Developmental pattern

Stopping

Long, flowing sounds like /s/ and /f/ get replaced by short, popped sounds like /t/ and /p/.

Resolves by: f and s by 3;0
Sounds affected: f, v, s, z, sh, ch, j, th
Minimal pairs: 27

What it sounds like

"sun" becomes "ton"
"fan" becomes "pan"
"van" becomes "ban"
"shoe" becomes "two"

Also called: Stopping of fricatives and affricates

What is going on

Fricatives are the sounds you can hold out forever - ssss, ffff, shhhh. They take fine motor control, because the tongue or lip has to sit in exactly the right spot and hold there while air squeezes past. Stops are easier: slam the airway shut, let it pop. When a child is not ready for the flowing version, they substitute the popping version, and "soup" becomes "toop."

Stopping hits /s/ and /z/, which carry plurals, possessives and third-person verbs in English. A child who stops these sounds loses grammatical information as well as clarity, so their sentences can sound younger than they are.

Try this at home

Make it about length, not just sound. Hold your hands close together for a short sound and stretch them wide apart for a long one. "Can you make it a LONG one? ssssssun." Kids grasp long-versus-short well before they grasp place of articulation.

When to refer

Still stopping /f/ or /s/ after age 3;6, or stopping any fricative after age 5.

Print it

Stopping minimal pairs27 pairs grouped by sound · PDF Stopping picture pair cards21 reviewed two-picture pairs · PDF

Picture-ready minimal pairs

21 pairs

These pairs have two distinct picture subjects. Put both pictures on the table and take turns asking for one. If the two words sound alike, slow down and compare the sounds together. The printable word list has additional listening contrasts.