The Different Phonological Processes (List for SLPs)
By Karen Krogg, M.S. CCC-SLP
Speech pathologists working with younger children will very likely treat phonological disorders. Part of the process of correcting phonology errors involves understanding the different phonological processes in speech therapy, or speech pattern simplifications, that children may use. This article explains the most common phonological processes and provides examples for SLPs, in addition to linking to recommended activities and freebies.
As a CCC-SLP with 15 years of experience treating phonological disorders in school-based settings, I’ve worked with hundreds of children on the processes listed below. The clinical notes throughout this guide reflect what I’ve actually seen in my therapy room.
Last updated: June 2026
What is a Phonological Disorder?
Phonological errors are patterns of sound errors that are rule-based and impact more than one sound. A phonological disorder falls under the umbrella of a ‘speech sound disorder’. A child who has a phonological disorder may consistently exhibit phonological processes in his speech, such as fronting, cluster reduction, stopping, or final consonant deletion.
How is a Phonological Disorder Diagnosed?
It is within the scope of a speech-language pathologist to diagnose a phonological disorder. Often, clinical judgment, along with an assessment, is used. Assessments may be informal or formal. Many standardized assessments are able to provide severity rankings, as well as the overall percentage that a phonological process is exhibited by a student. This can be very useful for goal setting.
Assessments I have personally used include the CAAP-2 (Clinical Assessment of Articulation and Phonology- Second Edition) and the HAPP-3 (Hodson Assessment of Phonological Patterns- Third Edition).
Some assessments and clinical frameworks use percentage-of-occurrence information to help determine if a phonological process is considered “active”. In my professional opinion, any process that is observed at least 30% of the time or higher may be impacting intelligibility.
Which Phonological Process Should You Target First?
As a school SLP, when I’m trying to decide which phonological process to target first, I consider things such as:
- age
- intelligibility
- how often does the phonological process occur
- if the child is stimulable for the target sound or pattern
In many cases, I start with phonological processes that have a huge impact on intelligibility- processes like final consonant deletion, consonant cluster reduction, fronting, and stopping.
School SLPs might ask questions such as:
- Is the phonological process still developmentally appropriate?
- Is the process occurring frequently enough that it is negatively impacting intelligibility?
- Is the child collapsing several sounds into one sound? This is known as phoneme collapse- for example, saying “f” for a lot of other sounds
- When provided with cues, is the child stimulable for the production of the target sound?
- How functional is working on this process for the child?
I try not to choose goals from an articulation test randomly. Instead, I’m looking at patterns that are affecting entire sound classes. For example, targeting final consonant deletion can be effective because when a child is marking the final sound in words, word clarity improves. Targeting fronting can be a helpful way to assist children with understanding the contrast between front and back sounds. And targeting cluster reduction- especially s-blends- can have a huge impact on overall intelligibility of speech.
As mentioned by ASHA, treatment selection varies by child. The best target will depend on the child’s age, severity, intelligibility, stimulability, and overall phonological system.
→Once you’ve chosen a phonological process to target, my Minimal Pairs Bundle can quickly help you grab contrastive word pairs for common patterns, such as cluster reduction, final consonant deletion, and fronting.
What are the types of phonological processes?
Phonological processes can be categorized as:
- syllable structure processes
- substitution processes
- assimilatory processes
Syllable structure processes involve changes made to the syllable structure. Cluster reduction (i.e. “mile” for “smile”), reduplication (i.e. “wawa” for “water”) , weak syllable deletion (“nana” for “banana”), and final consonant deletion (“pih” for “pig”) fall under the umbrella of syllable structure processes.
Substitution processes involve changes, such as one sound class changing to another sound class. Changes may occur in place of articulation, manner of articulation, or voicing. Examples include fronting (“tall” for “call”), affrication (“chew” for “shoe”), and voicing (i.e. “doo” for “two”).
Assimilatory processes occur when a sound in a word changes to become more like a neighboring sound. Velar assimilation (“guck” for “duck”), labial assimilation (“fwing” for “swing”), nasal assimilation (i.e. “nunny” for “bunny”), and liquid assimilation (i.e. “lelo” for “yellow”) are examples of this.
