SSD Conference Part 1: Contrast Approaches for Children with Speech Sound Disorders

Children with speech sound disorders comprise a large portion of caseloads for speech-language pathologists working with pre-school and school-age children. Selecting the most appropriate approach to effect maximum change in the child's phonological system is important for optimal outcomes. This session will explore the contrast approaches of minimal, maximal, and multiple oppositions. Intervention approaches for speech sound disorders have historically involved treating individual speech sound errors from a motor skills perspective. Treatment involved focusing on the motor movements and placement of the articulators to achieve correct sound production. Over the last 40 years, emphasis has included consideration of a linguistic or phonological base for speech sound disorders. Phonological or linguistic approaches focus on the function of sounds to differentiate meanings, error patterns, and phonological rules that may be underlying the errors. Among the phonological or linguistic intervention approaches are a group referred to as contrast approaches. The contrast approaches emphasize contrasting word pairs to highlight the role of the sound system in differentiating meaning. The goal is to emphasize and establish contrasts that are not present in a child's phonological system. The approaches target a child's speech sound system rather than individual sounds. The contrast approaches include minimal oppositions, maximal oppositions, and multiple oppositions. Each approach utilizes different criteria for target selection to establish the contrast word pairs or sets of contrasting words. This presentation will highlight the theoretical foundations of the contrast approaches, the core features of each of the approaches, and the criteria for the selection of intervention targets. A case study will be utilized to allow participants the opportunity to apply phonological assessment information to target selection for each of the approaches.

Related Courses:
SSD Conference Part 2: Accelerating Progress for Children with Phonological Disorders
SSD Conference Part 3: Therapy for the Essential Components of Speech Sound Productions