Confusing "b" & "d" In Early Reading... Tips to Overcome

The tendency for children to confuse "b" with "d" isn't all that uncommon, which should put your mind at ease if this is something your own children struggle with. This morning I found this topic being discussed on one of the CafeMom groups I'm registered with, and I thought... what a perfect issue to address on my blog! So, here I am. ; )

As I mentioned before, my own kids struggle with their "b's" and "d's" and my strategy up to this point has always been to remind them that capital "B" faces the same direction as lower case "b". Since they rarely if ever write "B" in reverse I thought I'd really stumbled onto something helpful, but honestly I haven't seen any progress using this approach.

After a short-lived web scouring session between myself and the always dependable Yahoo!, I managed to find a couple useful teaching aids to share with anyone interested:

Suggestions for teaching "b" from "d"

• Find a word that can be transformed into a visual. If you visit Activity Village, you'll find a free printable poster featuring the word "bed" using the "b" and "d" as the head and foot board. Your children can easily memorize this word and the directions the letters face to make the bed image fit together.
• One of the women at CafeMom suggested using the word "bud" to help children learn to distinguish a "b" from a "d". She told her child that "b" and "d" are facing one another in friendship, because well... they're buds. lol Makes sense!
• I found a game (for purchase) that teaches children the difference between "b" and "d" through color. It makes sense too... using the colors red and blue.. I'm thinking you could also use the words red and blue to teach that the ball portion of the letter in both words faces the body of the word... so in red, the "d" faces the "re" and in blue, the "b" faces the "lue". I might be pushing it with this one! lol

Whatever you decide to do, I'd limit it to one strategy at a time. Try the "bed" approach and if that doesn't work, switch to the "bud" visual. If neither of those work, maybe try to create your own red and blue game. If you still don't find progress, it's likely your student isn't ready to sort it all out yet. In time! In time!