Incorrect Letter Formation and Sounds

[thenightbeforechristmas]

I noticed that my first grader has developed a bad habit of writing lowercase "b," "d," "p," and "q" incorrectly. She also gets these letter sounds confused in reading. I know that this is a common problem at this age and earlier. What have you found to be the most effective way to correct this problem? Pages and pages of handwriting practice on just that letter for the writing? Letter flashcards for the reading?

She is getting frustrated at getting these letters confused and at having me correct her.

Thanks for your help.

[Michelle T]

For the b and d confusion First Start Reading teaches "bed". Looking down at your hands,make a b with your left hand and a d with your right hand. Then say /b/ /e/ /d/. Show your child how to make the b and d with their hands and say /b/ /e/ /d/. When you see a mistake, just say "did you check the bed"? Even have them check when they are correct at first to train them to check themselves.

I have no cute way to teach p and q confusion because usually when students get the b and d right, the p and q correct themselves.

Blessings,
Michelle T

[thenightbeforechristmas]

Thanks, Michelle! Unfortunately we tried the "bed" memory trick with FSR last year, and sadly it didn't help. I wish it did because it is clever and is right at her fingertips. And now we have a new problem with the incorrect letter formation, for example writing the line down first for the letter "d."

Should I just get her doing multiple handwriting practice pages? Maybe that will help with the reading too?

[KF2000]

I don't know if this will help you or not, but here is an idea borrowed from one of our experiences over the years....try an association technique of tying a word with each letter and how they are formed....for instance, for the "b", connect it with a "bee"..."flies down into the flower, then up and around to the next one;" or for "p", maybe something like, "pogo stick"..."jump down deep and go around"...etc. Your daughter could even help with the associations so they would be things she enjoyed or understood.

We used these sorts of jingles in early stages, and have not had reversal problems. Hths!
AMDG,
Sarah

[pickandgrin]

Is this happening only with print or in cursive as well? As she learns cursive, this should help solidify things with their correct shape as they can't be "flipped" in cursive.

[Michelle T]

Good point, Sarah. Any little association clue will work as long as the children understand that association. Otherwise, practice is the best tool.

Michelle T

[Edawson]

back to basics

I agree with all the suggestions so far, but I would also offer some alternatives ideas that still incorporate the child recalling sound of letter and writing of the letter to help solidify their formation. I allow the child to either use dry erase board, pencil/paper, or letter tiles after I dictate the sounds of each individual letter, and then move on into dictation of CVC words with those trouble letters (first letters at beginning of word then move to CVC words with trouble letters at end). Sometimes I will even make a list of words/letters or show it singly in written form and have child read the word/letter then form letter in one of the above ways. To just write the letters without any context probably won't take care of the whole issue as the sound and the letter formation need to go hand in hand. Might just concentrate on b words one day, then d, then combo them...idea is to just give lots of practical practicing of "hear the letter, form the letter."
Also, I know my child likes the challenge of "beating" me to show he can't be tricked by me!!
We don't just do these in "class time." Keeping a dry erase board at the ready nearby in kitchen is great bc that K or 1st grader can do 5-10 words or just the single letters easily while they hang around you anytime! Randomly doing exercises like these reinforces any written work done during school time and its fast, simple, and at least for my children, seems enjoyable!
Interestingly, we used Rod and Staff program for my first time through teaching reading/letters. One of the tools encouraged in their manuals that I really liked and seemed very helpful was making charts with each consonant learned paired with the vowel sounds (short at first and then later long). For example, the child was asked to sound ba, be, bi, bo, bu. FSR does not do this as a specific exercise, except with the specific cv or cvc blending pages in the workbook. Not a huge amount of repetitive practice. However, I noticed with my 2nd child only using FSR, he would get tripped up sometimes as he read the phonics primary books, Fun in Sun, or even in the FSR book putting that Consonant smoothly with the vowel...I often wondered if there had been enough practice of putting the newly learned consonant with the vowels learned so far. I ended up having him practice the consonant vowel combo like I had with my first child in R&S as we went along. We only used the vowels introduced so far and we tried to incorporate reviewing the C sounds in that manner throughout the week and it seemed to help him solidify the vowel sound and consonant. I found that instead of pointing to letter on alphabet chart and reviewing its sound, we had more benefit during phonics warm-up time to take the consonant and practice its sound along with the short vowel sounds. I did not notice my first having as much problem with the letter reversal with this manner either--I think bc there was more direct sight and oral sounding practice with the daily chart review. I hope I made sense out of that process!!

Blessings,
Elizabeth Dawson

[Michelle T]

The way FSR teaches reading is simple. After learning to recognize a letter, recognize the sound it makes and how to identify that sound in a word, it teaches how to write then how to read with the sound. As soon as possible words are organized into word families where the ending vowel and consonant remain the same and only the initial letter or letters change. That is different from the ba, be, bi, bo, bu school of thought. Both ways of teaching reading work. I have taught with both schools of thought. However, I have not seen the reading success so quickly and completely as with FSR and the word families. It seems to me it is less confusing to change only the initial sound (the new sound just learned) and to blend that new sound to the word endings (families) already learned. That has been my experience.

As far as b and d confusion, Elizabeth is correct in that practice is what is needed. It will eventually correct itself with practice. I love the idea of a white board at the ready for impromptu practices!

Blessings,
Michelle T

[Edawson]

Thank you Michelle for giving an explanation on the FSR approach. I have seen first hand how much simpler and less confusing it is to the child compared to the R&S. I am always singing the praises of the FSR to others as I was astounded at the ease and rapidity with which my 2nd child began reading vs the first one who used R&S. Although thorough and methodical in its approach, it seemed an eternity until she could finally put all her "learning" into actual reading. At times I found that to be painful for her since she was working really hard, but not having any visible reward for the effort! FSR is completely the opposite with its quick reading reward for the phonics and letter work. My son couldn't have been more proud of himself and it makes the teaching process so much more enjoyable when the student is eager to come back to the work b/c they recognize the progress that they are making! I love FSR and am so appreciative of the hard work put into making it such a wonderful program!

Blessings,
Elizabeth

[Michelle T]

Elizabeth,

You are welcome! Glad you have enjoyed the FSR program!

Blessings,
Michelle T