Category: Literacy Support

Learn to read, Literacy Support

The ‘b’ and ‘d’ confusion in Reading & Literacy

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b & d Confusion

Kids are labeled as ‘’ignorant” and they lose their confidence when they get ‘’b’’ and ‘’d’’ sounds incorrect, yet the confusion is more common than you may think. 

Firstly they look and sound similar, especially to a young reader who is still developing their recognition skills.  The only difference is in the orientation of the line attached to the circle

Young children are still developing their language and literacy skills, including learning letter-sound matching.  Confusion between similar sounds is a natural part of this learning process.

HOW TO HELP A CHILD OVERCOME THE ”B” AND ”D” CONFUSION

To help children overcome this confusion, it’s important to provide lots of opportunities to practice these sounds, using multisensory approaches .

b. Clap to count the number of total words in the sentence. Then clap/click fingers to identify the words beginning with the same sound example ‘’b’’ Repeat the sentences more than once.

b. Take 5 minutes each day and give them a mirror- When you say ‘b’ your  mouth is in a line , let them watch you and  practice it in front of the mirror.  This re-enforces the sound and the shape.

b. Use your finger to write words with ‘’b’’ and ‘’d’’ in them on your child’s back and ask them to guess the word. Most kids love the interaction with the parent and great way to spend some quality time.

b. Create a bracelet and  have a “b’’ hand to emphasize the letter. https://www.readingrockets.org/

b. Additionally, reinforcing the visual differences between the letters “b” and “d” can be helpful.

Website for Free worksheets : https://www.myteachingstation.com/preschool/reading/alphabet/b-d-letter-reversal-help-worksheet.

With time and practice, most children grow out of this confusion as their language and literacy skills develop.

Literacy, Literacy Support, Read for meaning, Reading Comprehension

How will I know if my child can’t read for meaning?

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Reading difficulty reading for meaning literacy Cheryl Cupido

Signs that your child can’t read for meaning

  • My child reads one word at a time in a staccato manner.
  • My child reads in a robotic voice showing little expression.
  • My child ignores punctuation e.g. reads past full stops without pausing.
  • My child cannot remember what he / she has read immediately after reading.
  • My child cannot answer basic questions about the text they have read.
  • My child is unable to connect ideas in a passage.
  • My child is usable to distinguish important information from insignificant details in a passage.
  • My child is distracted when reading passages.
  • My child will stop and talk about something, often completely unrelated to what they are reading, in the middle of a sentence or passage.
  • My child makes many mistakes while reading and makes no attempt to self-correct.

Reading difficulties that affect a child’s ability to read for meaning

Lianne from LB Literacy highlights areas of struggle by asking the following questions.

Does your child…

  • have difficulty recognizing rhyming words?
  • struggle to identify words that start with the same sound?
  • struggle with associations between letters and their sounds?
  • still confuse vowel sounds?
  • have difficulty manipulating the sounds in words?
  • guess words based on the first letter rather than sounding them out?
  • leave out/skip words in a sentence?
  • add words that are not there?
  • struggle to recognize repeated words, sounding out the same words repeatedly?
  • constantly reread words or parts of a sentence even when they are familiar with the words or have read them correctly?
  • occasionally read words in reverse? E.g. ‘saw’ is read as ‘was’
  • make visual errors where they confuse letters such as b, d, v, w, f, t, m, u and n?
  • leave off the endings of some words? E.g. ‘games’ becomes ‘game’
  • add endings that are not there? E.g. ‘play’ becomes ‘playing’
  • struggle to segment the sounds in words? (Segment means to break words up into sounds = spelling)
  • struggle to blend the sounds in words? (Blending means to push the sounds together to form words = reading)
  • make no attempt to self-correct?
  • show signs of resisting or avoiding reading activities?
  • read excruciatingly slowly, one word at a time, sounding out each and every word to the point that all meaning in the sentence is lost?
  • read words in isolation with inappropriately long pauses between each word in a sentence?
  • making advanced phonic errors because they do not know the language code? E.g. Reads

To explore the possibility of Reading Therapy face-to-face with Cheryl  Cupido in Gqeberha / Port Elizabeth (Walmer Heights /Lorraine/ Sunridge), contact her for a free consultation to discuss how she can assist you.