Teaching Your Child Clear Speech: Final Consonant Deletion

Global Education Therapy, formally known as Worldwide Speech, is the pioneer of online education, speech therapy, and occupational therapy. We have over 12 years of experience providing services online.

When you hear the occupation “speech therapy,” you most often think of lisps, impediments, and stutters but it’s so much more than that! If you haven’t already checked out our Speech Sound Disorders blog, head over to learn more about what exactly a speech sound disorder entails.

Important Definitions

1. Speech Sound Disorder: Umbrella term for difficulty pronouncing speech sounds.

2. Articulation Disorder: Difficulty pronouncing certain sounds (e.g., a lisp)

3. Phonological Disorder: Patterns of errors that affect more than one sound

Phonological Delay/Disorder

A phonological disorder, on the other hand, is a pattern of errors pronouncing speech sounds (see phonological processes chart).

Some of the most common phonological error patterns include…

• Fronting: tookie for cookie

• Stopping: toap for soap

• Final consonant deletion: bo for boat

Final consonant deletion

FCD falls into the phonological delay/disorder category. FCD is when a child leaves off the final sound in a word. For example “toe” for “toad.” FCD is a typical phonological process until about 3 years old. If your child still omits the final sound in words after age 3, it’s best to meet with a speech-language pathologist to determine whether they need speech therapy. 

Benefits of working on FCD

FCD is one of the leading causes of unclear speech. When kids drop the final speech sound, the listener struggles to understand what is being said. Working on final consonant deletion is an extremely effective way to help others understand your child.

What can parents do to help?

First, click the link below for access to our free parent handout for Final Consonant Deletion below. You will find important definitions, advice on what to do if you’re child is displaying final consonant deletion past 3 years old, and a quick activity to work on final consonant deletion at home.

final-consonant-deletion-parent-handout Download

One of the best ways to target final consonant deletion is through use of minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are words that only differ by one sound. For example [1]:

• Baa (like a sheep noise…but only if you say “baa” the same way you say “bag”)/bag/bat/bad/bass/bath/back

• “R”/”arm” (technically /ar/ is a rhotic vowel, though if the child is having trouble with /r/, skip this one)

• Bee/beak/beet/beam/beast/

• Bye/bike/bite

• Bow/boat/bone

• Boo/boot/boom

• “K”/cake/cape/Kate/case/cane

• Cow/couch/count/cows

• Dry/drive

• Four/fork/fort/form/force

• Key/keys/keep

• Lie/light/life/lime

• No/nose/nope/gnome/note

• Tie/time/ties

• Tree/treat

• Purr/purse

• Go/goat

• Me/meat

• My/mice/might/mine

• You/use

• Two/toot/tune

• We/week/wheel/wheat/weep

• Tea/tease/teen

• Boy/boys

• “Q”/cute

• Toe/toast/toad/tone/toes

• Shoe/shoot/shoes

• “C”/seem/seed/seat

• Play/plane/plate

• Sew/soap/soak

Go through this list to figure out which pairs are easiest for your child. Next, create picture cards for 3 minimal pairs. You could print out real pictures, or draw your own! Put your first pair on the table in front of you. Ask your child to close their eyes while you slip a small token underneath one of the pictures. Tell your child to guess where they think the token is hidden by saying the word. If they make an error, repeat the error and model the correct pronunciation.

While it’s helpful to work on final consonant deletion at home, be aware that early intervention by professionals leads to a greater chance of carrying the skills over to everyday speech. If your child is still omitting the ends of words after 3 years old, head to our website for a free 20-minute consultation to determine your child’s needs. Our expert speech therapists are dedicated to guiding you through parenting struggles to help you help your child!

Additional resources:

1. Fun Early Learning: Final Consonant Deletion

2. The 3 do’s of treating final consonant deletion

Still have questions? You can always reach out to Global Education Therapy! Go to Global Education Therapy for our:

• FREE parent handouts 

• FREE parent resource videos

• FREE online parent support group

• FREE online webinars

• FREE 20 min consultation with Global Education Therapy to see if we can GET the help your child needs!

References:

1. https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/final-consonant-deletion