Syllable Structure Processes
Cluster Reduction
Consonant cluster reduction occurs when a consonant is deleted from a cluster. Often, cluster reduction occurs on l blends, s blends, and r blends. Examples might include “pane” for “plane” or “mile” for “smile”.
*When s, l, or r are missing from the cluster, it is called ‘marked cluster reduction’.
In my experience, s-blends are typically the most persistent cluster reduction errors. I usually target these first before other blends, since they have a huge impact on intelligibility.
→Ready-to-use activity: S-Blend “Snake Sound” Smash Mats
Cluster Reduction Examples
A child leaves off one sound in a consonant cluster.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| snow | no | /s/ was deleted from the SN blend |
| blue | boo | /l/ was deleted from the BL blend |
| frog | fog | /r/ was deleted from the FR blend |
How To Treat Cluster Reduction
As I mentioned before, I tend to start by treating s-blends, especially SW, SM, and SN words.
Some example targets might be: swing, sweep, switch, sweat, and swipe.
SLPs might use minimal pairs (contrasting words like “no” versus “snow”), auditory bombardment (reading lists of initial SN words paired with slight amplification), and auditory discrimination tasks.
When modeling s-blend words, I like to trace a finger down my arm while saying /s/- the “snake” sound.
I model the snake sound, pause, then say the rest of the word.
I especially love starting with words like “swing” and “snow”. That’s because I can help my students visualize it by modeling the snake sound, then wagging my finger back and forth while saying ‘no’- when we put it all together, we’ve said the word ‘snow’.
→ Ready-to-use activity: Cluster Reduction Minimal Pairs– use this when students need practice producing both sounds in s-blends, r-blends, and l-blends.
Reduplication
Reduplication occurs when the first syllable of a word is repeated. An example of this might be saying ‘wawa’ for ‘water’. Typically, this process is extinguished by the age of 2 1/2.
Reduplication Examples
The first syllable in a word is repeated.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| water | wawa | the first syllable was repeated |
| bottle | baba | the first syllable was repeated |
| table | taytay | the first syllable was repeated |
How To Treat Reduplication
If reduplication persists past toddler age, school SLPs will want to focus on helping the child produce the different syllables in the word.
Start by using simple two-syllable words with clear contrasts. Words like puppy, table, and cookie are great starting points.
Weak Syllable Deletion
Syllable deletion occurs when a syllable is omitted. Weak syllable deletion specifically involves the omission of an unstressed syllable. An example could include saying ‘nana’ for ‘banana’. SLPs will often target marking all syllables in multisyllabic words. Here is an activity that targets syllable deletion for use in speech therapy.
I find that tapping syllables on my knee or table while saying the word is an effective way to help my preschool students when targeting this process.
Weak Syllable Deletion Examples
A child leaves out an unstressed, or less emphasized, syllable in a multisyllabic word.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| banana | nana | the weak first syllable ‘buh’ was deleted |
| potato | tato | the weak first syllable ‘po’ was deleted |
| computer | puter | the weak first syllable ‘com’ was deleted |
How To Treat Weak Syllable Deletion
In my speech therapy sessions, I’ve found that simple things like tapping, clapping, or using blocks or pacing dots can be helpful with targeting weak syllable deletion.
You don’t need anything fancy- you could draw three circles on a piece of paper and point to each one as you say a different syllable in a word like ‘banana’.
Techniques like backward chaining can also be really useful.
Model the last syllable first. “Nuh.”
Then add the middle syllable to it. “Nah-nuh”.
Now model the entire word: “Ba-nah-nuh.”
Make sure to emphasize appropriate stress and prosody!
→ Ready-to-use activity: Weak Syllable Deletion Smash Mats– engaging, hands-on practice.
Final Consonant Deletion
Final consonant deletion occurs when the final consonant of a word is omitted. Examples of this would be saying “pih” for “pig” or “kay” for “cake”. It is my professional opinion that voiceless final consonants are a great place to start when targeting final consonant deletion, or FCD.
