I have a 7 year old who is still consistently reversing several letters and numbers. She doesn't feel ready for cursive writing. I had read that if you teach them cursive they *can't* write them backward. . . anyway, she doesn't want to do that yet. Would italic writing be a better option? I am not sure how to approach this and could use some suggestions, thanks!

I have a friend who does tutoring for children with dyslexia and she says that reversals are normal until around second grade. After that she strongly suggests having children tested.
The program she uses is called the Barton Reading program, but it's not cheap. She charges $25 an hour for tutoring and she says that is cheap compared to other Barton tutors.

My son is 7 and he still does some reversals-both with letters and numbers. They are pretty random, and just pop up here and there. The other day he wrote the first letter in his last name backwards! :p I have also heard that it is normal, and I'm not worried too much. I think regular writing practice will sort it all out. Do you have your dd do any copywork? Copying a small verse or sentence daily can help with reversals. I used to have my son copy nursery rhymes, but now I have him copy sentences out of his Star Wars books. His printing has really improved with the copywork.

Now cursive writing, I haven't even thought about that. I assume that is pretty far down the road for us-

My 8 yr. old 3rd grader (who may be dyslexic; she also reverses letters and numbers and has had trouble reading) just started learning cursive. I don't do cursive with the kids until 3rd grade (they still print for all of their assignments though, since they don't learn and know all of the letters at once, they can't do their assignments in cursive). She has two pages a day of working on a few letters at a time. Today she learned t's and how to add t's to the vowels and consonants she learned already (i, e, u, and w). She's doing great so far. By the end of the year she should know all of her letters, and we'll be preparing for next year when she will probably do all of her assignments in cursive.