Stopping Phonological Process: What is it? [Free Worksheets]

December 1, 2019 | By Melissa Berg

What is stopping in speech?

Do you have students who struggle to pronounce certain sounds by making substitutions? The stopping phonological process is when a child produces a stop consonant /p, b, t, d, k, or g/ in place of a fricative /f, v, th, s, z, sh, ch/ or an affricate sound /j/.

Stopping is considered a normal phonological process that is typically eliminated between of ages of 3-5 years old.

Substitution: Stopping Phonological Process

Stopping is when one fricative or affricate sound is substituted for a stop sound. See the chart below:

**Source:** Bowen, C. (2011). Communication disorders glossary. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=123 on [Nov., 18, 2019].

Stopping	Word
pun	sun
toe	sew
top	shop
poke	joke
dat	that

Manner of Articulation

There are five types of manners of articulation. Manner identifies the contact that is made between two articulators. The five types are:

plosive
nasal
fricative
affricate
approximant

The nasals, fricatives, affricates, and approximates are all sounds that can be sustained for breath. Plosives, however, cannot be sustained. They instead are when there is a complete stopping of the airflow, which is also known as stops. See the chart below:

Source: https://www.sltinfo.com/phon101-stopping/

Age of Elimination

Stopping is considered a normal phonological process that children use to learn the English language. Normally stops are the first speech sounds to develop. Children should eliminate stopping of /f, s/ by the age of 3;00, /v, z/ by the age of 3;06, /ʃ, ʧ, ʤ/ by the age of 4;06, and /θ, ð/ by the age of 5;00. See table below.

stopping	age of elimination
/f/, /s/	3;00
/v/, /z/	3;06
/ʃ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/	4;06
/θ/, /ð/	5;00

Even though stopping of consonants is typical, it is rare to have stopping of approximants /w, l, r/. Furthermore, stopping of nasals can be categorized as denasalization instead of stopping. Most of the time stopping is described as stopping of fricatives or affricates.

Practice Stopping Phonological Process with Minimal Pairs Free Flashcards

Give your students practice of reducing the stopping phonological process through auditory bombardment and minimal pairs flashcards.

This freebie includes all of the following:

Initial /f/ vs /p/ 24 sets
Initial /s/ vs /t/ 24 sets
Initial /sh/ vs /t/ 24 sets
Initial /ch/ vs /t/ 24 sets
Initial /th/ vs /t/ 24 sets
Initial /th/ vs /p/ 18 sets
10 auditory bombardment words per page
real-life photos of minimal pair words

Initial /f/ vs /p/ Minimal Pairs

	/f/	/p/
1	fan	pan
2	fast	past
3	foot	put
4	fade	paid
5	fork	pork
6	face	pace
7	feel	peel
8	feet	peat
9	fee	pea
10	fig	pig
11	fine	pine
12	fleas	please
13	fool	pool
14	found	pound
15	from	prom
16	full	pull
17	fun	pun
18	fail	pail
19	fair	pair
20	fat	pat
21	felt	pelt
22	file	pile
23	fill	pill
24	firm	perm

Initial /s/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs

	/s/	/t/
1	sew	toe
2	see	tea
3	Sue	two
4	sun	ton
5	sell	tell
6	sore	tore
7	sub	tub
8	sip	tip
9	sour	tower
10	sack	tack
11	sea	tea
12	surf	turf
13	sick	tick
14	sock	tock
15	suck	tuck
16	sap	tap
17	side	tide
18	soy	toy
19	seam	team
20	sigh	tie
21	sight	tight
22	suit	toot
23	seat	teat
24	cell	tell

Initial /sh/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs

	/sh/	/t/
1	shy	tie
2	shoe	two
3	show	toe
4	shape	tape
5	shop	top
6	shawl	tall
7	shack	tack
8	shake	take
9	she	tea
10	shell	tell
11	ship	tip
12	shock	talk
13	show	tow
14	shoot	toot
15	shed	Ted
16	shin	tin
17	share	tear
18	shiny	tiny
19	shag	tag
20	shame	tame
21	sheet	teat
22	shore	tore
23	shock	talk
24	sharp	tarp

Initial /ch/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs

	/ch/	/t/
1	cheese	tease
2	chest	test
3	chew	two
4	child	tiled
5	chip	tip
6	chose	toes
7	chair	tear
8	chill	till
9	chime	time
10	chin	tin
11	chop	top
12	chore	tour
13	churn	turn
14	chap	tap
15	chart	tart
16	chat	tat
17	cheat	teat
18	cheek	teak
19	cheer	tear
20	chick	tick
21	char	tar
22	chubby	tubby
23	chug	tug
24	chuffed	tuft

Initial /th/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs

	/th/	/t/
1	thank	tank
2	thought	taught
3	thin	tin
4	through	true
5	thigh	tie
6	three	tree
7	thick	tick
8	thaw	taw
9	thorn	torn
10	these	tease
11	those	toes
12	there	tear
13	than	tan
14	then	ten
15	though	toe
16	thumb	tum
17	thick	tick
18	theme	team
19	thinker	tinker
20	throw	tow
21	thread	tread
22	thongs	tongs
23	throw	toe
24	thug	tug

Initial /th/ vs /p/ Minimal Pairs

	/th/	/p/
1	thigh	pie
2	thug	pug
3	thin	pen
4	thick	pick
5	think	pink
6	thaw	paw
7	thatch	patch
8	these	peas
9	those	pose
10	they	pay
11	that	pat
12	than	pan
13	throw	Poe
14	chug	pug
15	thee	pea
16	thump	pump
17	then	pen
18	thin	pin

Stopping Phonological Process of Initial and Final Consonants

Stopping can occur in both initial or final consonant positions. For example, an initial consonant stop of the word “far” would be “tar”. In the example above the initial consonant fricative /f/ is replaced with an initial consonant stop /t/. Additional examples of initial stopping include the following.

fan	/fæn/	→	/tæn/
van	/væn/	→	/pæn/
fun	/fʌn/	→	/tʌn/
sin	/sɪn/	→	/pɪn/

The following are examples of final consonant stopping, which is when a final affricate or fricative becomes at stop at the end of a word.

comb	/kəʊm/	→	/kəʊb/
patch	/pæʧ/	→	/pæt/
moth	/mɒθ/	→	/mɒt/

What are all the Types of Phonological Processes?

Phonological processes are the typical errors that children make in order to help them learn to speak. These typical errors can be further divided down into three main categories: substitution, assimilation, and syllable structure. Want to know more about these three categories? Be sure to learn about all of the typical and atypical phonological processes and don’t forget to download the handy chart.

In Conclusion

Stopping occurs when a child is using the typical phonological process of learning speech. Stopping is when the child replaces a stop /p, b, t, d, k, or g/ in place of a fricative /f, v, th, s, z, sh, ch/ or an affricate sound /j/ in the initial or final consonant positions. For example, “fan” becomes “tan” or “path” becomes “pat”.