20. Why is My Child Still Spelling Words With 'b' and 'd' Letter Reversals? Is it Dyslexia?

Phonics Rules for Kids | Teach Kindergartener to Read, Homeschool Curriculum, Alphabet Worksheets, Phonics Grade 1, Spelling

TEASER- TOPIC, WHY THEY WILL LOVE IT, WHY IT WILL HELP THEM, INFUSE THE W’s

Is your child confusing letters symbols when printing ‘b’ and ‘d’? How about when printing simple cvc words beginning or ending with ‘p’ and ‘q’? Is this normal? Does this mean your child is showing symptoms of dyslexia? Let’s find out more on the other side.

INTRO JINGLE (PRE-RECORDED)

CTA **Pick one or two each episode.

PITCH OFFER - What is the offer? Address worries and solutions. Worth taking action on. Tell them what to do (where to go and do it now)!

Hey there! Are you looking for phonics games to bolster your child’s retention of sound-symbol relationships? Print and play Phonics Bump today!

REVIEW - Melany H. says, “My students enjoyed the competition to BUMP each other off the board and make towers to ‘claim’ a word! I have already had a student ask me to get more game boards with different words so they can keep things fresh. I love that it’s print and play with no need to prep a bunch of materials, and Kindergarten aged kids are able to understand the game and play unsupported very quickly.

PHONICS Bump is a perfect phonemic awareness reinforcement perfect for your young reader in Grade K-2 AND homeschool co-op. Grouped by K, Grade 1 and Grade 2 phonics skills. Head over to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/phonics-rules-for-kids to get your print and play copy of the game Phonics Bump today!

COMMUNITY - Did you know I have a free community for homeschool moms just like you? Busy moms on a mission to teach their children to read using an organized, phonics-based curriculum! Inside my free FB Group ‘Teach My Kindergarten Child to Read for Homeschool Moms’, you’ll get more pro tips and encouragement as your child’s first reading teacher. Join the group at bit.ly/phonicsrulesforkids

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EPISODE TITLE

Welcome to episode number 20 of the ‘Phonics Rules for Kids’ podcast. Today’s episode is entitled, ‘Why is My Child Still Spelling Words With Letter Reversals? Is It Dyslexia?’

STORYTELL-Connect and empathize. Personal story for why you know this topic is needed. Share a story of when I was struggling and why.

Phonics is essentially linking phoneme-grapheme or sound-symbol relationships to read and spell words. Today, let’s chat about the importance of properly forming graphemes, which are simply symbols in the English Language that represent sounds. The two graphemes or symbols we will focus on today, which are sometimes written as reversals, or in mirror-form by early readers, are the symbols for letters ‘b’ and ‘d’.

I remember a kind and caring student of mine in Grade 2 who consistently wrote ‘b’ and ‘d’ backwards. I believe that she did not have early and consistent letter formation correction for these letters, and they became incorrectly ingrained in her muscle memory. Kids naturally gravitate to the easiest way to complete a task, even when forming letters. With much prompting, she was able to identify her ‘d’ and ‘b’ reversals and worked quickly to form the correct symbol she meant to write in the first place.

Muscle memory helps our child when correctly shown how to form letter symbols that match sounds. When your child correctly learns to form letter symbols, she can quickly recall the symbol that matches a sound she hears, and correctly form that symbol on paper to spell simple words.

Homeschool moms, you have the advantage here! As a teacher in a class of 20 plus children, it is truly impossible to monitor every single child forming every single letter. Place your child on a successful path to spelling words by insisting they form letters correctly every single time when learning a letter and its corresponding sound in the alphabet.

Let’s explore some common questions parents have about common letter reversals, specifically ‘b’ and ‘d’.

1. Is it normal for my child to confuse the letter symbols for ‘b’ and ‘d’? Letter reversals can also be referred to as mirror writing The letter’s ‘b’ and ‘d’ use similar strokes. There is a straight line down and a curve attached. Does the curve extend on the right side of the straight line, as in the letter ‘b’ or does the curve extend ‘backwards’ or on the left side of the letter ‘d’? If you flip the letter b on its vertical axis, it becomes a ‘d’. Visual spatial awareness may also play a part in letter reversals in early readers.

In Leap Frog’s Q&A article by Dr. Carolyn James, she writes, ‘Children who are just beginning to identify and write letters often confuse b, d, p, and q, reversing letters that share similar visual characteristics. Some children may continue to reverse letters into the second grade. Oftentimes, letter reversals subside as children get more reading and writing experience and build their awareness of left and right.’

1. Should I be concerned that my child has dyslexia?

When parents see their children writing ‘q’ instead of ‘p’ and ‘u’ instead of ‘n’, they may wonder if their child has dyslexia.

In a Reading Rockets Q&A Article, Sally E. Shaywitz states, “Reversing letters and numbers often occurs in young children and is not a sure sign of dyslexia.” In Shaywitz’s book ‘Overcoming Dyslexia’, she writes, ‘There is no evidence that dyslexic children actually see letters and words backwards.’

So, simply observing that your child mirror-writes letters with very similar strokes is not necessarily a cause for concern that your child may have dyslexia. Dyslexia is more complicated than that.

1. Ways to stop ‘b’ and ‘d’ letter reversals?

If your child struggles with letter reversals, try these 2 tips:

-tell your child to give you both thumbs up and envision the word ‘bed’ with an imaginary ‘e’ in the middle, when unsure which way the belly of a ‘b’ or ‘d’ goes, tell them to show both thumbs up to help them remember how to form ‘b’ and ‘d’
-Anna Geiger from ‘The Measured Mom’ suggests saying, ‘Start with ‘c’ to make a ‘d’.’