Target final consonant deletion using this activity.
Final Consonant Deletion Examples
A child leaves off the final sound in a word.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| pig | pih | final /g/ was omitted |
| cake | kay | final /k/ was omitted |
| boat | bow | final /t/ was omitted |
How To Treat Final Consonant Deletion
To treat final consonant deletion, consider a practical starting point: voiceless final stops (p, t, k). Additional starting sounds could be /m/ and /n/.
These sounds are easy to hear and cue.
Also, it’s important not to start with targeting voiced sounds when targeting final consonant deletion, because sometimes children add schwas to the end of words (“bad” becomes “baduh”).
If you notice your student is always adding schwas even to voiceless final stops, I’ve had occasional success starting with fricative sounds.
Minimal pairs can also be very effective when targeting final consonant deletion (i.e. “bow” vs “boat”).
→ Ready-to-use activity: Final Consonant Deletion Minimal Pairs– help students mark final sounds in words.
Substitution Processes
Consonant Cluster Substitution
This process occurs when one consonant sound in a cluster is substituted for another sound. Examples might include ‘stwing’ for ‘string’, or ‘gween’ for ‘green’. These examples could also be classified as gliding.
Cluster Simplification vs Cluster Reduction
Consonant cluster substitution is different than cluster reduction.
Instead of deleting a sound (i.e. geen for green, or G for GR) in a consonant cluster, a sound is substituted (i.e. gween for green, or GW for GR).
Consonant Cluster Substitution Examples
A sound is substited, or changed, in a consonant cluster.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| play | pway | /l/ changed to /w/ in the /pl/ blend |
| frog | fwog | /r/ changed to /w/ in the /fr/ blend |
| sleep | sweep | /l/ changed to /w/ in the /sl/ blend |
How To Treat Consonant Cluster Substitution
I find contrastive approaches, such as minimal pairs, to be helpful for this.
SLPs might also try techniques like backward chaining. For a word like “swing”, practice “wing” first, then add the ‘s’.
Additionally, visual and verbal cues can be beneficial.
→ Ready-to-use activity: S-Blend, R-Blend, and L-Blend Worksheets are no-prep and perfect for targeting cluster substitution
Velar Fronting
Velar fronting occurs when a sound made in the “back”, a velar sound (such as k, g, or ng) is replaced with a sound made in the “front” of the mouth, like an alveolar sound. Examples might include “doe” for “go” or “tall” for “call”. Try using these fronting minimal pairs in speech therapy.
Fronting is one of the most common processes I see when working with my preschool caseload! I typically work on the k sound in the final position of words first, but sometimes I need to spend a little time eliciting k in isolation. To do this, you can try having the student lie flat on the floor (because gravity helps). The tongue tip needs to stay down, behind the lower front teeth, while practicing this sound.
Velar Fronting Examples
Velar fronting occurs when a BACK sound (velars, like /k/ and /g/) are replaced by a FRONT sound (like /t/ or /d/).
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| key | tea | /k/ changed to /t/ |
| bike | bite | /k/ changed to /t/ |
| go | dough | /g/ changed to /d/ |
How To Treat Velar Fronting
When you’re treating velar fronting, your student must understand the contrast between ”back sounds” (like k and g) and “front sounds” (like t and d).
Simply pointing to your throat (for back sounds) and above your upper front teeth (for front sounds) can be helpful.
I will often start by targeting k at the end of words (words like ‘bake’, ‘bike’, ‘hike’, and ‘yuck’), but occasionally I need to start with the isolation level.
Emphasize the tongue tip staying down. A typodont and some Play-Doh can be really useful for showing your student where to place the tip of the tongue. Don’t forget to pair this with a mirror.
Have your student lie down on the floor because, as I mentioned before, gravity helps!
And finally, minimal pairs can be beneficial- words like ‘tea’ vs ‘key’ and ‘height’ vs ‘hike’.
