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8 Ways to stop b and d letter reversals

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Are your learners mixing up b and d? Try one of these tricks to end b d confusion!

I recently shared a newsletter with tips for helping kids with b and d letter reversals. Many of my readers e-mailed back with even more ideas.

I’ve put them together in this blog post. Use these ideas to clear up that b d confusion!

Then grab the free posters in the download at the end of the post.

How to help kids stop mixing up b and d

1 – Teach your students that you write  c before you make the d. 

Show them that they start out making a c, which turns into a d.   Your cue could be “c the d” or “start with a c to make a d.”

2 – A classic trick is to show kids how to make a bed with their hands.

The b comes first, and the d comes second, just as in the letters of the word bed.

3 – Some people find it helpful to over-teach whatever letter the child can form with the non-dominant hand.

For example, if a child is right-handed, s/he can form a b with the fingers of the left hand.  If the child is left-handed, s/he will always hold up the right hand to make a d. This is an easy, quick way for kids to check when they’re reading and writing.

4 – Teach your learners that little b fits right inside uppercase B.

5 – Some educators like to focus on where the letters form in the mouth.

You can teach your learners that when say b, their lips begin with a straight line, just as the letter b does. But when you say the letter d, your lips are open; this resembles the circle at the start of the letter d.

6 – When looking at b and d, what do you see first? A broomstick or a donut?

7 – With letter b, the bat comes before the ball.

8 – The letter b has a belly. Letter d has a diaper!

I hope that one of these does the trick for your learners! Grab the free posters below.

Get your free b / d reversal posters!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

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Reader Interactions

51 Comments

  1. Marie Malkiewicz

    Hi! I’ve been an educator (elementary and special ed) for over three decades and a reading specialist for over two. I truly appreciate all that you share and recommend your site to other professionals. I am a big fan of the “b-d-p-q chart” as I refer to it…(b for bat, d for doughnut, p for pencil and q for quarter). However, I wonder if you’ve encountered the issue of ‘d’ and ‘t’ confusion? I have a third grade learning disabled student who seems to visually confuse the two letters and I’m not quite sure how to remedy it. (He has had some visual therapy and we utilize all kinds of tracking devices to help him.) We have “looked for the doughnuts” to identify the letter d’s and highlight them. This has been somewhat effective. I recognize that the ‘d’ and ‘t’ are formed in the same part of the mouth, with one being a softer sound and the other, harder. He is able to effectively produce both sounds and we’ve worked to keep him from overproducing the sounds. I’m just not sure how else to approach this with him. The student will most often confuse the two letters when in the final position of words. (For example, he might say “sat” for “sad”.) Any recommendations for me? Thanks for all you do!

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Hi Marie!
      Sorry for the time it took to reply – we enjoyed some time away during Christmas break. I agree that d and t may be more easily confused because of the way both letters’ sounds are formed. Have you tried doing some isolated word work using fluency grids? You could put a bunch of words repeated on the grid, some ending with “d” and some with “t,” to improve fluency and automaticity with these endings. I have a feeling you’ve been trying most of the tricks I’d suggest!

      Reply to this comment

  2. Lisa

    Anna
    Your “start with a C, to make a d” poster did the trick for my students. I would say to them every time they wrote a d, “make a c to make a d” and eventually they used that script to make their letters correctly. Thanks.

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Hi Starr!
      As a parent, this would concern me, but it would also depend on what other challenges your child is having to know how much of a concern this would be. If your child is in school, I would talk with his/her teacher. If you are homeschooling, I would check out this blog post and ask the author what she would recommend for next steps, since she has homeschooled a large number of children with dyslexia. Best wishes to you! You can do this! https://homeschoolingwithdyslexia.com/dyslexia-signs-dyslexia/

      Reply to this comment

    • Melanie

      This child should also be screened for a vision problem and may need vision therapy vs. being dyslexic! The eyes see everything upside down and backwards, it is your brain that flips the image that you see, to be correct. If the nerves are using the wrong pathways from the eyes to the brain then they may need vision therapy.

      Reply to this comment

  4. Gina Ashe

    I am in my 70s and have just looked this up as I just sent a message to my friend named Adele and realised I called her Abele. I always suspected it was because I am left handed. Ever since my school days I have alway thought of the word “bed”. (Always had untidy writing at school )

    Reply to this comment

  6. Chad

    Thanks alot, I am going to try the c becomes a d and the b fits in the capital B.
    I have been trying the bat comes before the ball and the ball hits the door which worked, but after a couple of days my daighter goes back to mixing them up

    Reply to this comment

  7. DeAnne Robertson

    I am a trained Orton Gillingham reading tutor and I’m always looking for helpful ways
    for my students to distinguish between the b and d. Thank you for these great ideas!

    Reply to this comment

  8. Lyn D

    Trying to help my granddaughter with this confusion. I used b is busting forward and.d is digging backwards. It helped at first but then she even gets that confused. I like the belly and the diaper.

    Reply to this comment

  11. S.Gomathi

    I like your all of your post very much. They are very useful to make my children understand the phonetics as well as some of the trick to make them classify the difference between d and b. thanks a lot .

    Reply to this comment

  16. abigail

    Hi Anna,
    I have gone through many websites and blogs in my 20 years experience. I’ve used many among the kindergarten kids that I work with and with my coworkers. But this is the first time I am replying to someone and that someone is you. You are doing a great job and your knowledge will always grow as you keep giving to others. You are truly a blessing.

    Reply to this comment

  17. NIRVA Vernet

    Thank you so much for these valuable strategies.I teach English Learners making more difficult for them to recognize and remember the b and d. I have a poster of the b and d in my classroom. But, these strategies are useful teaching tools. Thank you!

    Reply to this comment

  18. Eireen

    I love it! Can’t wait to try these amazing tricks with my K1s. Showing kids how to make a bed with their hands seems to be a brilliant and fun idea! The broomstick and donut looks super exciting as well.

    Reply to this comment

  21. Bethany Salomon

    These a such cute ways to help a child remember the name of the letters!!! I’ve had a lot of success with the “b” has a belly and a “d” had a diaper. Do you have posters for the p and q too? Your site is just terrific and I look forward to your updates!!! Thank you !!! Bethany

    Reply to this comment

  23. Chinomso

    I’m in love with this! We are teaching reading and b and d confusion comes up often. I will definitely be using b lives in B (using transparencies or a sheet protector and a colored piece of cardstock), belly vs diaper (I know they will chuckle at this), AND the bed example. Such a relief. Cannot wait to showcase this on Monday morning.

    Reply to this comment

  28. Erin

    Great ideas! I teach my kids that the curves on the upper and lowercase letter Bb are “both” on the same side of the vertical line. For the upper and lowercase letter Dd, the curves are on “different” sides of the vertical line. Since most kids learn the uppercase letters first I find this is an easier way for them to make the lowercase letters correctly.

    Reply to this comment

  30. Stefanie Williams

    I love the belly and diaper idea. I know my first graders would get a kick out of that idea and help make remembering the letter formation so much fun….and with lots of giggles, too!!

    Reply to this comment

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