Helping my son with lowercase "b" and "d"

[rootzdawta]

He's 4 and we're using the Hooked on Phonics program which he likes. He has trouble with lowercase b and d, i.e. mixes them up although if you tell him what letter it is, he can easily tell you the sound it makes. Any ideas for helping him distinguish between the two?

Oh, and yes, I know it's mainly developmental and he's not frustrated or worried about it so I'm not too, too concerned. Just wondering if there are any little tricks.

And his father has dyslexia so I'm keeping an eye on my son.

[elizawill]

my son did this too! no matter what, he simply could not distinguish between the two. it's very normal (but frustrating for the child). what finally worked was having him hold his hands in the shape of a lower case b & d (for simplicity sake we used this style)... http://blogs.setonhill.edu/DennisJerz/BandD.JPG

my little boy is named daniel and he is right handed, so i told him to remember his name starts with the hand he writes with. does that make sense?? lol.

anyway, he uses this technique all of the time now & has no problems. i hope this helps!


ETA - some people use the word "bed" to remember... as you say the word outloud - look at your thumbs and you'll know which letter goes where. ykwim?

[Catherine12]

There is a song/video on the PBS program Between the Lions about this. It's in a rock style, and is quite fun. It's called "b and d confusion". You can probably find it on their website.

I was taught that for the letter b, "the bat comes before the ball" (i.e. the line is before the circle). The bed trick is helpful too - you could put up a poster with a picture of a bed made out of letters.

[Daffodil]

The bed trick helped my DD.

[AAK]

Originally Posted by elizawill

my son did this too! no matter what, he simply could not distinguish between the two. it's very normal (but frustrating for the child). what finally worked was having him hold his hands in the shape of a lower case b & d (for simplicity sake we used this style)... http://blogs.setonhill.edu/DennisJerz/BandD.JPG

my little boy is named daniel and he is right handed, so i told him to remember his name starts with the hand he writes with. does that make sense?? lol.

anyway, he uses this technique all of the time now & has no problems. i hope this helps!


ETA - some people use the word "bed" to remember... as you say the word outloud - look at your thumbs and you'll know which letter goes where. ykwim?

We essentially did this, but held our hands bit different. We said that that b c's d (b sees d). We read from left to right, so the order worked for our little saying.

The bed thing did not work for us, maybe because she could never remember how to spell bed, I don't know. But, we needed a trick that used the letter names (even though we focus on sounds).

Amy

[Autumn Breeze]

Yep, we just used our hands to make the shape of the letters and would say "b comes before d" and sometimes he still checks to make sure he's got the right letter written!

[rootzdawta]

Thanks all . . . the "b" "d" thing with the hands is a useful tool which he seems to really like!

[luvmy2girlz29]

My 6 yr. old dd learned this from a show on PBS. A line with a circle makes a b and a circle with a line makes a d. It has really helped her.

Korrie

[annettemarie]

Our trick: b has a board first and d has a doughnut.

[Dakota's Mom]

We use b has a belly and d has a derriere.

Kathi

[Momma Aimee]

I am extreaminly dyslexic -- struggled a lot in school -- a lot

b and d

bed

they face each other to make a bed

b is first in the alphabet, d is second

i still use that tool

[onyxravnos]

for me if i over think it i get confused with things like "which hand makes the L"

I saw somthing in a waldorf book the other day that i loved.

circle then a line makes a d - line then a circle makes a b

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by onyxravnos

for me if i over think it i get confused with things like "which hand makes the L"

I saw somthing in a waldorf book the other day that i loved.

circle then a line makes a d - line then a circle makes a b

That's a really great idea! My 5 yr old has really struggled with this as well.

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by onyxravnos

circle then a line makes a d - line then a circle makes a b

But wouldn't it be really easy to mix this up and say b where you should say d?

[prairiebird]

My dd age 5 is switching these as well. We've been telling her that the "baby B's belly bumps the next letter in line" and that seems to have helped her. But that would probably only work for a child that is understanding we read words from left to right, so they can kind of see how the "b" could be standing in line with the other letters. The "d" would have a belly facing the other way and therefore would not bump the next guy in line. (I know, this is really kind of dorky, but it seems to be working! )

So if she saw the word "bear" we'd say that the baby 'b''s belly is bumping the e.

She is at the point where she is sounding out words and attempting basic readers, so that's where this might work. Or at least, it's working for her!

[onyxravnos]

Originally Posted by Daffodil

But wouldn't it be really easy to mix this up and say b where you should say d?

i suppose but it totally has been working for me. one of those things ya know? why does this work for some rather then the look at your hands which one makes an L one.... no idea

[trekkingirl]

me and my dd made up something in her every day life that she would remember. We came up with bed/dead..... you write the b in the same direction as she sleeps in her bed.... you write the d in the direction of the end of the bed where you would fall down dead. Since she came up with it herself and it pertains to her own life she remembers really well.