How can I help DD with idendifying b's and d's?

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Just that really. DD seems to have improved loads with her reading in the last couple of weeks (just started year 1) but is hampered in reading and writing with getting b and d muddled. Does anyone have any tips/tricks to help her learn which is which?

My DS could not understand the bed thing, so we had....

b is for bunny, who always wants to run off the page away from the other letters.

d is for dog, who wants to play catch with the other letters, so he always looks at them.

(big animal fan).

If you are clever, you can draw a bunny with the letter b and a dog with the letter d.

I do b is for belly and it looks like it has a belly sticking out in front. D for duck and it looks a bit like a duck's bottom sticking out behind.

farewelltoarms that doesn't work when they decide 'd' is for 'bum' sticking out behind! (talking from experience!)

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docs.google.com/file/d/0B9toWYBOa2DpZWViOTA5ZTYtMDM1Yi00NDgxLThiMDMtN2E5YTRlYjk4OTFk/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

Ours use mrz's bed one. That dyslexia one earlier is a bit random, thumbs up and elbows out is much easier.

My dd is exactly the same. Sudden leap in reading but still gets b and d mixed up most of the time. She is left-handed - is yours? Don't know if this is relevant.

I assume it's pretty normal for this age though?

Mine too, but doesn't mix them consistently. She's also left-handed.

Thanks so much for all comments. I will try the bed thing and see if that helps first and bear in mind the other suggestions.

And yes dd is left handed! But I don't know if this is relevant either!

These are great tips! DD, just started Y1 does this and is left handed. She will also read words backwards and start at the right hand side of the page sometimes. And she mirror-writes. Sure it'll all sort itself out in time.

I've had some success with chanting 'line first is a 'b'. Apparently it is totally normal.

My DD used to do this. I told her b has a tummy d has a bottom. She just stopped doing in the same was she stopped doing g's back to front.

Toe by Toe (for dyslexic children) teaches 'bat before ball makes b'
The stick of the the bat makes the vertical line of the b and the circular part makes the ball

My ds used to think about what a capital 'b' looked like then he imagined taking the top loop away and he worked out which way to write his 'b'.

We use b bounces forwards, d drags behind.

which is fine if the child has developed left to right orientation for writing but some children start on the right so bouncing forward would create a and if starting from the right a bottom would be on a

Yes, my ds doesn't always think about directionality which is why my 'line first is a b' chant is not entirely successful but it works for a while if I remind him to think about the direction we read when deciding if the line is first. I've had no success with the bed image though. Any tips on how to use it?

I have one which might be worth a try, though I have only used it with much older children. It works for reading as well as writing (and for 'p' & 'q'). It is based on the shapes the mouth makes when saying the sounds /b/ and /d/.

Ask child to say the sound /b/ and think about what position their mouth is in as they start to say /b/. Of course, to say /b/ they have to start with a closed mouth. That's the straight line (upright) of the 'b'. It is then followed by an open mouth; that's the 'round' bit, which is, of course, formed to the left of the upright line. The /d/ sound starts with an open mouth, so the 'round' bit comes first, then the upright to the right of it (I'm afraid it falls down just a little there as /d/ does not finish with a 'closed mouth' ). Focus on learning just one of the letters at a time, child saying the sound as they write the letter. A few minutes regular daily practice is very helpful. Don't practice the other letter until the first is really secure.

This works for reading as when the child sees the 'straight line' first in the letter they must close their mouth to form the sound /b/. If they see the 'round' first, they must open their mouth, /d/.

If you say /p/ and /q/ (which is a /k/ sound) you can see why it works for them, too, though they are not so frequently confused.