Post on 20-May-2018
IntroductionA minimal pair is a pair of words, such as ‘tea’ and ‘key’, or ‘four’ and ‘door’,
differing only by one sound in the same position in each word. Minimal
pair therapies are an essential and common method used by speech and
language therapists to correct error patterns in children with delayed or
disordered speech development.
Barlow and Geirut (Minimal Pair approaches to phonological remediation:
Seminars in Speech and Language 23(1) 57-67 2002) state that ‘all
phonological approaches focus on teaching children the function of sounds,
particularly that changing sounds, changes meaning, and that making
meaning is necessary to communication.’
Thus, this pack of minimal pairs can be used to develop games and activities
to directly confront the child with the consequences of his/her error pattern
in terms of meaning. For example, if a child says ‘That’s a funny nail’ (when
looking at a picture of a snail), the adult may respond ‘A funny nail?? I can’t
see a funny nail anywhere ... but I can see a funny snail!’
Caroline Bowen offers excellent information on her website (speech-
language-therapy.com) on minimal pair therapies which clearly describes the
varying approaches that can be used by therapists, and again, the picture
resources provided in our Pairs in Pictures series can be utilised to support
these approaches.
Each pack in our Pairs in Pictures (PIP) minimal pairs series focuses on a
particular phonological process and provides minimal pairs of that particular
process in initial, medial and final position:
PIP 1: Fronting/Backing, Gliding
PIP 2: Stopping
PIP 3: Consonant Deletion
PIP 4: Cluster Reduction /s/
PIP 5: Cluster Reduction /l/ and /r/
PIP 6: Voicing/devoicing
This pack focuses on Fronting/Backing, Gliding.
• Fronting: when speech sounds made at the back of the mouth (/k/, /g/, /
ng/) are produced at the front of the mouth, usually as /t/ and/or /d/.
Examples: ‘car’ = ‘dar’; ‘garden’ = ‘darden’; ‘key’ = ‘tee’; ‘like’ = ‘lite’; ‘bag’
= ‘bad’.
4PIP1-2, Minimal Pairs, Fronting/Backing, Gliding © 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. Black Sheep Press, 67, Middleton, Cowling, Keighley, W. Yorks, BD22 0DQ, England. Tel. +44 (0)1535 631346; email: info@blacksheeppress.co.uk ; web: www.blacksheeppress.co.uk
It is only permitted for the licensee shown below to print/photocopy these worksheets for use in their clinic/school. See page 3 for full details of the licence conditions.
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web
ActivitiesBefore beginning, please note:
For most of the activities it will be necessary to have two identical copies of
the pictures being used to enable you to provide immediate feedback to the
child on whether they have selected the correct word, or have said a word
correctly, thus highlighting the importance of meaning.
You will need to check that the child understands the words to be used
within the minimal pairs activity. Inevitably, in an effort to provide as many
pairs as possible, it is sometimes necessary to use words that may not be in
a young child’s vocabulary. Only use pairs of words that you know the child
understands.
All these games should be fun and all corrections carried out with good
humour. If the child appears uncomfortable, or distressed, stop the game
immediately.
Hunting and hiding
Have two identical sets of pictures. Place one set of pictures around the room.
Keep the other set in your hand so the child is unable to see which pictures
you are looking at. Now ask the child to, for example, ‘Find the … tea.’
The child runs around the room until he finds the picture of ‘tea’ and brings
it back to the table. Show the child the picture you were looking at. ‘Good
listening! You found the tea. It’s the same picture I was looking at! Now find
the cap.’ Continue until the child has found all the pictures.
Now, and this is the most important part of the game, repeat the activity, but
the child now becomes the teacher. If the child is looking at the picture of the
‘key’, but says ‘tea’, you MUST go and retrieve the picture of the ‘tea’ so that
when the child reveals the picture he/she was looking at you can say ‘Oh!
You told me to fetch the tea ... but you were looking at the KEY! We need to
say them differently don’t we.’ etc.
Where’s the sticker?
Place a set of pictures face up on the table. Ask the child to hide his/her eyes
while you place stickers under some of the pictures. (Keep the paper backing
on them so they don’t stick to the table!)
6PIP1-2, Minimal Pairs, Fronting/Backing, Gliding © 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. Black Sheep Press, 67, Middleton, Cowling, Keighley, W. Yorks, BD22 0DQ, England. Tel. +44 (0)1535 631346; email: info@blacksheeppress.co.uk ; web: www.blacksheeppress.co.uk
It is only permitted for the licensee shown below to print/photocopy these worksheets for use in their clinic/school. See page 3 for full details of the licence conditions.
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web
1111PIP1-2, Minimal Pairs, Fronting/Backing, Gliding © 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. Black Sheep Press, 67, Middleton, Cowling, Keighley, W. Yorks, BD22 0DQ, England. Tel. +44 (0)1535 631346; email: info@blacksheeppress.co.uk ; web: www.blacksheeppress.co.uk
It is only permitted for the licensee shown below to print/photocopy these worksheets for use in their clinic/school. See page 3 for full details of the licence conditions.
key
cap
kite
call
tea
tap
tight
tall
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web
24PIP1-2, Minimal Pairs, Fronting/Backing, Gliding © 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. Black Sheep Press, 67, Middleton, Cowling, Keighley, W. Yorks, BD22 0DQ, England. Tel. +44 (0)1535 631346; email: info@blacksheeppress.co.uk ; web: www.blacksheeppress.co.uk
It is only permitted for the licensee shown below to print/photocopy these worksheets for use in their clinic/school. See page 3 for full details of the licence conditions.
you
yachts
yours
yacht
loo
lots
roars
rot
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web
Low resolution sample for viewing on the web