Teaching kids "b" and "d" ?

[underpants]

My 6 year old daughter is regularly mixing up her b's and d's - any suggestions?

[RayOfHope]

1. Don't try to teach them both at the same time.

I teach young kids how to read or to read better :)

You need to make sure she solidly can recognize one first. Writing and reading are reciprocal. We use 'path of movement' to help with letter formation. The language for writing a b is 'doooown, up, and around" (the doooown part is because b is a tall letter). The language for writing a 'd is 'over, around, uuup and dooowwwn'. As for which to start with--that depends. Does she have one of these letters in her name, or is it in one of yours or your wife's names?

You can also draw attention to the fact that one of them has a stick first. How is her directionality with the rest of her writing? Any other letters reversed? Does she start on the right side of the page? Reversals in all areas of writing are extremely common at this age.

[PassingFair]

2. I don't think 6 year olds should be exposed to B&D.

Period!

:rofl:

[NewJeffCT]

3. I found a whack upside the head with a 2x4 helps out

but, seriously, just practice, practice, practice.

[Tikki]

4. 'b' has a belly...'d' has a *derriere...

He loved it because it was a magic word for 'butt'...

He's 8 yrs old now and has it all figured out...

Tikki

*just 'b' for belly should be enough to work..

KIDS ROCK...

[MiddleFingerMom]

6. She said "butt"... and "derriere".

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YOU ROCK!!!!
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What a cool little mnemonic (and definitely kid-EFFECTIVE -- it's helping me!!!)
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:applause:
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Now that the b&d's are taken care of... I need to work on my s&m's.
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[GreenPartyVoter]

5. That's pretty normal. To little ones the shape is what matters, not the

orientation.

Eventually they catch on to the fact that orientation does matter. If not, the school will check her out down if they think there is potential a learning disability. For now, I wouldn't worry and would just let nature take its course.

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. I struggle with those to this day, and I'm 52.

I am slightly dyslexic, and my handwriting looks like a 4th graders. I NEVER write a lower case "D" or "B" - always upper case. I mix upper and lower case letters inside words all the time.

IN fact, I just hand wrote out your question, just to see how it would come out.

It looks like this;

My 6 year olD DaughTer iS Regularly MiXinG UP Her B's anD D's. any SUGGesTions?


I don't have an answer for you other than perhaps practice for her and patience for you.

I DO know however, that I can relate totally.

[struggle4progress]

8. maybe she's not literary. how's she doing in chem lab?

i didn't learn my left from my right until sometime in first grade

go slow: be patient: try hard not to make her feel anxious about this

maybe find some other pairs of things where left-right matters

work on the difference between left and right

[pokerfan]

9. If you have any control over the font she's reading

try finding a font where b & d aren't exact mirror images of each other.

For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLtYFcHx7ec