At KidSpeak we treat children with speech sound errors or speech sound disorders. Speech refers to a child’s ability to accurately produce sounds when speaking (for example, your child may say ‘bat’ instead of ‘cat’). Speech errors can make children difficult to understand and impact their ability to express themselves, therefore it is important to seek treatment.
The following speech sound error patterns are present in typical development, however may require intervention if they have not resolved by the expected age, Minimal pairs is a commonly used therapy approach for treating speech sound disorders, specifically the above phonological processes. Minimal pairs refers to words that differ by one sound that represents a child’s speech error. For example, fronting minimal pairs may use the words “tea” and “key” to target correct production of the “k” sound. Research suggests that minimal pairs is effective in helping children correct speech sound errors. It effectively builds accurate productions at word level, which has been proven to generalise to conversation, working to resolve issues of intelligibility for children.
| Phonological Pattern: | Example: | Age of Elimination: |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-vocalic voicing | pig = big | 3;0 |
| Word-final de-voicing | pig = pick | 3;0 |
| Final consonant deletion | comb = coe | 3;3 |
| Fronting | car = tar ship = sip |
3;6 |
| Consonant harmony | mine = mime kittycat = tittytat |
3;9 |
| Weak syllable deletion | elephant = efant potato = tato television =tevision banana = nana |
4;0 |
| Cluster reduction | spoon = poontrain = chainclean = keenfriend = pwendstring = sting | 4;0 |
| Gliding of liquids | run = oneleg = wegleg = yeg | 5;0 |
| Stopping /f/ | fish = tish | 3;0 |
| Stopping /s/ | soap = dope | 3;0 |
| Stopping /v/ | very = berry | 3;6 |
| Stopping /z/ | zoo = doo | 3;6 |
| Stopping ‘sh’ | shop = dop | 4;6 |
| Stopping ‘j’ | jump = dump | 4;6 |
| Stopping ‘ch’ | chair = tare | 4;6 |
| Stopping voiceless ‘th’ | thing = ting | 5;0 |
Your Speech Pathologist may use minimal pairs when treating your child’s speech sounds. Minimal pairs may not be suitable for every child, particularly those with severe speech sound errors or inconsistent productions of sounds. Your Speech Pathologist will select a therapy approach and procedure that suits your child’s specific needs.
