Speech
Stopping in Speech: Why Your Child Says "Tun" for "Sun"
What stopping is, when it usually stops for each sound, a quick check you can do at home, and how to help: long and short sounds, stopping minimal pairs, games and free picture cards.
When a child says “tun” for sun, “pish” for fish or “too” for shoe, the pattern is called stopping: a long sound like s, f or sh comes out as a short sound like t, p or d. It is a normal part of learning to talk, and it fades sound by sound. In the table published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), stopping of f and s usually goes away by 3, of v and z by 4, and of sh, ch and j by 5.
Every tip on this page comes back to one idea, long sounds against short ones. You can hold an s or an f for as long as your breath lasts. You cannot hold a t or a p: the sound is over as soon as it starts. A child who stops is cutting the long sound short, and practice teaches them to let it last.
What is the stopping phonological process?
The stopping phonological process is a speech pattern where a long, airy sound is replaced by a short stop sound. ASHA’s Practice Portal defines it as “a fricative and/or an affricate is replaced with a stop sound”. Fricatives are the long sounds made by pushing air through a narrow gap, such as s, f, z, v and sh. Affricates are ch and j, which start short and finish airy. Stops are p, b, t, d, k and g.
Stopping happens across many words at once, which is what makes it a pattern rather than trouble with one sound: the same child might say “tun” for sun, “tock” for sock and “pan” for fan. It is one of the phonological processes, the patterns young children use to make words easier to say while they learn to talk.
A child who says “thun” for sun is not stopping: the s stays long, but the tongue slips forward between the teeth, which is a lisp.
The word “stopping” names what happens to the sound: the air stops. It has nothing to do with stopping speech therapy.
Is stopping normal? When does it usually stop?
Stopping is a normal part of learning to talk, and in ASHA’s table it goes away at different ages for different sounds: by 3 for f and s, by 4 for v and z, and by 5 for sh, ch, j and the voiced th in that. ASHA adds that these ages “can vary greatly in each child”.
| Long sound | Often said as | Example | Usually gone by |
|---|---|---|---|
| f | p | ”pan” for fan | 3 |
| s | t | ”tun” for sun | 3 |
| v | b | ”ban” for van | 4 |
| z | d | ”doo” for zoo | 4 |
| sh | t | ”top” for shop | 5 |
| ch | t | ”top” for chop | 5 |
| j | d | ”dam” for jam | 5 |
| th in that | d | ”dat” for that | 5 |
So a 3-year-old who says “too” for shoe is on schedule, and a 5-year-old who still says “tun” for sun is past the age for s. ASHA’s table has no row for the th in thumb and three, which many children say as t (“tree” for three); the th minimal pairs page covers that sound.
Quick stopping check
The quick stopping check is an at-home screening, not a diagnosis, and it does not replace an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist. Ask your child to name these 12 pictures or things, and note for each whether you heard the long sound or a short sound in its place. Do not correct them during the check.
| Words | Long sound | If you hear | Usually gone by |
|---|---|---|---|
| sun, sock | s | ”tun”, “tock” | 3 |
| fish, fork | f | ”pish”, “pork” | 3 |
| zoo, zebra | z | ”doo”, “debra” | 4 |
| van, vest | v | ”ban”, “best” | 4 |
| shoe, ship | sh | ”too”, “tip” | 5 |
| chair | ch | ”tair” | 5 |
| jam | j | ”dam” | 5 |
Read the notes by sound and by age, not by count. A short sound before the age in the last column is usually part of learning to talk. A short sound past that age, for that sound, is worth taking to a speech-language pathologist along with your notes.
How can I help my child with stopping at home?
Help a child who stops by teaching the idea of long and short first, then holding the long sound, then stretching it at the start of a word, then playing with pairs. The long-and-short framing comes from the children’s speech and language therapy service at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS, which calls s and f “long sounds because we can keep the sound going for a long time” and t and p “short sounds as they cannot be lengthened”. The same service advises making sure children “understand the difference between long and short before they work on the sound”, with long and short things to compare or long and short lines to draw.
Play long and short
Before any words, draw a long line and a short line, or hold up a long scarf and a short sock. Say ssssss while you trace the long line and a quick t for the short one, and let your child do the same.
Make the long sound last
Say the long sound on its own and hold it, ffffff or ssssss, while your child copies you. Put a hand in front of your mouth: the air keeps coming on a long sound and stops at once on t or p.
Stretch it at the start of a word
Hold the first sound, then finish the word: sssss-un, fffff-an. Shorten the stretch as your child gets it, until sun comes out as sun.
Practice with the pairs
Lay out a pair such as fan and pan. Say one and let your child point, then swap roles and point to the one you heard. If your child says pan when they meant fan, point to the pan and try again.
Keep sessions to 5–10 minutes on most days. The Norfolk and Waveney children’s speech and language therapy team (NHS) tells parents to “practise little and often, 5-10 minutes every day is better than one hour once a week” (PDF). If your child sees a speech-language pathologist, follow their plan and their target sound first.
