The Maximal Opposition approach is a phonological intervention that is used to promote systemwide generalization in a child's speech by targeting more difficult sounds and focusing on the sounds distinctive features (click here to download a FREE distinctive features chart!). Therapy targets will be two phonemes that are maximally different. Research suggests that, by targeting these more difficult sounds, generalization will occur across different areas: treated-sound, within-class, and across class, thus improving the production of other sounds, too.

An ideal client who would benefit most from this approach would be one who meets the following criteria:  

• between the ages of 3 to 8 years old

• have a moderate-to-severe phonological disorder

• have low intelligibility with many missing sounds in their repertoire 

• have multiple errors across different sound classes.

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When implementing this approach in therapy, there are two phases:

• Phase #1: Imitation

  • Imitation in words

  • 75% accuracy before progressing to next phase

• Phase #2: Spontaneous

  • Productions without prompting

  • 90% accuracy and reassess

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The video below details more about the Maximal Oppositions Approach:

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