taken a job working for the publisher of homeschool materials (Peter Watt). One of his books taught reading based on “systematic phonics”. The timing of this employment was perfect for the problem I was facing.

He returned from one of his first days at work and presented me with a copy of Alpha-Phonics. It had no pictures, just words written in progressively difficult order.

He told me, “Peter says he thinks this book will help you.” He then gave me some very simple instructions. Basically, “Point to the letter and say the sound. Have the child repeat it. (Don’t bother with mentioning letter names, just the sound.) Move to the next letter and repeat. Then blend the sounds into words.

It sounded too simple to be true, but with my recent acceptance of failure as a reading teacher, I decided to give it a try.

Pointing at the sounds and moving from left to right across the page proved to be extremely beneficial. My daughter’s eyes were trained to track across the page from left to right. For a while, I would write an arrow at the top left corner of the page to indicate where to start and which direction to move the eyes. Soon this was no longer necessary.

The author of Alpha-Phonics, Samuel Blumenfeld, has also written an all-encompassing book called, “How to Tutor.” I recently began reading this book, which I hadn’t visited for years. He wrote, “In fact, there is a tendency to mirror-write at early stages of learning because of the natural movement of the left hand.” This explained in a short sentence, why my daughter had this problem. She is left-handed.

I modeled writing with my hand in front of the center of my body, then moving outward to the right. She mimicked the motion. But since she was left-handed, she started with her left hand in front of her center and moved outward – to the left.

This was the beginning of a very fulfilling relationship with Peter Watt and Paradigm Books.

Please follow this series of blogs based upon the work of Peter Watt and his primary author Samuel Blumenfeld. Many of his family members have worked for him over the years, and some still do. They will be giving me stories to share as well.

— by Meg (homeschooling mom of 9)

MS, Exceptional Student Education (Univ. of W. Florida) emphasis on Applied Behavior Analysis

MA, psychology (Grand Canyon University)

Bachelor of Arts (Northwest Nazarene University)

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For Parents who during the Coronavirus Crisis  are Homeschooling, and whose interest is in making sure their children are adequately being taught to READ, we suggest they consider using Alpha-Phonics.  It has been used successfully for over 37 years by  tens of thousands of PARENTS to easily teach their children to become excellent  readers.  It is simple to teach, is always effective and inexpensive.  YOU CAN DO IT !!  Learn all about it below: