Minimal Pairs Activities for Speech Therapy: How to Easily Achieve 100 Trials

I love minimal oppositions, AKA minimal pairs, for speech therapy. Minimal pairs therapy is an evidenced based intervention to treat phonological disorders. Personally, I find this intervention to be just the right balance of challenging enough to effect change in a child’s phonological system while not being too overwhelming that it makes little ones shut down.

When I do minimal pairs, I am always shooting for 100 correct productions of the TARGET word. So, if I have a pair of words to target the phonological process of fronting - for example, “tea” and “key” - I am aiming for 100 correct productions of “key.” That doesn’t mean that the child doesn’t produce the word “tea” from time to time. It just means that I don’t count those productions towards my 100 trial total.

(Side note: “Phonological pattern” is the new terminology that is being used in the literature rather than phonological process. However, most people are familiar with phonological process, so I continue to use that term, too.)

I know 100 trials sounds like a big number, but with the right activities and tools, you can easily get 100 trials in your minimal pairs therapy session. Read on to see some of my favorite ways to get 100 trials in speech therapy!

How to get 100 speech sound trial in speech therapy activities.

Use a clicker counter

My kids are so motivated to reach 100 using the clicker counter. I usually hold the counter and keep track of productions. However, if the child is old enough, I will let him control the counter. I pair this counter with the timer app on my phone. I make it a game to see if we can “beat” the timer..that is, reach 100 trials before the timer runs out. Sometimes, I let the child decide how long the timer should be. Other times, I decide. But usually no more than 10 minutes. We see if we can beat the timer, and they usually BEG to play again. Even if they didn’t get 100 in the first round, that combined with the second (and sometimes third) round is usually enough to read well over 100 trials in speech therapy!

How to get 100 trials during minimal pairs speech therapy activities

Use magnetic Bingo chips

Again, my students are so motivated to just collect as many chips as they can. I literally toss them across the table each time the child says a production of the target word. Or we can place the chips on one of the minimal pairs cards we have laid out on the table. The goal is to see how many chips we can get on top of one card. You can also sub mini erasers for Bingo chips. See how high you can stack the erasers on the target minimal pair card!

Use dice or a digital spinner and race

I love Wheel of Names digital spinner because you can input any numbers you want. Have the student spin the spinner and whatever number they get is the number of times they have to practice the target word. Same goes for the dice. Roll the dice and that is their target number of productions. The SLP can “play against” the student. Set a time limit. At the end of 10 minutes, whoever has more productions is the winner. I’m sure you will play more than once. This will definite lead to over 100 trials in your minimal pairs therapy!

Minimal pairs Boom Cards for speech therapy activities

Use Boom Cards

I designed these Minimal Pairs Boom Cards to easily get you to 100 trials during your minimal pairs speech therapy activities. There are moveable stickers that are like a digital version of the Bingo chips in that students love to see how many stickers they can put on their target word. To up the productions, I have a student say a word 5 times before they get to move a sticker! I also love that I can have ALL my minimal pairs cards on hand by just grabbing my iPad. Sometimes I have multiple students working on different minimal pairs words, and I don’t feel like lugging around 15 decks of cards 😂.

Play a fast turn-taking game

100 articulation trials speech therapy activities

So, any game that the child gets to take a quick turn works for this. You have the child say a target how every many times you want (or a mix of the target and the other minimal pairs word; you decide) before they get to take a turn in the game. My favorite fast turn-taking games are Pop the Pirate, Crocodile Dentist, Cariboo, and Zingo. Also, really any games from Goliath Games will work for this purpose. Older students love playing the card games “War” or “Uno.” So just have them say target words 5-10 (!!) times before they take a turn in the game!

You’ve got this!

Easy peasy ways to get 100 trials in your minimal pairs speech therapy activities! But I want to make one final point. With all these activities, we want the child reaching 100 CORRECT productions. So if they idea of rushing through trials becomes too much for your student, slow the game/competition down, regroup, and try again. I’ve had students who rush through productions just to “win” - we don’t want that!

And that’s it! Comment below and tell me which idea was your favorite. I love the timer and clicker counter combo because it’s so simple. But I also love the Minimal Pairs Boom Cards because I have everything I need right on my iPad!