The reversals happen when writing individual letters and numbers and when writing words and sentences. They are usually certain ones, but it's somewhat random. The ones I often see wrong are s, k, j, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9. He will even write down a math problem such as 10+14=24 with one four right and one four wrong. He doesn't seem to notice this even when reading it back. He also gets his numbers out of order 41 for 14, even though he has a strong understanding of place value and can tell me, oops, I wrote 4 tens and 1 one instead of 1 ten and 4 ones.
I'm not too sure about the pre-writing stuff. He didn't "write" at all until well past the normal age when other kids show interest in scribbling/marking (I think around 12 months?). When he did start he was well ahead in that he didn't want to just scribble, he actually tried to make things. I think his first ever drawing was around 18 months, which was just a scribble. He didn't try again until sometime after 20 months and that time he made water with fish in it (broad strokes with a blue crayon and orange blobs added on top). He made a few drawings like that and quit again for a long time until he started drawing vehicles maybe a year later, using squares and circles. For some reason the vehicles were made out of lots of squares with circles for wheels and a steering wheel. If asked he would draw a person, but he wasn't too into it.
He still doesn't draw much, but when he does I think it's pretty decent for his age. When he paints, he likes to make snakes. Because they are easy! Mostly he likes to make mazes and write number patterns. He loves to do color by number, mazes, connect the dots, word searches, and other puzzle type written work. He does not like to write out sentences or stories too much, but he loves to write up a schedule for the day or he might suddenly sit down and write down the lyrics to a favorite song.
So, back to pre-writing, he never did that stuff I read about where he pretended to write notes to me or anything. I just figured that was part of his social delay. I guess I'd say he went straight to just trying to make stuff, letters, fish, trucks, etc. He didn't really ever show interest in just picking up a crayon and marking up a paper just for the fun of it.
I remember a friend who is very bright and very near to my sons age coming over around when they had both recently turned 4. My son drew a complex maze with a picture at the start and the words start and finish on it. His friend just scribbled. His mom said that was all he ever did and she was worried he was behind. I assured her that my son is just unusual and that she had nothing to worry about, her son is both smart and very social. For his part, my DS looked at his friends work and said "Why did he just scribble all over the paper? He's wasting paper, I don't think we should give him another piece." Luckily his friend wasn't really paying close attention.
I'm not sure if it's important, but as well as my son reads and as much as he loves books, he never wants to read them himself. I have to make deals to get him to read, I'll read to you, then you read to me, and then I'll read to you again. He won't choose anything difficult and actually tends to choose his level 1 readers, just to get it done quickly! He absolutely can read very well when he decides to do it and I try not to push him at all, but I want him to feel confident and learn to enjoy sitting down with a book. He told me a few weeks ago that he used to love reading books, but his interests have changed and he will want to read books again when he is 10. That's really not acceptable!
Thinking back to my own childhood, I was excellent at drawing, but I had terrible handwriting. I actually relearned how to write on my own in middle school because none of my work would be accepted by the teachers. I trained myself to draw the letters the same way I draw pictures. It seemed to work for me and my printing is now very neat. I have no idea if that is relevant or not. My son isn't really taking after me completely because his writing is actually very neat for his age. It remains to be seen if he eventually falls behind though, I know that early skill does not always mean later mastery.
