b/d confusion - what are your tricks?

[blondeviolin]

Let me just preface this by saying that I know this is very much developmental. My oldest seems to be aware that she reverses them and will often stop and ask me how to write a b or d: "Line and then ball or ball then line?" The only thing she's writing for that she's really picky about is her worksheets that go along with funnix. For those I write "a b c d" on top so she can kind of see which way either letter goes.

 

I know some people have tricks or rhyme or whatever, but I don't know what they are. Do you use one? Which one helps? Or maybe you use a visual cue?

[lionfamily1999]

Baby b runs away, little d loves his daddy. Bb Dd.

[Chelli]

"b" has a big belly

"d" has a big derriere (probably have to explain that this is your behind in French)

 

This worked really well with my dd7. I would just ask her when she was reading and would pause trying to figure out which sound to make "b" or "d", does the letter have a big belly or a big derriere. Then she would get it and keep going :001_smile:

[5Wizards]

Someone else on here mentioned this in another thread, and it has worked wonderfully for my DD 5.

 

Make a fist with both hands but thumbs up. Place knuckles together. You are making a bed with your hands. B comes first in the word bed, and if you look at your left hand, it's making a b. Your right hand is making a d. I hope I explained that well enough.

 

My DD occasionally still uses this now, but she is starting to transition to not needing to at this point. It's a great little trick and I'm thankful to whoever mentioned it here previously. :001_smile:

[chicagoshannon]

Someone else on here mentioned this in another thread, and it has worked wonderfully for my DD 5.

 

Make a fist with both hands but thumbs up. Place knuckles together. You are making a bed with your hands. B comes first in the word bed, and if you look at your left hand, it's making a b. Your right hand is making a d. I hope I explained that well enough.

 

My DD occasionally still uses this now, but she is starting to transition to not needing to at this point. It's a great little trick and I'm thankful to whoever mentioned it here previously. :001_smile:

 

I just asked about this the other day and this bed trick has worked wonderfully already!

[mhornby56]

I read on here that d has a doughnut first and b has a back first. That's what worked for my daughter.

[Ellie]

This is how Spalding teaches b and d:

 

They are not taught at the same time, d being taught along with letters that begin with circles, and b being taught along with letters that begin with lines. Sometimes we confuse our dc more when we try to teach them at the same time. Also, children learn the sounds at the same time they learn to write them, which helps to cement the sound and shape.

 

d is a short letter with a small part. It begins with a circle (the short part) and ends with a line (the tall part). When you say /d/, your lips make sort of a circle.

 

b is a tall letter with a short part. It begins with a line (the tall part) and ends with a circle (the short part). When you say /b/, your lips make sort of a line.

 

It does help to practice writing each letter while saying its sound, but I would do that along with other letters, e.g., letters that begin with circles (o, a, c, d, f, g, s) and letters that begin with lines (everything else). Then when she meets b or d, you can give whichever clues she needs: short letter/tall letter, circle/line, sound.

[nova mama]

The bed trick worked great for DS.

 

This is what works for DD:

d says "Don't!" and turns away from the letters that follow it.

b's belly bumps into the other letters.

[boscopup]

This is one reason why I hate ball and stick. My son couldn't remember which one came first. We switched to HWT, and he knows that 'd' starts wroth a "magic c". He removers that easily and doesn't reverse them anymore. The"magic c" letters are all taught together, separate from the letters that start with a line.

[Guest]

I wrote "bed" in the corner of our whiteboard. DS was free to look at it whenever he wanted and if he ever started writing b or d incorrectly, I'd just point up to the whiteboard. He had a problem with it for maybe 1/4 of the year and hasn't needed to look up since.

[Kerrie in VA]

"b" has a big belly

"d" has a big derriere (probably have to explain that this is your behind in French)

 

This worked really well with my dd7. I would just ask her when she was reading and would pause trying to figure out which sound to make "b" or "d", does the letter have a big belly or a big derriere. Then she would get it and keep going :001_smile:

Chelli, I really like your trick for b and d confusion! I hadn't heard of that one before.

 

I still remember forty years ago being taught in my classroom to make two fists with thumbs pointing up and bringing the knuckles together to make a bed. This is one of those rediculously clear memories--hear and see my classmates learning this and thinking our teacher was cool and clever. This method worked easily and quickly with my boys. When reading, if they hesitate on the b/d, just holding up one correlating fist or half of the "bed" is enough to remind them.

[MerryAtHope]

We used the fists-bed others described, and also HWT. HWT is great for reversals--wish we had started with either that or cursive.

 

Merry :-)

[blondeviolin]

THanks! We'll try the thumbs-up thing. We introduced the letters separately and I've shown her the way HWT does, but it is still confusing for her.

[mauimom]

Besides the bed trick, I would remind my dd that the line comes BEfore the circle for a b. That seemed to help her a lot.

[AmericanMom]

I tell my kids b comes before d in the ABCs, and the stick comes first in the b.

I also use this for p/q confusion, p comes before q, the stick comes first in p.

[Rod Everson]

I've worked one-on-one with nearly 200 struggling readers over the past decade and about 1/3 of them had difficulty with b/d. Ellie already mentioned the Spalding approach, and it's essentially what I used, but in a bit more detail. Using it, most of the kids would be done confusing b/d in just a couple of sessions with me, especially if the parent heard the explanation too.

 

I wrote up a description of the process on my website: Telling b from d is the page. It will work quickly for most kids (based on my experience) and the nice thing about it is that it works for both reading and writing of b/d, as long as you make sure your child writes the "b" and the "d" a certain way. Also, it doesn't interrupt the flow of the reading/writing process at all, the way stopping to make a bed with your hands does. (I had a few kids who did that when I would start working with them, but they always switched to the method Spalding described after I taught it to them.)

 

Incidentally, if any of you reading this has a website of your own, feel free to link to the page. I'm convinced that this is how we ought to teach a child from the start. It would certainly save a lot of confusion.

 

Rod Everson

OnTrack Reading

[kalanamak]

I wrote "bed" in the corner of our whiteboard. DS was free to look at it whenever he wanted

 

:iagree:I drew a bed across it with the letters outlined in red. Kiddo used to periodically copy the simple drawing, for fun.

 

We used the cue "start at 2 oclock" or "start at the ceiling" for d and b, respectively (and other letters, e.g. a and k).

[mrs.m]

We use the when you say "b" your mouth makes a line. When you say "d" your mouth makes a circle. Works sometimes for writing.

 

And we have Mr. Beady eyes looking at us all day. :)

[Princess Peach]

I use the bed trick for my youngest and I am seriously considering HWT for him for next year.

 

I printed out a picture to help him that I got here.

[rockermom]

My son uses these pictures.

[Mom in High Heels]

Someone else on here mentioned this in another thread, and it has worked wonderfully for my DD 5.

 

Make a fist with both hands but thumbs up. Place knuckles together. You are making a bed with your hands. B comes first in the word bed, and if you look at your left hand, it's making a b. Your right hand is making a d. I hope I explained that well enough.

 

My DD occasionally still uses this now, but she is starting to transition to not needing to at this point. It's a great little trick and I'm thankful to whoever mentioned it here previously. :001_smile:

 

This is what we used too. Indy is dyslexic and still has to use this on occasion.

[ElizabethB]

I use all uppercase until they have been reading for at least a year, I teach from a white board in uppercase.

 

Here is a worksheet I developed for my remedial students who needed help with this, plus some tips:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dbdb.html