Support Pack for Number Reversal
It is quite common for young children to encounter difficulties forming and securing
the orientation of numbers.
Some pupils will benefit from a ‘hook’, a trick or strategy that helps them to
remember how to record numbers correctly. Remembering by association is a
successful memory strategy!
Strategies
1. Writing a model at the top of the paper for students who are persistently
getting it wrong may provide an important visual clue.
2. Hand Checking
Materials: Pencils with erasers, paper, chalkboard for demonstration
Children can use the curve and direction of the right hand as a memory cue to selfcorrect digit reversals.
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Procedure for right-handed children:
1. Write number 2 on the board. With a pencil in your left hand, show hand
checking by making your right hand curve in the same direction as the curve
of the number.
2. Explain that the curved part of the number points the same way as your
fingers.
3. Let the child write a big 2 on its paper and let it put its pencil in its other hand.
Check if the curve and direction of its fingers fit the number.
Procedure for left-handed children:
1. Use the same procedure, but for left-handed children
2. Say “Write a big number 2 on your paper. Keep holding your pencil. Check
with your free hand to see if the curve and direction of your fingers fit the
number 2.”
Work only with left-handed children or only with right-handed children. If a child is
not clearly right-handed or left-handed, a small mark or sticker can be placed on
the right hand as a reminder about which hand to use for checking.
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Credits: Pictures and the concepts for this method are adapted from: “Hand checking and six
doesn’t mix: Remediation of digit reversals” by Madge M. Connor, 1980, Academic Therapy, 16,
pp.207-210. Copyright (1980) by PRO-ED.
3. The Picture Links
Some children may find linking an image to each number from 1 to 9 that is similar
to its appearance helpful.
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4. Number Tracing Poems
Finally, discussing the start points for recording individual digits and recording this
with a green dot or star, followed by a verbal account/rhyme of the strokes
involved can support some children.
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