letter reversal help

[hrush]

I am a sixth grade teacher. I need information about letter reversal at the 2nd grade level. I want to know how to help with "b" and "d" mistakes. If a student reaches me with this problem they are usually in special services. I am working with a younger student and want to know when this should be a concern. I want to help the child, but I am not certain how to do this properly. Thanks to all in advance.

 

[Eydie]

b's and d's

When I teach my first graders to write these letters I talk about the word "door" which begins with the d sound, so when we write the letter d we think about opening the door. To open the door you first turn the knob....draw the round knob and then open the door...draw the straight down stroke. As they practice the d they whisper to themself, "first the doorknob then the door".
The letter b we talk about "baseball" which begins with the b sound. When they write the b we talk about how to play baseball. First you swing the bat...draw the straight line down (that's the bat) then hit the ball......draw the round part. As they practice writing the letter b they whisper, "First the bat and then the ball" After hearing and writing it enough throughout the year, most don't have the reversal when I send them to second! Hope this can help!

 

[roo]

reversals

I've always done something similar to the above poster, except for d we use drum and drumstick. I make a small visual for their desks that shows the drum and drumstick forming the d and the bat and baseball forming the b. (Now this year I have a 4th grader reversing p's and g's , n's and v's, plus he even uses b and d interchangably in cursive-That's a new one!)

 

[Nat]

reversal

When I taught grade one I used to tell them that b has a big belly..always made them laugh and remember. I now use that trick with my 6 year old. she hasn't made the mistake since.
nat

 

[MKat]

I read a tip on these boards that helped my son. b has a belly, d has a derierre (Okay, I can't spell that and I'm too lazy to look it up - but you know what I mean!)

 

[Melissa/1st/TN]

b's and d's

I have heard of two different things to help with b and d reversals. One is the analogy of a bed (the word actuallylooks like a bed!) and have them say b-e-d, remembering how the "bed" looks drawn out.

the other one is to make "bd" glasses with their hands. Make OK signs with both hands, and put them together and up to your eyes. Keep them together and pull them back down, look at the "letters" your fingers are making, b is on the left hand and d is on the right hand ... in the order they come in the alphabet.

Hope I explained those clear enough!

 

[Penny]

thanks!

I just found out at the end of last year that my daughter (now a 3rd grader) is dyslexic. She's still reversing letters. I'm going to try some of those tricks to help her remember.

 

[wrteacher]

b/d

I am a Reading Recovery teacher, which is a one-on-one intervention with first grade students. In my training for Reading Recovery, we were taught that, to a small child, b/d may appear to be the same because they haven't learned the directionality of print yet. We work with the lowest or the low in first grade, and for those children, all the "normal" ways of remember (like, 'bed') don't usually work. Many of them don't even know where the first part is to be able to write the stick or the ball. For our children we link the letters to like letters and teach the formation using phrases, like: b is 'down up around, b.' The child says it out loud and practices it over and over and over again, on many different surfaces and in the air. We only do one letter at a time. If 'd' is in the child's name, that's the one that is overlearned, because they recognize it in their name. "See, there's that 'around up high and down d' like in your name." We only do one at a time because once they have 'overlearned' that letter formation, d is not even in the same family as b. 'd' is in the family with a, c, o, g. 'b' is in the family of l, t, h, k. We also link this learning of letter formation to their books and the stories they write: "Here is that 'around up high and down d, you've been learning." or "I hear a d in that word. You know how to write that: around...." When they are reading and sounding out a word, they often mixed up the sounds because they don't know which letter they are looking at. For this, we use a link such as a magnetic letter, or we write the letter on the whiteboard at our table, or we trace it in the book. Sometimes we say quietly "around, up ...." And it is a link that the child gets almost automatically. The more practice they have linking the letter with the formation, the easier it is for those children to remember it because every time they make a link it is like forming a path in the brain. The more the go down the path, the deeper it is ingrained...It's not cutesy, or anything like that, but it works for those children who are really low. Hope this helps

 

[worried mom]

letter reversal and numbers as well

My son is in second grade. I just got his report card home I am upset just a little she said he struggles with daily writing and has ideas about what he'd like to write about,but when he actually goes to write the task seems difficult for him. He currently adds uppercase letters in the middle of words and sentences, his sentences usually are lacking appropiate spacing,and punchuation is usually absent. He sounds out many words in his stories,instead of looking at the word wall or his dictionary. Many common words are not automatic for him when he goes to spell them in hsi writing. Math he has many numbers reversals, which figuring out word problems. She said we are hesitating to wait too long to address his academic needs further.{{ What do I do as his mother to help him do better in school I dont want him to stay back now}

 

[mominnj]

3rd grader

Where there other signs that your child displayed? My son is in 3rd grade and we are concerned about his letter reversal?

 

[Deaun]

Letter reversals

Hello,

(background info)
My fifth grade class this year has "ruled the roost" for the past three school years. As a result, this year we will be working on not only behavior issues, but also trying to catch up from three years of neglect. Only one of my students is above a third grade level for math, reading, or spelling. One area of difficulty is that of letter reversals.

I was very glad to find your post on b and d, and am wondering: do you have any suggestions for p and q as well?

Any help appreciated!

Deaun

 

[auntkani]

hey

i hope i can explain this clearly. i hold my hands up making and L shape with my left and a backwards L with my right hand. the left shows us what direction with lowercase b goes and the right shows the direction for the lowercase d. if you rotate your hands so the L's are upside down - then the left hand shows you the direction the letter p goes and the right hand shows the direction the letter q goes.

let me know if that doesnt make sense.

 

[charger]

I am also concerned about my daughter. She is in the second grade and still makes reversals in some letters and numbers. When should we be concerned about dyslexia? Most of the time she knows that they are backwards when she thinks about it. I want to help her. We have tried the "bed" for the b and the d. Like I said, she can do it when she thinks about it, but if she is working quickly she forgets.