→Ready-to-use activity: Correct that K Program, which features velar fronting printables
Palatal Fronting
Palatal fronting occurs when a sound made father in the back (a palatal sound, ‘sh’) occurs in the front (an alveolar sound, like ‘s’). The tongue should be touching the roof of the mouth, or the palatal area, to make the “sh” sound, but instead touches near the alveolar ridge. Examples might include saying “so” for “show” or “fis” for “fish”.
Palatal Fronting Examples
A palatal sound, such as SH, is replaced with a sound made farther forward in the mouth, such as S.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| shoe | sue | /sh/ to /s/ |
| fish | fiss | /sh/ to /s/ |
How to Treat Palatal Fronting
A mirror is really helpful when treating palatal fronting.
Point out the difference between your smiling lips (when saying ‘s’), and your rounded, “windy” lips (when making the ‘windy’ sound, or the ‘quiet sound’).
Try using minimal pairs and auditory bombardment.
→ Ready-to-use activity: Palatal Fronting minimal pairs dough smash mat (SH v S)
Labialization
Labialization occurs when a non-labial sound is replaced by a labial sound.
Labial sounds include bilabials (/p/, /b/, /m/, and /w/) and labiodentals (/f/ and /v/).
Labialization Examples
Labialization occurs when a NON-LABIAL sound is replaced by a LABIAL sound (bilabials or labiodentals).
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| tea | pea | /t/ to /p/ |
| do | boo | /d/ to /b/ |
| yellow | wellow | /y/ to /w/ |
How To Treat Labialization
When you’re treating labialization, you’ll want to have a mirror handy.
This helps the child visualize lip positioning.
Try minimal pairs for extra practice.
Alveolarization
Alveolarization occurs when sounds that are not alveolar sounds become alveolar sounds.
Alveolar sounds include t, d, s, z, n, and l.
Alveolar sounds may replace interdental or labiodental sounds.
An example of alveolarization would include saying “sign” for “fine”.
Alveolarization Examples
A non-alveolar sound is replaced with an alveolar sound (such as T, D, S, or Z).
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| feet | seat | /f/ changed to /s/ |
| vine | zine | /v/ changed to /z/ |
How To Treat Alveolarization
When treating alveolarization, consider using auditory bombardment. This involves the child listening to a list of words featuring the target sound, preferably amplified.
Minimal pairs can be helpful.
Stopping
The phonological process of stopping occurs when a stop sound (such as p, b, t, d, k, or g) replaces a fricative (f, v, th, s, z, sh, zh) or an affricate (ch, dj). Examples might include saying “Pete” for “feet” or “fit” for “fish”.
Here is an activity that targets the phonological process of stopping.
When I’m working on stopping, I almost always start with f- because it has such a strong visual cue. Students can see where to place their teeth. Pair that with a technique like pausing and exaggerating the vowel next (f…All). That pause before saying the rest of the word can really help with eliminating the insertion of stop sounds.
Stopping Examples
A fricative sound (f, v, th, s, z, sh, zh) or an affricate (CH, J) is changed to a stop sound (/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, or /g/).
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| fan | pan | /f/ changed to /p/ |
| sip | tip | /s/ changed to /t/ |
| shoe | two | /sh/ changed to /t/ |
How To Treat Stopping
When treating the phonological process of stopping, consider using fricative vs. stop contrasts, such as “fan” vs “pan” or “sue” versus “two”. Minimal pair pictures can be very beneficial.
→ Ready-to-use activity: Stopping Minimal Pairs, a no-prep way to work on this phonological process
Gliding
Gliding occurs when liquid sounds (l, r) are substituted by glides (w, j). An example would be saying “wed” for “red”.
This is definitely a phonological process I see frequently, especially with my school-age students. My main goal to work on eliminating lip rounding, and a mirror is really helpful for seeing the contrast between smiling lips and “windy” lips.
Try out this free gliding activity in your speech therapy session.
How To Treat Gliding
When treating the phonological process of gliding, consider the use of minimal pairs (such as ‘wed’ versus ‘red’).
I also love using a mirror to show the student correct versus incorrect lip placement.
