Recent research has demonstrated that target selection is an important link between phonological assessment and intervention. It is a significant variable in treatment efficacy because, as suggested by Camarata and Nelson (1992), acquisition efficiency is at least predicated on the selection of targets that are addressed in intervention.

Typically, speech-language pathologists have relied on phonetic factors that were based on developmental norms and/or stimulability. Specifically, those who adhered to a traditional approach to target selection chose sounds that were stimulable and early developing. This traditional approach to target selection was based on the assumption that earlier, stimulable sounds were easier to produce and followed a developmental sequence of acquisition.