Minimal Pairs for Speech Therapy: Two Approaches
Minimal Pairs Cards
So I have been writing and talking a lot about the Cycles Approach for phonological disorders. But another one of my go-to phonological approaches in Minimal Pairs therapy. I’m sure you’ve all heard of this intervention, but did you know there are actually TWO ways to go about doing minimal pairs speech therapy? That’s right. Meaningful Minimal Pair Intervention and Perception-Production Minimal Pair Intervention.
Now, I’m not one to overcomplicate things. And I don’t like to obfuscate. (What a word, huh? I absolutely love it.) So I’m here to tell you that these two “different” approaches are really not so different. I’m going to break them both down as they are written in the research. But then I will briefly explain how these two approaches are really quite similar! Read on to get the low down.
Meaningful Minimal Pair Intervention
This approach seems to work best for children who can already perceive the difference in the minimal pairs and who are easily stimulable for the target sound. Meaningful minimal pair intervention consists of 3 steps: (1) familiarization, (2) listen and pick-up, and (3) production of minimal pair words. Going “by the book”, all three steps would be done in the first session, and you would continue to do step 3 until generalization criteria have been met.
Familiarization - This step is exactly what it sounds like. Get the kid familiar with the target pairs - yes, both words in the target pairs. So if you are working on R/W minimal pairs, you might show the child pictures of both a ring and a wing. You simply talk about the pictures with the child so they know what each one is meant to represent. “This is a ring. You can wear it on your finger. This is a wing. It is part of a bird.”
Listen and Pick-Up - So once you know the child understands what the pictures represent, you want to make sure the child can hear the difference in the words and identity them correctly. The SLP lays out the minimal pairs on the table (3-5 pairs total) and asks the child to pick up one picture at a time. “Pick up the picture of the ring.” If the child gets it right, praise! “Yes, that’s the ring. Great listening.” If the child gets it wrong, provide feedback. “You picked up the wing. The word I said sounds like wing, but it’s a little different. Let’s try again. Pick up the picture of the ring.” Do this for all of the cards on the table - both the actual targets and their minimal pair.
Minimal Pairs for Speech Therapy
Production of the Minimal Pair Words - This is where the real magic happens in my opinion. This is where the child actually starts to produce the target words. Some articles and texts mention having the child be the teacher and telling the SLP which card to pick up. This is great because the child must produce the word correctly in order to get the SLP to pick up the intended card. If the child says the wrong word, act confused. This helps the child understand that saying the word incorrectly leads to semantic confusion on the listener’s part. So let’s say the child wanted you to pick up the ring, but they said “wing”. I then pick up the wing card and say something like “Did you mean the wing or the ring?” And I usually point to each card as I say the word. Give them a chance to correct, but if they get it wrong the second time, provide a little more cuing to help them make the sound.
I’ve also done something a little different during this step. Instead of the child being the teacher, I point to words and have the child label them correctly. At first, I start in a very predictable pattern. For example, I will point to ring and then to wing. Then I will point to run and won. Then I will point to rake and wake. And I will continue in that predictable pattern for a while. However, when the child “gets good” at the words, I will start to randomize what I point to. So first I might point to rake, then wake, then rake, rake, rake, wake, rake.
Perception-Production Minimal Pairs
I conceptualize using this approach with children who need a little more help right out of the gate with the minimal pairs. They may need time to imitate and then independently name only the target words before jumping right into spontaneous production of minimal pairs. To be honest, I feel like I use this approach (or some version of it) more often. I find the children need those more basic steps of imitation and independent naming of just the targets before increasing the complexity of the task to producing the minimal pairs.
This approach consists of 5 steps: (1) familiarization (2) perception training (3) production (word imitation), (4) production (independent naming), and (5) production (minimal pairs).
Familiarization - Same as above. Just get the child familiar with what the cards represent.
Perception Training - The cards are laid out on the table (both the target word and the minimal pair) and the SLP asks the child to pick up the picture that the SLP labels. Doesn’t this sound like the “Listen and Pick-Up” from the meaningful minimal pairs approach?? I think so. You can also include a sorting activity during this step. Have the child put all the R words in one pile and all the W words in another pile. Keep at this step until the child correctly identifies the pictures with 90% accuracy.
Production (Word Imitation) - Here you have the child imitate ONLY the target words. So if you are going to be working with R/W minimal pairs, the child will only imitate the R words during this step. Stick with this step until the child is 90% accurate with the target words. You may have to provide placement cues to help the child achieve the correct sound. That’s ok!
Production (Independent Naming) - Here the child will independently label the target words only. No model is provided by the SLP. You can move on from this step once the child is 50% accurate at the word level.
Production (Minimal Pairs) - This step is the same as the last step in the meaningful minimal pairs intervention. This is where the child produces both words in the minimal pair and the semantic piece comes into play to really drive home the idea that if you say the word with the incorrect sound, it changes the meaning!
More Alike Than Not
The way I see is, the perception-production approach is just the meaningful minimal pairs approach with two extra steps in there (step 3 - word imitation & step 4 - independent naming). No need to overcomplicate this, right? I find I usually do some version of the perception-production approach. Like I said, I feel like my kids usually need to practice just the targets before I can throw them right into the minimal pairs activities. However, I may not have to spend a TON of time on the word imitation and independent naming portions.
I do take time to get the child to make the target sound correctly. I’ll be honest with you. I find it rare that a child can just produce the target sound right off the bat. Even with a phonological disorder, the children often need cues for placement and time to practice using that sound correctly in single words. Once they get good with this, I introduce the minimal pairs to bring in that linguistic/semantic component and really drive the meaning piece home.
In Conclusion…
So that’s it. A quick run down of the two approaches to minimal pairs therapy for phonological disorders. If you have any questions, shoot me an e-mail or drop a comment below! I love to chat all things SSD.
And if you need some versatile minimal pairs cards, click HERE! This resource is so comprehensive. I use some portion of it every day that I treat clients. It includes both printable stimuli cards AND Boom Cards!
Until next time!
Source: Elise Baker. “Minimal Pair Intervention.” Interventions for Speech Sound Disorders in Children, by A. Lynn Williams et al., Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2021, pp. 41–72.