What skill is demonstrated when a child identifies the word that doesn't belong in a set?

The ability to identify the word that doesn't belong in a set demonstrates phoneme categorization. This skill involves recognizing which words share a common phonetic feature and which does not, thus allowing the child to differentiate one word from the others based on sound. For instance, if a child is presented with the words "cat," "bat," "hat," and "dog," they would use phoneme categorization to determine that "dog" does not fit with the rest since it begins with a different sound.

Phoneme blending, on the other hand, requires the ability to combine individual sounds to form a word, while phoneme segmentation involves breaking a word into its individual sounds. Phoneme substitution is the ability to replace one phoneme in a word with another to create a new word. These skills focus more on manipulation and understanding of phonemes within words rather than categorization based on shared phonetic attributes. Thus, the skill related to identifying the word that doesn't belong is specifically associated with phoneme categorization.