OHGrandma - the bit about not alternating feet going down stairs might have me concerned about gross motor skills (something that could be evaluated by an OT). I am not familiar with a link between motor skills and reversal of letters, except in the realm of ocular motor skills. Motor skills of all kinds can be affected by SPD, see e.g.
http://www.starcenter.us/aboutspd.html "Children who have challenges in the proprioceptive and/or vestibular sensory system often display motor delays, poor muscle tone, handwriting difficulties, or postural problems. These sensational kids may be clumsy and awkward and have trouble with coordination in sports (such as with ball handling) and other activities." This would be my DD6 - her SPD troubles are exclusively vestibular and proprioceptive - she does not have the tactile issues that are what people commonly think of as sensory problems, although they are merely one type of sensory problem - and she has an ocular motor problem too (eye tracking/teaming), though that is being fixed (hurray!). Overall, she is much more coordinated after the short, intensive program of OT with listening therapy that we did at the Star Center last fall (it even helped with the vision - the vision therapist was blown away at the improvement. Supposedly, the OT worked on the basic level of the central nervous system, which affects everything else. Long story). Your instinct about swimming might be correct - things that strengthen the core muscles are good, even for handwriting (according to the OT that will be helping my ds with fine motor/handwriting stuff at school next fall). Pushing, pulling and carrying heavy things are often recommended as part of a daily "sensory diet". I have more to say about this topic if you consider going down this road (not all OTs specialize in SPD at its most basic level; some think they do but they're only thinking about things like "brushing", for example, something that has never even been done for my dd since it's not relevant to her issues).
I really have no idea what the normal age to stop reversing letters is. Having been down the road of ocular motor issues with dd, the combo of letter reversals and handwriting difficulty might tempt me to get an evaluation, or at least a screening, with a behavioral optometrist (
http://www.covd.org/ ) (most opthamologists do not do this kind of testing; it's different from a regular eye exam). I think our initial screening was like $25 and the eval was around $95 or something like that. (Unfortunately, none of these therapies come cheaply!) I may have a few more links on vision if you're interested - let's see...
http://www.numberoneeyecare.com/children.htmhttp://www.visiontherapystories.org/http://optometrists.org/hellerstein/vision_therapy.htmlDottie - interestingly, my two with the left-brain weaknesses also had perinatal issues. With DD, I had an undiagnosed, untreated clotting disorder, which was cutting off her supply of nutrients, and she was small, 5 lbs 14 oz at term, born by section for breech. She was also extremely purple. With DS, though my clotting issue was being treated (albeit insufficiently), he was the smaller of twins (by more than a pound; his brother ate all his food, the nicu nurses were fond of saying), and small for gestational age, born prematurely with a host of other issues (respiratory distress, sepsis, etc.). Both of them have had speech delays and also various SPD issues, coincidentally. The bigger twin ds had a speech delay and occasionally seems to have some mild SPD but we have never sought therapy (yet) for that. He's also the only one of the three who can sound out words phonetically (well, dd can do it now, finally, but she's nearly 7), so it seems he doesn't have the left-brain weaknesses of his siblings, at least not to the same extent. My most recent baby was born nearly two pounds bigger than dd at the exact same gestation, thanks to a hefty dose of anticoagulants, and he is so normal and easy it's hard to believe! Fingers crossed that our last one, #5, due in three months, will be similar in those respects
Though one can wonder whether the right-brain strengths of my more "normal" kids will be on par with, or inferior to, the right-brain strengths of the two with more significant left-brain weaknesses. DS5, with the left brain weaknesses, is starting to show signs that he may well be "smarter" than DD - in other words, he seems more extreme in strengths and weaknesses, and meanwhile the weaknesses are improving with the various therapies and with time. (will my "normal" kids not rise to the level of being gifted? will the weaknesses have increased the right-brained giftedness? I know I'm a little nuts)