→ Ready-to-use activity: Free Gliding Minimal Pairs, perfect for targeting initial R and initial L words
Vocalization (also called Vowelization)
Vocalization (also known as vowelization) is a phonological process that involves the substitution of a vowel for a syllabic liquid or vocalic er. Examples would include “cah” for “car” or “laduh” for “ladder”.
*Please note that “cah” to “car” can reflect a dialectal variation in some speakers.
Vocalization Examples (Vowelization Examples)
A liquid sound, such as L or vocalic R, is changed to a vowel.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| car | cah | vocalic r changed to vowel |
| ladder | ladduh | vocalic r changed to vowel |
| apple | appo | final l changed to vowel |
How To Treat Vocalization (or Vowelization)
First, SLPs will want to determine if the issue involves final l, vocalic r, or both.
For vocalic r, specific motor-based strategies may be necessary.
Check out vocalic r tips.
→Ready-to-use activity: my Correct that Vocalic R Program makes it simple to address this tricky sound.
Affrication
Affrication is a phonological process that involves the replacement of a fricative sound (such as “sh”) with an affricate (such as “ch” or “dj”). An example of affrication would be saying “chew” when you mean to say “shoe”.
Affrication Examples
Affrication occurs when a fricative (such as SH) is replaced with an affricate (such as CH).
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| shoe | chew | /sh/ changed to /ch/ |
| wash | watch | final /sh/ changed to /ch/ |
How To Treat Affrication
When I’m treating affrication, I like to help my students visualize “continuous airflow”.
I use simple hand signals, like sliding my hand forward slowly- we stretch out the “SH” at the beginning of words.
This is contrasted with a fist that is released to demonstrate an “explosion” of airflow for the CH sound.
Minimal pairs (such as ‘ship’ vs ‘chip’) can be very helpful when treating affriciation.
→Ready-to-use activity: Articulation Card Game Companion
Deaffrication
Deaffrication is a phonological process that involves changing an affricate sound (“ch” or “dj”) to a stop (such as p, b, t, d) or a fricative (i.e. s, z, sh). An example might be “shop” for “chop” or “tear” for “chair”.
Deaffrication Examples
As a reminder, deaffrication occurs when an affricate (CH, DJ) is changed to a STOP or FRICATIVE.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| chair | share | /ch/ to /sh/ |
| chip | ship | /ch/ to /sh/ |
| cheese | sheese | /ch/ to /sh/ |
How To Treat Deaffrication
When I’m working on this process, I like to use minimal pairs (words like “ship” versus “chip”).
Use your hands to emphasize “SH” in ship as a ‘long sound’. Model “SH” for a long time, maybe while holding a finger in front of your mouth (as you would for the ‘quiet’ symbol) and pushing it forward the entire time that you say the sound.
When emphasizing the difference for “CH”, first start by modeling SH, then abruptly stop your hands (to model the airflow ‘stopping’). I then make my fingers ‘explode’ for the ‘ch’ in ‘chip’.
To treat deaffrication, teach the child that affricate sounds begin like a stop, then release the airflow.
I tell my students to say “SH”… then tell them “STOP!” and “Make it explode!”
→Ready-to-use activity: FREE Deaffrication Minimal Pairs smash mat, part of the Minimal Pairs Bundle
Voicing
The phonological process of voicing occurs when a voiceless sound is produced as a voiced sound. An example of voicing would be ‘big’ for ‘pig’. Try this voicing activity with your speech therapy students, or use these voicing and devoicing phonology play dough smash mats.
Voicing Examples
Voicing occurs when a VOICELESS sound, such as /p/, is changed to a VOICED sound, such as /b/.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| pig | big | /p/ changed to /b/ |
| two | do | /t/ changed to /d/ |
| sip | zip | /s/ changed to /z/ |
How To Treat Voicing
When targeting voicing, minimal pairs can be very beneficial (‘big’ versus ‘pig’).
Have your students “feel” the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds.
They can gently place their hands on their necks and practice contrasting sounds, such as “s” and “z”. Ask if it feels “buzzy”.
