Initial consonant deletion is the phonological process when a child consistently leaves off consonants from the beginning of words.  For example, “stick” becomes “ick” and “tree” becomes “ee”.  While young children often leave consonants off of the ends of words, it is not common for children to delete beginning consonants.  For this reason, initial consonant deletion is considered an atypical speech error.  Children with this type of speech error would benefit greatly from being evaluated by a speech-language pathologist.

No-Prep Therapy Worksheets for ICD

Initial consonant deletion is considered a phonological disorder.  This means that the child has developed a rule in his/her head for how sounds will be used.  For this particular phonological disorder, that rule is that all consonants at the beginning of words will be deleted.  Keep in mind that the child is not doing this on purpose.  That is just his brain’s way of making words easier for him to say.  Another type of consonant deletion is final consonant deletion.  In this process, children omit the final consonants off of words.

Phonological processes are a normal part of speech development for young children and so we expect to see many of these until a child grows out of them.  When should consonant deletion disappear?  Well, we expect children to use final consonant deletion up until three years of age.  At that point, it tends to resolve on its own.  If a child doesn’t stop using final consonant deletion by that time, we may want to start therapy.

This one is more complicated.  Deleting initial consonants is not a common phonological process that most children use.  So there isn’t a specific age that we consider it “typical” to use.  For that reason, when we see this type of consonant deletion at any age, we want to go ahead and get that child evaluated for speech therapy.  The presence of this type of speech error could indicate a problem with the child’s phonological system that may require therapy to overcome.

The goal of therapy for initial consonant deletion is for the child to start producing those consonants at the beginning of words.  Here’s the step-by-step process (with activities!) for treating this condition:

The first step is to help the child hear the difference between words that should have a beginning consonant and words that should not.  Find minimal pairs of words that are exactly the same except that one has an initial consonant and one does not.  Examples would be “up” and “cup” or “off” and “cough”.  You can use my word list below or make up your own.  Free Printable Worksheets are Available in our Material Library

up/cup

in/thin

awesome/possum

Get Pictures of Those Words: You will need to show the child pictures of those words.  You can find pictures using Google Image Search, take your own pictures, or draw pictures.  Or, purchase our initial consonant deletion no-prep therapy kit that has them all done for you!

Tell the child what each word is called  (“this is cup, this is up”) and then ask the child to point to one of the words.  See if the child can hear the difference between the two words.  You may need to play games to get the child to do this.  Here’s a video with a fun game called “hide the penny” that works great for this!

Once the child can point to the correct picture about 80% of the time, you’re ready to have the child say those words.  Show the child a minimal pair of two words again.  Help the child say each word, one with a beginning consonant and one without.  If the child is struggling to say the beginning consonant, have him say the consonant by itself first, then say the whole thing.  You may have to allow the child to pause between the beginning sound and the word for now, then gradually work on eliminating the pause.

Now it’s time to help the child start using beginning consonants in short phrases and eventually sentences.  Start by having the child say a repeating phrase like “my ____” or “no _____”.  Cycle through the words he or she has already practiced in the previous step.  Once the child is successful with that, you can start increasing the phrase length up through simple sentences.

Once the child is able to say the sound in sentences, you’ll want to work on the sound in conversation. For more information on practicing sounds in conversation, check out my post on increasing self-awareness and carry-over: Click Here to Learn About Teaching Sounds in Conversation

Check out our additional resources on treating initial consonant deletion:

No-Prep Worksheets for ICD

One of the best therapy approaches for initial consonant deletion

Check out the freebies that we have inside our Free Therapy Material Library!

Initial Consonant Deletion Worksheet

Initial Consonant Deletion Minimal Pairs Word List

Guide to Teaching a Sound Class (Phonological Approach)

Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.

Fun Fact: I ran my own private practice for several years.  I rented an office out of the back of my childhood pediatrician’s office and only accepted cash pay patients.  We had enough of a need in my area that I didn’t need to bill insurance.  I closed the practice when my online business was taking off enough that I needed to dedicate my time to it full time.  I referred all of my patients/clients to a friend of mine who was opening her practice.  I have since worked for her practice when I wanted to get back into direct client contact for a bit.

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