How to teach and eliminate stopping in speech therapy

Why Your Students Need to Understand the “Stopping” Rule First

Would you ever say to your student who is stopping their fricatives and affricates, “Did you know you’re stopping your /s/?” Cue the blank stare. Of course they don’t know. Our students aren’t using that term… speech pathologists are!

When children understand what they’re doing (stopping the airflow) versus what they need to do (keep the air going), things can hopefully click in speech therapy.

How to explain stopping

In this short 4-minute video you will learn:

How to teach the “short” and “long” sound
Why you might discuss “short air” vs. “long air”
Using “stopped sounds” vs. “going sounds” with cars

We can’t expect children to correct phonological patterns they don’t even realize they’re using. So, using child-friendly explanations and making phonological patterns meaningful instead of abstract could change everything.

Looking for more evidence-based strategies that make phonological patterns meaningful for your clients?

Check out our Stopping Minimal Pairs Toolkit – it has a fun story that introduces the concept of long and short sounds, and helps children understand the phonological pattern deeper.