→Ready-to-use activity: Voicing Minimal Pairs pages, perfect for therapy sessions or home practice
Devoicing
The phonological process of devoicing occurs when a voiceless sound is used in place of a voiced sound. An example of devoicing would be “pig” for “big”. These devoicing minimal pairs are very effective for targeting this process.
Devoicing Examples
A voiced sound (such as /b/) is changed into a voiceless sound (such as /p/).
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| big | pig | /b/ changed to /p/ |
| do | to | /d/ changed to /t/ |
| van | fan | /v/ changed to /f/ |
How To Treat Devoicing
Devoicing is the opposite of voicing, and feeling the throat can provide the needed feedback to ‘turn on’ the voice.
Practice sound contrasts like ‘p’ and ‘b’.
Picture visuals to represent sound being ‘on’ and ‘off’ can be helpful.
→Ready-to-use activity: Devoicing Minimal Pairs pages, perfect for therapy sessions or home practice
Denasalization
The phonological process of denasalization occurs when a nasal sound (m, n, ng) is replaced with a stop (p,b, t, d, k, g). For example, the nasal /m/ may be replaced by /p/ or /b/. An example might include “boo” for “moo”.
How To Treat Denasalization
When I’ve treated the phonological process of denasalization, I’ve always started by making sure my students understand the difference between oral and nasal airflow.
Grab a mirror and watch it fog up when practicing nasal sounds, like ‘m’. Even holding the hand under the nose to feel the air and warmth can be beneficial.
Gently pinching the nose closed while producing a word like ‘mom’, and then saying it normally, can also help demonstrate nasal versus oral airflow.
Use reminders, like pointing to your nose or mouth, to show where airflow should be occurring.
Denasalization Examples
As a reminder, denasalization occurs when a NASAL sound such as /m/, /n/, or /ng/, is replaced with an ORAL sound.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| moo | boo | /m/, a nasal sound, changed to /b/ |
| sing | sig | /ng/, a nasal sound, changed to /g/ |
| mop | bop | /m/, a nasal sound, changed to /b/ |
Assimilatory Processes
Labial Assimilation
The phonological process of labial assimilation occurs when a non-labial sound changes to a labial sound because it is influenced by a neighboring labial sound.
In simpler language, labial assimilation occurs when a non-labial, or non-lip, sound, changes to a lip sound, because there is another lip sound nearby it in that word.
If you mean to say ‘tape’, but you say ‘pape’, this is labial assimilation- because the final /p/ influenced the /t/.
Labial sounds may include bilabials (p,b,m) and labiodentals (f,v).
Labial Assimilation Examples
Here are some examples of labial assimilation. Please remember this simple explanation: a NON-LIP sound changes to a LIP sound, because another LIP sound nearby in the word influences it.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| cup | pup | /k/ changed to /p/ because of the final /p/ (the “lip” sound) |
| top | pop | /t/ changed to /p/ because of the final /p/ (the “lip” sound) |
| swim | fwim | /s/ changed to /f/, a lip-involved sound, because it was influenced by the nearby /w/ |
How To Treat Labial Assimilation
When treating labial assimilation, help your student understand the difference between a ‘tongue’ sound versus a ‘lip’ sound.
If a child is substituting ‘m’ for ‘n’, for example, try using a mirror, minimal pairs, or drawing attention to correct tongue placement using a lollipop or pudding.
Velar Assimilation
Velar assimilation is a phonological process that occurs when a nonvelar sound is influenced and changed by a neighboring velar sound. Velar sounds include k, g, and ng. An example of velar assimilation might be saying “kack” for “tack”. The velar /k/ influences the lingua- alveolar sound /t/ in this example.
Velar Assimilation Examples
As a reminder, velar assimilation occurs when a NON-VELAR sound is changed to a VELAR sound (/k/ or /g/), because it is influenced by that velar sound.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| dog | gog | /d/ changed to /g/ because of the final velar sound, /g/ |
| duck | guck | /d/ changed to /g/ because of the final velar sound, /k/ |
| tick | kick | /t/ changed to /k/ because of the final velar sound, /k/ |
How To Target Velar Assimilation
To target velar assimilation, try pausing before the end of the word. For example, “tah….K”.
