Visual Acuity – is it ‘b’ or ‘d’?
Many years ago, when I was ‘helping’ my son with his homework, I noticed that he wrote the letter p, backwards. I carefully explained this to him, and showed him how to write it ‘correctly’. When I had finished, my son laughed, saying, ‘Mum….you have written the number 9 too!’ Clearly I struggle with visual acuity!
Does your child suffer with poor visual acuity?
Does your child confuse b and d, when he reads to you? Do you struggle to read these letters in isolation yourself? When I test children, I often pick up problems children have with several similar letters:
Educational Psychologists comment on the frequency with which numbers are written backwards by the same children. They identify ‘having poor visual acuity’ as the problem.
What is Visual Acuity?
This is the ability to distinguish tiny differences in the way something looks: in this case, the symbols b & d, b & p and p & 9.
What causes Visual Acuity?
I am not sure I know the answer, but it has little to do with vision. However, I have learnt how to help struggling readers with this problem.
If children cannot distinguish similar letters, I begin by checking how they write them. If they form them incorrectly, it means that they can be helped immediately, by being taught correct letter formation.
However, children with poor visual acuity will often read confusing letters easily, when they appear in whole words. As reading is about recognising whole words, children do not need to encounter any letters in isolation.
How do I improve a child’s Visual Acuity?
When I teach a young child to read from scratch, I make sure that I introduce similar letters at different times, so that one is learnt, practised and written correctly, before the other is introduced. In this way, I mostly avoid visual acuity problems.
If a particular student struggles with, say b & d I improve visual acuity, by repeatedly ‘doing’. I make sure the words we practise, frequently contain these tricky letters, Practice really does make perfect in this case.
Focus on how the letters are formed, is also very important. Letters b & d are both a stick with a circle at the bottom! Letters p & b are both a stick with a circle on the same side: one at the top and one at the bottom. Therefore, the way they are formed must be different!
Maybe you need to put away the reading books for a while (or you can read them to your child)! In their place, get out the sticky notelets and the big coloured pens and have fun with visual acuity!
Let’s do Something Fun with Letter b.
Think of lots of simple words that have sound b in them e.g. bug
Take out three sticky notelets and place them on the table in front of your child, sticky side along the bottom, so they will face your child. Tell your child you’re going to make a word together.
Now ask your child to tell you the first sound he hears in bug. If he can’t hear the first sound, play listening fingers (see my handbook). If he can tell you the first sound – tell him well done!
Ask your child to write letter b on the first notelet, saying the sound b as he writes it. If you think he is going to write d by mistake, gently remind him by saying ‘Start at the top and go all the way down. Keeping pen on the notelet, come half way up and all the way round.”
Now ask him to tell you the next sound in bug. Repeat the first two sounds pushed together – bu until he can hear u. If he can’t hear it, you may need to play listening fingers again.
When he can tell you u – tell him well done! Now ask him to write sound u on the second notelet, saying u as he writes it.
Finally ask him to tell you the last sound in bug. Ask him to write g on the notelet, as he says it. (You might add an extra notelet for him to draw a picture of a bug, if he likes drawing.)
Now it’s Time to Read ‘Bug’.
Now ask your child to read the word bug. Begin by showing how. Point to each notelet and say sounds b u g followed by the word bug. He can repeat the sounds and the word, and you can say ‘Well Done’!
Repeated Exposure to Letter b helps Visual Acuity.
Why not stick this small word on the fridge, or the wall, where he can see it. Point frequently to each sound and say sounds b u g followed by the word bug. Don’t ask him to do it, until he wants to. Remember, he is struggling with sound b. He may have lost confidence, and needs your support.
Now make more b words on sticky notelets. Please avoid words with d or p, and just do a few words at a time.
Have you Improved your Child’s visual acuity?
You have helped him to write letter b correctly, before he ‘gets it wrong’. Great! And he will be seeing b, hearing b and feeling b, when he writes it. His three senses will be working together to help him identify this tricky letter. You have also introduced b in words, where it belongs. This will help to build his confidence, (isolated letters cause problems). You have also avoided d and p and the confusion they cause.
Let’s do Something Fun with Sound p
You can continue this practise on another occasion, using words with p. When writing sound p tell your child “Start at the top and go all the way down. Keep your pen on the paper and come all the way back up and all the way round.”
Please notice that these words do not contain b and d. Finally, you can continue this practise on another occasion, using words with d.
Again, please notice that these words do not contain b and p. Use the notelets and the coloured pens in exactly the same way, reminding your child where to begin to write the sound. Tell him “Round like a letter c, and all the way up and down.”
Another Visual Acuity game:
Take two large fun shaped notelets and write letter b on one and letter d on the other. Place them on the table in front of your child, leaving a space between them:
This is a simple pointing game. You will need to think of p and b words. These words can be any length, but must begin with one of these sounds.
Tell your child you are going to say a word e.g. pig. Ask your child to point to the first sound he hears in the word e.g. p or b. Ask him to listen carefully. Make this fun. Laugh when he gets it wrong, or pronounces the word with the wrong sound, ‘We get our honey from pees!’
You can also do the same with a list of b and d words.
Can you teach Visual Acuity?
I am not sure if you can teach Visual Acuity, but I think these games will help your child, when he confuses b and d or other letters. You might also point out the difference between these symbols, and ask him to look carefully at say b and notice that the stroke or stick comes first, or at d and notice that the circle comes first. Don’t expect him to remember these points, but you will be encouraging him to look carefully at letters.
Keep the letters in words for Visual Acuity!
I think the most important message to offer you, is that its better to avoid presenting any letters in isolation. For me now, b d p in isolation are easier, because I use a mental process to check which is which. When they appear in words. they are no problem at all.
Embedding letters in words, also allows the context to help a children identify whether they have sounded out the word correctly (they are quicker to correct themselves, should they read bee as pea, in a sentence.
If you need more help:
Please Help Me? I Really Can’t Read!
This is the book I have written, to make it easier for you to help your child with reading. This will soon be available on Amazon.
Next Blog: Poor Decoding Skills