mommix3 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 My 7 year old is having issues with her b's and d's. She spells using the wrong letter but the correct sound and sometimes will read with the wrong sound.. Even when she puts things in alphabetical order the b and d are in the wrong place.. What do I do?? Any help would be great. Thanks Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 (edited) For years my dd would visualise the word "bed" when in doubt - it looks like it has the head and footboard of a bed, so she was able to visualise the direction of the "b" and "d". Her confusion never affected reading, just writing. Edited January 29, 2011 by nd293 Spelling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saw Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I heard the same thing with using the word bed, but to have the child hold up the pointer and thumb on each hand with the thumb curved in. With a bit of imagination and an imaginary "e" in between in looks like the word "bed" represented by the fingers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnL Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I think it's pretty normal at that age. My son is 7 is doing the same thing. Also with p and q. I distinctly remember being confused on b and d in my public school 1st grade class, as well. I just keep working on it with him, and gently pointing it out when he gets it wrong. Eventually, it will all click into place full time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margo out of lurking Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 My 7 year old is having issues with her b's and d's. She spells using the wrong letter but the correct sound and sometimes will read with the wrong sound.. Even when she puts things in alphabetical order the b and d are in the wrong place.. What do I do?? Any help would be great. Thanks Angela I tried teaching my kids the "bed" trick, but they could never remember exactly how it worked. With my second, I told him that we make a "b" with the line first; and your mouth makes a line first when making the sound. We make a "d" with the circle first; your mouth is open like a circle when you make the sound. Typing it out makes it seem much more confusing than it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 My DD still does this some. I just quietly prompt her with the correction when reading, which is when it comes up the most for us; most of DD's writing is still copywork so it doesn't present an issue there. When she was first learning the sounds, I would write B = b and D = d on the board for her as reminders. I may do this again when we start spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 My dd7 has more of a struggle with confusing the B and D than my dd5 whom seems to confuse F and T..and Y and U...lol! I keep plugging along. However dd7 has been struggling with B and D ever since she began reading 2 years ago....so I'm gonna give the "bed" trick a go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehog Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 DD9 had so many confusions like that - and guessed so many words wrongly - that I began to wonder whether she had some form of dyslexia. But with some intensive remedial phonics work she's now doing REALLY well and I think I can safely say she was (for some reason) just a slow starter. I think it's very important not to unreasonably pressurise them with our expectations (which is sometimes very hard not to do). If it is with my DD as I suspect, just a question of maturing, then no amount of school policies which state that every child should be reading by 6yo, would have made any difference to her ability to read and would probably have made her feel terribly inadequate. I'm happier about my decision to homeschool this one than any other of her siblings - although I'm not unhappy that I homeschool them, either! In answer to your question, I don't think it's a problem at all. Not at 7yo. Just keep going with the phonics, spelling and reading, correct her mistakes as and when with no big deal attached, and the penny will drop sooner or later. A final thought - at 7, my DD was hardly reading; two years on, she's enjoying reading Narnia. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Phonics Road has you tell them that B is the "tall letter with the short part" and D is a "short letter with a tall part." This hasn't really sunk in with my daughter but thought I'd share it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mejane Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 My son did this until he was around 10. It's very common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Mom Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Our bed trick was to make a fist with each hand, turn the fingers on the fists toward each other and point the thumbs up. This more closely resembles a lower case b and d. I would often catch my youngest making the bed under the table when he was writing, and at 8 he occassionally still uses the trick. For him this visual was key to figuring out the difference. Don't worry, this is a very normal confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma H Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 We made a picture of a b made out of a bat and a baseball. We also made a picture of a dipper (ladel) in the shape of a d. When he comes to it I say do you see a bat first or the dipper. That way, the line being on the left (of the b) means it is the bat and it is a b. If he sees a round shape it is the dipper. It is better than it was but definatley not fullproof. We need to talk to someone and get one of those letters changed a bit so they don't have this problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Just another one chiming it to reassure you that this is quite common. B and d, p and q. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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