Mumsnet Talk

DS2 used to get b and d mixed up. His teacher taught him to use the word 'bed'. Squish it up and looks like an actual bed if you do tall enough stalks on the b and d. 'b' at the start of the drawing and the word and 'd' at the end. He got it right away and has not looked back.

Don't push her, she will pick it up eventually and you will burst with pride! I speak from experience!

oops just realised the link doesn't work. If you google letter formation rhymes you'll find it though

www.stmaryswednesbury.ik.org/.../Letter_Formation_Rhymes.doc

we use these at school in reception class, there are some pictures to go with them ( haven't found them on the interweb though

Thanks very much, all, will give some of these a try and see what happens...

We had b for kicking a ball and d for a big round doughnut coming first - mine never mixed up p and q for some reason

DD was taught Letterland characters: b was bouncy ben, his ears stick up; p was peter puppy, his ears flop down. She used her hands to stick ears up and down on her head. With this, she never mixed up b and p, despite being dyslexic and mixing b and d all the time.

Really like that way if remembering it, snowy. My 7 year old DS still muddles b and d. I am going to try your method with him.

I did all these, and DD was still muddling up b and d at the end of Y2. As she's a neglected last child, I assumed it would sort itself out eventually, and it did as the start of Y3, when she had a scary teacher who dealt with it in the first week back at school...

b-first the bat and then the ball
d first the doughnut and then the dipstick

We say Big Fat Belly for b and (ahem) Daddy's Dangerous derriere for d . Also Penny's Ponytail for p. It helps, to a certain extent, especially if you can personalise it.

(Daddy farts a lot, hence Dangerous Derriere- and yes, I know it's French, but ds2 accepted that without quibble, for some reason).

Today letters in the snow!
Little ones and big ones all over the lawn.

Drawing big letters with squeezy bottles full of water on the pavement.

Making letters out of play doh.

Writing in sand or flour.

Making letters out of things you find round the house. Pens, pot actors, rulers, plates, forks, Lego, it doesn't matter.

They are all tricks you use with dyslexics to produce a physical memory of the letter as well as a visual one.

Kinaesthetic learning

It's really common for young children to confuse these letters because they are basically the same symbol but differently orientated. Children know that an apple is an apple regardless of whether the stalk sticks up or down or sideways and seem to assume that the same applies to letters. With very young children it is often just a case of exposure and growing understanding.
bed works for some children
www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/view_online.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww2.sch.im%2Fgroups%2Fsen%2Fwiki%2Ff6ada%2Fattachments%2Fb05b1%2Fbdp%2520confusion.pdf

In my experience that rarely works.

You'd be better linking the sounds and shapes to an image. eg P for pie, b for biscuit, d for dog.

Between b and d there is the bed trick with their hands.

www.busykidshappymom.org/2011/10/b-and-d-confusion-use-your-thumbs.html

She's not doing badly with her reading, but does get these muddled. She is in Reception.
Thanks