1. When are letter reversals no longer appropriate? When a child reaches the age of 7 to 8 years old, most children will stop writing letter reversals. He or she should have a good grasp of left to right and increased visual spatial awareness.

1. How to prevent letter reversals?

When it comes to your child properly forming letter symbols, or graphemes, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ Explicitly or clearly teach your child how to form letters. Letter formation matters, because it involves mental recall and muscle memory to spell words. Once your child’s muscle memory for how to form a letter linked to a sound or phoneme is practiced over and over, either correctly or incorrectly, his or her muscle memory, meaning the bond between recalling a letter that matches a sound she hears AND HOW to physically form the symbol representing a letter will be strengthened. Correctly modeling letter formation with your child, repeated practice and close monitoring for correct letter formation will help her more quickly spell words.

I have a ‘sound boxes’ printable that you can print and use right away. My’ sound boxes’, or ‘Elkonin boxes’ printable, come with templates for 2-6 sounds. Go to teacherspayteachers.com/store/phonics-rules-for-kids and get your Elkonin boxes printable so your child can practice phoneme addition today! The direct link to the product is in the show notes below. Click and see if you think Elkonin boxes can help your child read and spell today. I recommend you print these sound boxes and put them in a plastic sleeve for your child to use over and over again with a whiteboard marker. Old socks are fun for your kids to use as whiteboard marker erasers.

CALL TO ACTION (PITCH AGAIN)

As we begin a New Year, why not give yourself some encouragement by joining our community of homeschool moms teaching their littles to read? Go to bit.ly/phonicsrulesforkids You’ll join other homeschool moms on the journey of teaching their littles to read. Inside our FB Group ‘Teach My Kindergarten Child to Read for Homeschool Moms’ you can share your child’s reading wins, questions about teaching kids to read and know that you are not alone on the journey. Come join us at bit.ly/phonicsrulesforkids **Head over to the Phonics Rules for Kids FB Group called, ‘Teach Your Child to Read for Homeschool Moms’ to get your sound boxes freebie! Freebie available this week only!

Hey parent friend, are you looking for a simple reading game your child can use this week? Another way to spice up your reading schedule? Phonics Bump is a screen-free printable game you can feel great about your child playing. Your child can’t wait to BUMP his/her parent or sibling off the board! Sight words are a part of each Phonics Bump printable game board. Perfect for phonics reinforcement at your kitchen table or homeschool co-op! Head over to my TeachersPayTeachers store today and get the printable game, ‘Phonics Rules for Kids’! A 10-sided spinner comes with early phonics bump games or use your 10-sided poly dice. Use two six-sided dice and cubes you already have on hand for digraphs and beyond.

Review/Wrap-Up-So let’s recap

Wishing you a Happy New Year that’s off to a great start for you and your littles with phonics-based reading instruction! See you right here again next Monday.

EXIT JINGLE (PRE-RECORDED) HIGH ENERGY AGAIN!

Thank them for listening. Tell them what you want them to do the most. Second thing you want them to do. Funny/relatable connection sign-off. (No more googling random phonics worksheets over here mama.)

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Show Notes

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Do you worry that you won't be able to teach your kiddo how to read? Are you overwhelmed by all the reading homeschool curriculums to choose from and wonder which one is best? Do you wish you had an EXACT routine to follow for your child's daily phonics instruction?

I am so excited you're here! This podcast will help you check the boxes for phonics instruction on your daily homeschool reading schedule. We will offer you pro tips for teaching phonics skills so that your child can become a confident reader and leave you feeling successful at the end of your homeschool days because you had an exact reading routine to follow!

Hey, I'm Melanie. I am wife to Bill, mom to three hard-working teenagers, and have been teaching wonderful 4-7 year-old students to read for the last 10 years in a classroom setting! Reading God’s Word, the Bible, gives me hope and grounds me with peace in a world filled with chaos. As a beginning teacher, I taught kids to read using the wrong approach.

Tired of teaching kids to guess what words they were reading by having them look at the beginning letter of a word and the accompanying picture left me feeling defeated as a teacher. My students still struggled to read simple leveled books.

I finally realized that if I was going to teach kids to be confident readers, there had to be a phonics-based approach to reading instruction which allowed students to build confidence as readers, phonics skill by phonics skill.

I discovered a sequential, step-by-step phonics-based approach to teaching kids to read . An instructional model that teaches kids to read simple to more complex texts, phonics skill, by phonics skill. An approach to teaching kids to read that I will forever use with beginning readers. And I'm ready to share it with you!

If you are ready to finally find a simple, yet highly effective way to teach your child to read…

• Works in your homeschool schedule (while homeschooling kids with multiple learning styles)
• Boosts your confidence because you WHAT phonics skill to teach and HOW to teach it
• Leaves you feeling successful because your child is reading with confidence

This podcast is for you!

Get ready to check the boxes in your homeschool schedule using a phonics-based approach to reading! Watch your child’s confidence as a reader soar, while successfully applying phonics rules to read and spell words!

Get PHONICS BUMP with Spelling Sheets! on my TeachersPayTeachers store: Click the link below:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/phonics-rules-for-kids

You can find me:

Free Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/phonicsrulesforkids

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