MINIMAL PAIRS FRONTING/BACKING, GLIDING Devised and illustrated by Helen Rippon, Highly Specialist SLT. PIP1 SECOND EDITION www.blacksheeppress.co.uk
Introduction A 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 (speechlanguage-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. PIP1-2, Minimal Pairs, Fronting/Backing, Gliding 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 4
Activities Before 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!) PIP1-2, Minimal Pairs, Fronting/Backing, Gliding 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 6
Extra pairs and sentences Pairs: Initial stopping Initial stopping Initial stopping Initial stopping fur purr fawn dawn seal deal feet Pete fence dense sing ding fall Paul fan Dan say day feel peel feel deal suck duck fill pill foggy doggy simple dimple funny bunny fizzy dizzy shin tin feet beat such touch shiny tiny fizzy busy shape tape fair bear ship tip far bar sheep deep full bull foal bowl fix ticks fawn torn fan tan Pairs: Final consonant stopping Final consonant stopping Final consonant stopping Final consonant stopping rough rub puss put knees knead tough tub case Kate wise wide piece Pete please plead niece neat prize pride yes yet laze laid Grace great Jess Jed PIP2-2, Minimal Pairs, Stopping, second edition 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 8
Pairs in sentences: Initial stopping A fox hid in a box. Pete has dirty feet. Don t fall Paul!! What a funny bunny! I won a bear at the fair. A number 4 on the door. A fish in a dish. It was a foggy when he went out with the doggy. Dad was sad. I split my tea in the sea. Ted is in the shed. He got dirt on his shirt. She drank her tea. Pairs in sentences: Final consonant stopping I drew half a heart. The knight dropped his knife. He dropped a rose on the road. Pete had a piece of cake. Kate packed her case. PIP2-2, Minimal Pairs, Stopping, second edition 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 9
key tea cap tap kite tight call tall PIP1-2, Minimal Pairs, Fronting/Backing, Gliding 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 11
fall ball fat bat phone bone fight bite PIP2-2, Minimal Pairs, Stopping, second edition 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 12
bin in beat eat bye eye towel owl PIP3-2, Minimal Pairs, Consonant Deletion, second edition 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 12
slots lots sledge ledge sleeve leave slam lamb PIP4-2, Minimal Pairs, Cluster Reduction, s Blends, second edition 2017 Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press Ltd. 17
please peas plants pants plane pain plait pat PIP5, Pairs in Pictures 5, Cluster Reduction l & r blends Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press 2001. It is permitted for the licensee to photocopy this sheet for use in their clinic/school. Black Sheep Press, 67, Middleton, Cowling, Keighley, W. Yorks, BD22 0DQ, England Tel; +44(0)1535 631346 Email; alan@blacksheep-epress.com Web; www.blacksheep-epress.com 1
pig big pear bear pea bee pie buy PIP6, Pairs in Pictures 6, Voiced/voiceless Helen Rippon, Black Sheep Press 2001. It is permitted for the licensee to photocopy this sheet for use in their clinic/school. Black Sheep Press, 67, Middleton, Cowling, Keighley, W. Yorks, BD22 0DQ, England Tel; +44(0)1535 631346 Email; alan@blacksheep-epress.com Web; www.blacksheep-epress.com 1