confuse b and d, mix up b and d

 

The face of b looks the way words go; d's line blocks d from looking the way words go. Dd is sad because d can't see. Remember: d don't; d still has fun words like dragon and dinosaur.

Children learn from stories so we are going to create a tiny story - called a rule - for b and d. 

On a sheet of paper, you print Aa, Bb, Cc. Ask your child to point to each letter and tell you the letter's name and two things that start with the letter, like a apple, b bumble bee, c cat.  Ask your child, which is the 2nd letter in his ABCs?  (Yes, Bb is the 2nd letter in our ABCs.) 

Ask your child to draw a giant b on a sheet of paper. Start with b's line, then draw b's circle.  Say: let's take turns saying b words: bumble bee, bear, boy, bat, ball, busy, baboon, etc. Bee and b have the same name; that can help your child remember the b sound.

Say: b has a big round face - can you point to b's round face? Do you know that b's round face always looks the way words go in the stories we read together? What way to the words go? Yes, words always go this way >>. 

Let's make eyes in b's round face that look the way words go > and let's make a smile because b likes to see the way words go. (Repeat this tiny story - the Bb rule - many times while making giant b's with a smile and eyes looking the way words go in a story. Repeating it helps your child remember the rule when he sees b in words and he needs a reminder because he is not sure.)

Bb rule: Bb is the 2nd letter in my ABCs and b's round face always looks the way words go in a story. 

When you and your child read stories together, ask your child to hunt for letter b and point to  letter b at the start, middle, and end of words. Also, circle letter b in the words of used books, or old magazines.

Dd rule: d's straight line blocks d's round face, d is sad because d cannot see. (Draw sad eyes and a sad mouth. Start with d's circle, then make a big point of blocking d's face with d's straight line.)  Tell your child, even though d is sad because d cannot see the way words go in a story, still d comes at the start of fun words like dragon, dinosaur, dump truck. When reading stories together, help your child find letter d at the start, middle and end of words. Circle letter d in words in old magazines and in used books.

Your child may print many other letters backward; this is very rarely dyslexia, will not slow your child's reading success, and will self-correct by mid 2nd Grade. Please spend your child's limited energy learning b / d and also g / p / q because being slow to correctly identify these letters within words when your child starts to read in 1st Grade - can cause your child to fall behind. You and your child can make an ABC letter strip; or buy one at Target, Walmart, Office Max. Help your child practice pointing to each ABC, saying its name and something that starts with its sound. Help your child be ready to identify each letter within words when he starts reading in 1st Grade.

Please feel welcome to ask questions or make comments in the box below. If you would like a book, I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up . All are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help. Thank you, Mary Maisner