Minimal pair intervention

The minimal pair approach is one of the oldest, most well-known, and widely used approaches for phonological intervention. Words produced as homonyms by children are paired. Presentation of the word pairs via communication-based activities helps children learn to produce the contrast between the word pairs in order to be understood. Empirical support for the approach (including one effectiveness study, 26 efficacy studies, and 15 exploratory case studies) suggests that the approach is effective. Children most suited to the approach have a mild or mild-to-moderate phonological impairment characterized by one or two age-inappropriate phonological processes or one or two speech sounds consistently in error. The approach has been implemented in a variety of ways by different researchers internationally.