Be sure to remind your student of “front” versus “back” sounds.
Before modeling the word, I like to let my student know, “You’re going to go from a FRONT sound to a BACK sound.”
I model the word slowly, and point to my throat (back) or near my teeth (front).
→Ready-to-use activity: Correct that K Program, which features velar assimilation printables
Nasal Assimilation
Nasal assimilation is a phonological process that occurs when a non-nasal sound is influenced and changed by a neighboring nasal sound (m, n, ng). For example, saying ‘money’ for ‘funny’ or ‘bunny’.
How To Target Nasal Assimilation
When treating nasal assimilation, I like to start by helping my students understand the difference between nasal sounds and non-nasal sounds.
Nasal sounds, like /m/, /n/, and /ng/, send air through the nose.
Non-nasal sounds involve oral airflow (through the mouth).
A mirror can be very beneficial when teaching this concept. Watch for fogging in the mirror when placing the mirror under the nose and practicing a nasal sound.
Use simple nose vs. mouth reminders by pointing and saying, “This sound comes from your nose, not your mouth.”
Slowing down the word can also help. Practice saying the first sound (f…unny, p…enny) and pausing, to separate it from the neighboring nasal sound in the word.
Nasal Assimilation Examples
As a reminder, nasal assimilation occurs when a NON-NASAL sound changes to a NASAL sound (/m/, /n/, or /ŋ/), because another nasal sound is nearby to influence it.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| funny | munny | /f/ changed to /m/ because of the nearby nasal sound, /n/ |
| penny | menny | /p/ changed to /m/ because of the nearby nasal sound, /n/ |
| donut | nonut | /d/ changed to /n/ because of the nearby nasal sound, /n/ |
Liquid Assimilation
Liquid assimilation is a phonological process that occurs when a nonliquid sound is influenced and changed by a neighboring liquid sound.
Liquid sounds include l and r. An example of liquid assimilation might be saying “lellow” for “yellow”.
Liquid Assimilation Examples
As a reminder, when liquid assimilation occurs, a NON-LIQUID sound changes to L or R (the liquid sounds), because a neighboring L or R influenced it.
| Target Word | What Child Says | What Changed |
| yellow | lellow | “y” changed to /l/ because of the nearby liquid sound, /l/ |
| jelly | lelly | “DJ” changed to /l/ because of the nearby liquid sound, /l/ |
How To Target Liquid Assimilation
Minimal pairs, such as ‘lake’ vs ‘wake’, can be very useful when targeting liquid assimilation.
Reminding your student to ‘slow down’ can be important.
Tricky words, like ‘yellow’, could be broken down into syllables. For example, try drawing pictures to represent the word “YELL” and “OH”. Then use a method like backward chaining (say ‘OH’, then ‘yell-oh’) while pointing to the pictures to help say the word correctly.
References
Bauman-Waengler, J. A. (2012). Articulatory and phonological impairments. New York, NY: Pearson Higher Education.
Pena-Brooks, Adriana (2007). Articulation and Phonological Disorders: Assessment and Treatment Manual. Austin, Texas: Pro-Ed Inc.
“Selected Phonological Processes.” Selected Phonological Processes, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/articulation-and-phonology/selected-phonological-processes/.
About the Author
Karen Krogg, M.S., CCC-SLP is an ASHA-certified Speech-Language Pathologist with experience in preschool, elementary, and middle schools with over 15 years of experience. Additionally, she creates effective activities and materials that are trusted by hundreds of school SLPs and are available at her TpT store, The Pedi Speechie. Her most popular resources include her Minimal Pairs Bundle, Semantic Relationships Worksheets, and Lisp and Vocalic R Programs. Her work, including Ideas for 7 Fun and Easy Ways to Get Moving in Sessions and Tips to Teach Core Vocabulary to AAC Users, has been featured in The ASHA Leader. When she isn’t treating speech sound disorders or writing IEPs, she’s reading about medieval history or hanging out with her husband and two children.
