"b" and "d" confusion - cursive writing

[albachiara]

Hello,
maybe somebody can tell me what they think about this.

My DS (almost 7) still confuses b and d. I have tried A LOT of things. I have used the resources posted on similar posts on mumsnet, DS has the word "bed" as a small poster in his bedroom, we tried the thumb/fist trick to spell bed, etc etc. I have made him write the lette "d" 50 times, but at the end of it, he tells me, very proudly, "Look how many b's I have written!!!" Poor child, what a waste of his time!

It seems that he's ok with reading b and d, but when it comes to writing them, he just doesn't see any difference.

So, I thought of another strategy: using the cursive script for d and b (well, d is more or less the same, but "b" is quite different (see page 4 of
www.donpotter.net/PDF/Cursive%20First.pdf). I was thinking, I was taught cursive writing when I was 5 (almost 6) (this is not in the UK) before learning "lower case print", and I don't remember any child in my class having problems with b/d. Maybe I don't remember well, but I'm sure that b/d was not an issue.

So, I am thinking of ask my DS's teacher to let him write the "b" in cursive writing (although the rest of the letters will not be cursive, just joined up). Is this a bad idea?

Please don't tell me to relax and just ignore the problem, and that the problem will disappear at some point. I'm sure that eventually my DS will get it, but at the moment, when he's writing, if he has to write b or d, he stops, tries to think (and usually gets it wrong anyway), loses the flow, concentration, and confidence.

If I can find an "easy" way to help him, I would be so happy!

Any thoughts? Thank you!

maizieD

I ask him to say the sound /d/ each time, while he was writing "d" 50 times, and he did (he's a good boy!). That's why when, 20 seconds after finishing the last "d", he told me "Look how many "b"'s I've written!", I felt such a useless parent, making him do boring stuff that served no purpose. Then I thought: "OK, let's learn from that! Probably he was not thinking at all while he was doing that boring repetitive task, so nothing went into his brain/memory. Never ever ask him to write something more than 3 times, because it's useless." After that, I asked him to write words containing "d" or "b" (bib, thumb, road, etc.), so that he was forced to think about what he was doing (he was allowed to look at the b/d sign showing how each letter looks like, if he wanted to). The frustrating thing is that he is quite good at spelling (not great, maybe, but I think he's ok), but he still confuses b and d.

Also, when I talk about cursive, I talk about the letter shapes on page 4 of www.donpotter.net/PDF/Cursive%20First.pdf (which is what we had to use in primary school, from the very beginning), and joined up looks like www.letterjoin.co.uk/them_print.html.
I might be wrong about this, so please correct me.

mrz thanks so much for the reply and links

everybody else thanks a lot for your suggestions/comments

cursive/joined

Most schools teach the style on the letterjoin site because it follows on easily from the sassoon font (semi cursive /pre cursive print) taught in reception.

I'm not a fan of cursive in reception from experience I think children need to learn individual letters before they join and would recommend leaving joining until later in Y1/2.

Aah. I've got it now, albachiara.

The letters on the Don Potter site are just exemplars of letters which would be joined if you were using them in a word! I think that they look a bit difficult (not to mention old fashioned...). The letterjoin ones do just the same thing, it's just that they show them already joined to another letter! They're both 'cursive'; yes?

With regard to the 50 'd's. I wonder if it would help if you never used the letter names, just 'named' them with their sounds? (Ignore me if you think I'm flogging a completely dead horse here ) It could possibly have been that he didn't associate the 'sound' with the letter name. I'd cut out the letter names altogether because it gets rid of a level of complexity; they aren't necessary for reading or for spelling. Just go straight from 'sound' to 'shape' (and vice versa)

I do have another 'tip' but it's complex to explain and I want to go to bed!

I'll have a go tomorrow...

Hi, it sounds as if your child has missed the link between the sound and the shape of the letter b. Try getting him to help you make lables to put on items around the house that start with the letter b. eg: hang a lable around his bear with a lower case b on it. encorage him to find things on a journey that start with b and record them in his b book. Be patient and give him time and practice. Make it fun for him.

sorry about the last message where I have said b put in d. Must be tired.

We say d (sound) round, up, up, down, down and flick while writing the letter
and b (sound) down, down, up, round to the bottom.

The letterjoin web site has just added printed letters as well so you can use these if you like to teach printed before joining up.