b and d mix ups

[allisondacia]

My 5 year old Kindergartner mixes up the sounds for b and d all the time. I really dont think she can tell the difference in the looks of the letters. Any tips or tricks?

[serendipitous journey]

Phonics Pathways has a "bed" card, with the word bed printed and their mascot (Dewey the bookworm) sleeping on a mattress across the top. It is hard to explain, but here's a link that does describe it; at the end of the entry, there's a hotlink on the word "bed" that will download a PDF of the image.

 

If you keep in on hand (I used a smallish version), when there is confusion have the child look at the card, read the word "bed", and figure out which way each letter ought to go -- b coming first in bed, d coming last. You may have to gently point out which letter is which the first few times. This helped enormously.

[delaney]

Well ask yourself do you know any adults who are confused about it? That is what I ask myself about my younger son's pencil grip. Somehow it all works out I think. I wouldn't worry about it at this age.

[Seeking Squirrels]

I recently looked up ideas for this and found one that is heping DD. You have them look in the mirror and make the /b/ sound. Show them how their mouth makes a line. Show them a b and how you come to the line first. Then you make a /d/ sound and ask them what their tongue is doing. Suggest that it's like holding a gumball there. Show them a d and how they get to the circle first so they should circle their tongue around the gumball.

[Mommie_Jen]

I recently looked up ideas for this and found one that is heping DD. You have them look in the mirror and make the /b/ sound. Show them how their mouth makes a line. Show them a b and how you come to the line first. Then you make a /d/ sound and ask them what their tongue is doing. Suggest that it's like holding a gumball there. Show them a d and how they get to the circle first so they should circle their tongue around the gumball.

 

 

I've tried every trick known to man. This is what is currently helping. It's still commonly mixed up, but I've started to notice that sometimes he gets them right.

[kiwik]

Honestly it is not an issue yet. Just keep correcting him. Do the bed thing, and wait.

[Nart]

My son is left handed and I tell him, daddy loves you so when you write a "d" he runs toward you. The "b" is bad so it runs away. He still reverses them sometimes but it has helped him to think about which way the letters go.

[UrbanSue]

There's no reason to be too concerned at this age so try some of the tricks but just keep on with patient consistency for now.

[Walking-Iris]

My 5 year old knows the b and d letter sounds, but he mixes them up when writing and reading. It's getting better. He'll occasionally stop and ask me when reading, "is that a b or a d?" I just tell him and he goes on reading. When writing we have just practiced the HWT "magic c up the pole and down" for d, and "down the pole and bump" for b. We have also done the 'bed' trick over and over. I've given him word lists to read like "bed, bid, bud, bad" and "did, dad, dud' and so on. Basically I've found the more he reads lists and practices writing words like that the quicker his visual recall of the b and d are becoming.

 

But in our case it's just a visual/writing issue, if asked what the beginning sound of "bug" was he would know that it is a b, but he may occasionally write "bug" with a d.

 

He occasionally reverses other letters as well, n, p, and g big offenders, as well as numbers 2, 3 and 9. But he's improved a TON since he was 4 and I started noticing it.

 

I keep hearing and reading that it's normal, although I never had reversal issues with my oldest. So I just watch like a hawk and gently correct every time so the habit doesn't get too ingrained.

[mathnerd]

I have a kindergartener who is ambidextrous and can read a book held upside down. So, we are having major letter and number reversal issues. His teacher in K and our pediatrician say that it is a developmental thing and that it will resolve in most cases by the time they reach 2nd grade. But, it drives me nuts, especially the b and d mixups. While talking to a homeschool mom that I know, she said that there is a "bed" song in the PBS show WordWorld that helped her kids remember the letters correctly. I found the clips online and DS loved it and memorized the song - line and circle is the letter "b", circle and line is the letter "d". He stops writing when he encounters these 2 letters and sings this phrase out to himself and figures it out. Our problem with reversing b and d has been 100% solved. We are still working on "p" and "q" and number reversals. Anyway, here are the links to the PBS video clips that I found online. Try it and I hope it helps to solve your daughter's problem.

