Help with transposing b and d.

[Molly]

Hi there ladies,

I'm just wondering if anyone has any great ideas on how to help DS7 with remembering which is which. He transposes not only with his reading but in his writing too. Any help will be gratefully received.

[farmfamily]

When I was little I used to picture the word "bed". It should look like a side view of a bed with the headboard and the footboard sticking up above side view of the mattress. It helped me remember which way round the letters went. Not sure if I'm explaining this very well...

Another one I've used with my kids is to ask them to say the sounds of the letters. To say "b" you start by putting your lips in a straight line, so start writing "b" with a straight line and then a circle. To say "d," your lips make a sort of a circle, so start by writing a circle, and then write a line. Does that make sense?

[Molly]

Fabulous, that is terrific. I will try those. Thank you so much.

[Joyful3]

The All About Reading author suggested doing a bat/ball for b and doorknob/door for d. You can draw a picture of that the first time you explain it to give a visual.

For writing, what I've found works for my DS is to use the Handwriting Without Tears trick and tell him that the b is the dive down letter and d is the magic c letter (how you start the writing stroke for each.)

[dschurma]

http://kindergartenfaith.blogspot.com/2 ... bs-ds.html

We use the "bed" trick with my 5 yr old, but my friend shared this link. I love the graphic at this site...Bs have bellies, D's don't!

[mrsrandolph]

I love the Institute For Excellence in Writing "Letter Stories". It keeps reversals to a minimum. "b" is the bomb letter. It starts at the top...draw a line down..trace back up and "boom" make a "bomb" which is your circle.

D is the doggy letter. IT DOES NOT START AT THE TOP. That is key. It starts like "c". Start making your lowercase "c". That is doggy's face. Then up and trace back down to make a long wagging tail.

[4Hispraise]

Love these ideas...don't have any of my own to add to the mix, but will definitely be using these!!

[Molly]

Thank you so much ladies. What a tremendous help. I'm sure we will get it right for him with these ideas.

[Joyful3]

I love the Institute For Excellence in Writing "Letter Stories". It keeps reversals to a minimum. "b" is the bomb letter. It starts at the top...draw a line down..trace back up and "boom" make a "bomb" which is your circle.

D is the doggy letter. IT DOES NOT START AT THE TOP. That is key. It starts like "c". Start making your lowercase "c". That is doggy's face. Then up and trace back down to make a long wagging tail.

Love this! I can't wait to add it to our toolbox.

[my3sons]

Hi Molly! This is sooooo common. Even in 3rd grade, which was primarily the grade I taught back in the day of my ps teaching, dc commonly reversed these letters. I'll paste a portion of another post I just did as I think something here may help...

I made an index card of the letters (and a few numbers) he was reversing, using it in a word, making the letter reversed dark black. For example,

boy
dog
6
9

I also explained that just like "b" comes before "d" in the alphabet, "b" is also 'tall' first, as it is 'tallest' on its left side, and 'd' is tallest on its right side. I left the card out on the table and asked him to check his work before handing it in to me. If he still missed some, I drew his attention to the line that had the reversal and had him look for the reversal there and fix it.

Seeing it right repeatedly on the index card cut down on the errors and editing it himself helped him remember to write carefully the first time. I suspect your child's reversals would diminish over time using this method. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie