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S2_LSHSS-21-00105storkel.mp4 (236.4 MB)

Contrastive interventions (Storkel, 2022)

journal contribution
posted on 2022-02-18, 19:00 authored by Holly L. Storkel
Purpose: This tutorial contrasts a familiar and frequently used speech sound disorder (SSD) intervention approach, conventional minimal pair, with newer but less familiar and less frequently used variants that may be more effective: (a) maximal opposition and (b) multiple oppositions.
Method: This tutorial provides a general description of each contrastive approach, focusing on the evidence base and a small number of critical elements that define the approach and make it unique from all other approaches. Hypothetical cases are used to illustrate how the approaches can be tailored to child needs and speech-language pathologist (SLP) expertise. Supplemental materials enhance the reader’s skill in using these approaches in their practice with a minimal initial investment.
Results: The reader will be able to identify which children with SSD are appropriate for conventional minimal pair, maximal opposition, or multiple oppositions approaches and will be able to plan intervention (i.e., select target sounds and contrasting words or nonwords, develop intervention activities, write goals, and determine intervention intensity) for each of these approaches.
Conclusions: This tutorial highlights that using the conventional minimal pair approach should be restricted to children with a small number of errors (i.e., older children or children with mild SSD). There is an opportunity for SLPs to use newer, more efficacious approaches with younger children and children with more severe SSDs. The maximal opposition approach is well suited to children with multiple errors across multiple sound classes. The multiple oppositions approach specifically targets global phoneme collapses that impact intelligibility.

Supplemental Material S1. Sound selection spreadsheet for conventional minimal pair, maximal opposition, and multiple oppositions. Note that the spreadsheet has multiple worksheets/tabs.

Supplemental Material S2. Video instructions (17 minutes) for entering data in the sound selection spreadsheet (i.e., Supplemental Material S1).

Supplemental Material S3. Completed sound selection spreadsheet (i.e., Supplemental Material S1) for Ethan (5 years; 11 months, boy, severe speech sound disorder).

Supplemental Material S4. Video demonstration (14 minutes) of how to complete the sound selections spreadsheet for Ethan.

Supplemental Material S5. Completed sound selection spreadsheet for Sophia (4 years; 4 months, girl, severe speech sound disorder), recommending multiple oppositions of [d]-/g ð sl/.

Supplemental Material S6. Completed sound selection spreadsheet for Isabella (4 years; 11 months, girl, severe speech sound disorder), recommending maximal opposition of /r s/.

Supplemental Material S7. Completed sound selection spreadsheet for Isabella (5 years; 7 months, girl, severe speech sound disorder), not recommending contrastive approach.

Supplemental Material S8. Minimal pair selection spreadsheet for consonant-vowel-consonant real words and nonwords. Note that the spreadsheet has multiple worksheets/tabs.

Supplemental Material S9. Video demonstration (9 minutes) of how to use the minimal pair selection spreadsheet (i.e., Supplemental Material S8).

Supplemental Material S10. Nonword story template and example nonword story for maximal opposition intervention of θ-r for Ethan.

Supplemental Material S11. Nonword pictures to accompany story.

Storkel, H. L. (2022). Minimal, maximal, or multiple: Which contrastive intervention approach to use with children with speech sound disorders? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00105

Publisher Note: This article is part of the Forum: Innovations in Treatments for Children With Speech Sound Disorders.

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