Stopping minimal pairs
Stopping minimal pairs are two words that differ only in a long sound against the short sound a child puts in its place, such as fan and pan. Because the child’s version is a real word, saying “pan” for fan asks for the wrong thing, which is what makes the pair worth practicing. The sets follow ASHA’s age groups, so start with the sound that is past its usual age, or the one your child’s speech-language pathologist chose.
| F and s (by 3) | Short sound |
|---|---|
| fan | pan |
| fin | pin |
| fig | pig |
| sub | tub |
| sail | tail |
| sew | toe |
| V and z (by 4) | Short sound |
|---|---|
| vat | bat |
| zip | dip |
| Sh, ch and j (by 5) | Short sound |
|---|---|
| shoe | two |
| chop | top |
| jam | dam |
| jog | dog |
Pictured pairs for v and z are scarce, because most of the short-sound partners cannot be drawn: ban for van, best for vest. For more z practice, the s and z words for speech page sorts z words by where the sound falls.
Stopping games and activities
Each game gives your child a reason to make the long sound last.
- Long or short sort. Mix the pair cards and sort them into 2 piles: words that start with a sound you can hold (fan, sail, shoe) and words that start with a quick one (pan, tail, two). Say each word as it goes down.
- Feed the monster. Say a word, and your child feeds that picture to a toy monster. The monster only eats the fan if you said fan.
- Race the car. Push a toy car along the table for as long as your child holds the first sound, ssssss-un. A t would stop the car straight away.
- Go fish and memory with 2 sets of the pair cards. “Do you have the fan?” only counts when the asker says fan.
Free printable stopping cards and worksheets
The pair cards and the listening sheet use the 12 pairs in the stopping tables on this page, and the picture cards practice s, f and sh at the start of a word. Start with the listening sheet if your child is not yet saying the long sound: hearing the difference usually comes before saying it.
| Long sound at the start | Picture card words |
|---|---|
| s | sun, soap, sock, seal, saw, sub, six, seven, seed, sink, soup, circle |
| f | fan, fish, fork, four, fox, feather, fire, fin, fig, finger, five |
| sh | shoe, ship, shell, shark, shirt, shed, shop, shovel |
Free PDF · no sign-up
Free printable stopping cards
Pair cards for f and s, v and z, and sh, ch and j with the games on the last page, a circle-the-one-I-say listening sheet, and s, f and sh picture cards for the start of the word. The speech sound cue cards and a practice log come from the minimal pairs page, and the mouth shape cards for every sound from the English sounds chart. No account, no email.
- Minimal Pair Cards (PDF)12 pairs · 5 pages
- Circle the One I Say (PDF)12 pairs · answer key included · 3 pages
- Articulation Picture Cards (PDF)31 cards for S, F and Sh · 4 pages
- Speech Sound Cue Cards (PDF)7 sounds · 4 pages
- Mouth Shape Cards (PDF)46 sounds · 9 pages
- 5-Minute Speech Practice Log (PDF)5 days · 1 page
How do speech therapists treat stopping?
Speech-language pathologists usually treat stopping by working on the contrast it erases, long against short, most often with minimal pairs. ASHA’s Practice Portal describes minimal pair therapy as using “pairs of words that differ by only one phoneme or single feature signaling a change in meaning”, and practice that moves “at increasingly challenging levels (e.g., syllables, words, phrases/sentences, conversational speaking)”.
Minimal pairs are not the only option. A review by Holly Storkel (2022) compares minimal pairs with maximal and multiple oppositions, which pair the target with a very different sound or with several sounds at once, and notes that the conventional minimal pair approach has been used in over 40–50 research studies. Which approach suits a child is the speech-language pathologist’s call.
When should a child see a speech-language pathologist for stopping?
Ask a speech-language pathologist if your child still stops a sound well past its usual age, if people outside the family find their speech hard to follow, or if you are worried. In ASHA’s table, that age is 3 for f and s, 4 for v and z, and 5 for sh, ch and j. A worry is reason enough to ask.
For a wider screening of the common speech patterns, use the 2-minute picture check on the minimal pairs page. It is a screening, not a diagnosis. ASHA ProFind lists certified speech-language pathologists in the United States.
Frequently asked questions
What are the typical ages for stopping phonological processes?
It depends on the sound. In the table published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, stopping of f and s usually goes away by 3, stopping of v and z by 4, and stopping of sh, ch, j and the voiced th in that by 5. ASHA notes that these ages can vary greatly from child to child.
Differences between stopping and other phonological processes like gliding or fronting?
Each pattern swaps a different group of sounds. Stopping turns a long sound into a short one, so sun becomes tun. Fronting moves a sound from the back of the mouth to the front, so key becomes tea. Gliding turns r or l into w, so rabbit becomes wabbit. They also fade at different ages: stopping by 3–5 depending on the sound, fronting by 4 and gliding by 6–7, in ASHA's table.
Stopping phonological processes vs. articulation therapy: What's the difference?
Stopping is a pattern across a group of sounds, so therapy for it usually works on the contrast the pattern erases, often with minimal pairs such as fan and pan or sub and tub. Articulation therapy works on how one sound is made, such as where the tongue goes for s. A speech-language pathologist decides which a child needs, and some children need both.
Why are stopping minimal pairs important in speech therapy?
When a child who stops says pan for fan, a minimal pair turns the mix-up into a different word, so the child hears that the long sound changes the meaning. That is what the pair practices. ASHA's Practice Portal describes minimal pairs as words that differ by only one sound and signal a change in meaning.
Is there a relationship between phonological processes and literacy development?
Both rest on hearing the separate sounds in words. The practice guide on foundational reading skills from the Institute of Education Sciences recommends helping children become aware of the sounds in spoken words and how they link to letters, which is the same listening a child uses to hear that sun starts with s and not t. If a pattern lasts well past its usual age, a speech-language pathologist is the right person to ask.
Related guides
Last updated