3. Sound Categorization

Sound categorization skills can be developed through oddity tasks which help children learn to compare and contrast similarities and differences in sounds. Oddity tasks involve the verbal presentation of sets of four words, one of which does not share a feature that is common to the other three. The teacher asks, "Which one doesn't belong?" Before introducing this activity it is important to ensure that the concept of group inclusion is established. This can be assessed
and, if necessary, remedied through the introduction of meaning-based categories: For example, show the child pictures of a cow, a horse, a pig, and a tree, and ask, "Which one doesn't belong?" The student should point to the picture of the tree. "Correct, tree doesn't belong because the rest are animals." A variety of examples should be used to ensure that this model is understood
at the meaning level before going on to the phonological tasks.

The sequence of introduction of these tasks is important to consider. The general principle is that one should start with sets in which the target is quite dissimilar to the other three words. Introduce more difficult sets (i.e., more similar sounds) when the child has demonstrated mastery. Begin with sets of words that have common rhymes such as mat, cat, fat; hop, top, mop, tin, pin, din, etc. Choose tar-gets that are quite different from the group words at first (e.g., mat, cat, rat, shop). Put the target at the end of the sequence for the first several examples. When the student is able to identify the target consistently, move the target word to the second-last position (e.g., mat, cat, shop, ra t). Finally, when the student is proficient with these sequences, the target may appear as the first word in the sequence. Next, introduce initial sound groups (e.g., man, mule, money, sun). Be careful not to begin with similarly formed sounds such as /m/ and /n/, or /k/ and /g/. These should be included only after mastery has been demonstrated with dissimilar sounds. When rhymes and initial sounds are well established, introduce sets of words with final consonant similarities (e.g., doll, hop, tap, sip). Once again, be careful not to introduce similar sounds until the child is firm with dissimilar sounds. Finally, introduce vowel sounds in middle and initial positions (e.g., pin, gus, fun, cup). When constructing the sets re-member to use different consonants at first to avoid confusion and, begin with sets of short vowels, then long vowels, then mixtures.