WordWorld: Frog Fixes his bed: http://pbskids.org/v...egory=WordWorld

WordWorld: Bugs Sleepover: http://pbskids.org/v...egory=WordWorld

[Um_2_4]

I just found these worksheets, might be worth a shot, I haven't used them yet.

 

http://supersimplelearning.com/downloads/worksheets/abcs-lower-problem-letters.pdf

[boscopup]

My 6 year old mixes them up in reading and writing, but it's getting better. My 8 year old (will be 9 in June) still mixes them up in writing sometimes, but he usually catches it and corrects it. He has never gotten them confused in reading. It's just the writing that hangs on. I'm sure it will go away eventually though. He has no other issues (reads well above grade level, and writes at grade level).

 

If you go to the Peterson Handwriting website, there is a good graphic and explanation about why these reversals occur at this age. Most kids grow out of it by age 7 or so.

[Paige]

Alphaphonics has a section for this with a list of 3 letter bd words for the child to practice with. It's just a grid of about 6x6, with words and nonsense words like bed bod bad bid bud dud dub dib bib did dod, etc.in random order. When my older girls had issues with this, we spent about 2min a day for a week or so going over it and they caught on quickly. I think it just takes some practice.

[tampamommy]

The bed thing from Phonics Pathways worked here. But it took a while to sink in.

[Amy M]

I didn't know the bed trick from PP, but I've tried saying, "b says b, b, b, like bat the ball away..." and show the stick batting the ball forward. Then I remind the the "d" stick holds the ball in place, and it can't roll away off the page (of course, in the reading/writing direction). I've also tried putting smiling faces inside the balls of "b" and "d", so that they're smiling at each other, and show that they're looking at each other all the time. But that wasn't too helpful.

[throughpagesandfields]

My son does this too. I tend to think it just takes time and practice. I used to tutor new college students who had learning differences. The mix-up was common for them too... but I tend to think that in almost every case at this stage it's just a matter of getting all these confusing letters and sounds really down. For some reason I feel like as soon as they're reading, and see the letters in context, it might get easier for them to tell them apart too. ??

[boscopup]

For some reason I feel like as soon as they're reading, and see the letters in context, it might get easier for them to tell them apart too. ??

 

For reading, I think this is true. For writing, it really didn't help here. My 8 year old (almost 9) reads hundreds of pages a day. He can finish a 500 page middle school level book in 2 days. He reads at a very high level and reads all.the.time. So for reading, there is no issue. But when he goes to write, those b's and d's just won't always go the right way. He usually notices it and corrects it himself, but it still happens. His cumulative writing practice time is not nearly as much as his cumulative reading practice time. ;) It IS improving a lot as he writes more, so I do think that practice makes perfect... reading more will help correct the reading mixups, and writing more will help correct the writing reversals.

[GSOchristie]

I recently looked up ideas for this and found one that is heping DD. You have them look in the mirror and make the /b/ sound. Show them how their mouth makes a line. Show them a b and how you come to the line first. Then you make a /d/ sound and ask them what their tongue is doing. Suggest that it's like holding a gumball there. Show them a d and how they get to the circle first so they should circle their tongue around the gumball.

 

This is what worked after bed did not. With WRTR, we have clock letters and line letters, b is a line letter, the sound makes your lips into a straight line. D is a clock letter, your lips make a clock (circle).

[wendyroo]

My mom always used to tell us that when you come to a d you can climb right over by using "da step", but a b is too tall to climb so when you get there you bump right into it.

[~*Beatrix*~]

My son has this issue. I told him that both letters face the way we read. Therefore "b" has a "big belly" and "d" has a "derrière" (or bottom end!). He thought this idea was hilarious and now rarely gets them mixed up once he stops and decides whether it has a belly or a derrière.

[musicianmom]

I just correct dd5 when she gets it wrong. I figure it will sink in eventually.