Another Lisp Question, Please

[olan719]

My dd will be 7 this summer, and a concerned aunt mentioned recently that dd has a lisp. I wasn't offended, but taken back a little bit. I had never noticed this, nor had anyone else ever said anything about it. Her speech sounds are very clear, easy to understand, and her diction great. Aunt agrees, but didn't want dd to be made fun of for the way she makes the s sound.

 

DD clearly makes the /s/ sound, not a /th/. But after my aunt mentioned it, I did notice dd is sticking her tongue out between her teeth when she makes s sounds. I have no idea how she is physically doing this! I cannot emulate it without it being /th/. The only slight variation in her s sound I can hear is her /s/ sound is possibly longer and "hissier" because her teeth don't stop the sound as quickly.

 

DD has a severe crossbite, and overcrowding which is under the care of an ortho. Within a year or so, we will be getting a palate expander. So I'm not sure if any of this is a physical accomodation. She can make the s sound with her teeth together, but because her bite is so awful, she clenches her teeth to make it a comfortable fit, so the /s/ sounds forced this way.

 

At this point, I'm planning to discuss with ortho and pedi this summer. I'm a little upset with myself because I didn't notice this before, but I'm not sure I could have done anything anyway.

 

Has anyone else had a situation like this? Any experiences or advice is appreciated. I'd like to work with her myself for the time being (until our appts. later this summer), but I'm overwhelmed at all the programs and information.

 

Thanks!

[4wildberrys]

My first thought is that your dd will only be 7. Second, if she is making a clear 's' sound, I can't see a real need for an official program to 'fix' this. And it sounds like perhaps its her orthodontic issues that are causing this issue? In any case, I personally would not worry about it being a big issue, but maybe you could ask the orthodontist about it?

[meggie]

Is it possible it's a lateral lisp? In this video, the SLP demonstrates what a bi-lateral lisp is. It does sound like a cat hissing. It's something to do with the tongue pushing up in the middle of the palate. I would talk with her doctor when you go in this summer.

[snickelfritz]

This is the way my dd makes her s's. When the pathologist evaluated her, she sounded almost flawless. When they marked her visually, she missed enough to score at the 10 percentile. Although her tongue comes out enough to be easily noticible and she does get garbled when tired or upset.

 

Here is my opinion, it DOES make a difference. For my dd, it is a bad habit that was practiced for 4+?? Years. However long she has been talking. The longer we go without fixing it, the longer it will take to fix.

 

Now, we don't have the palate/teeth issues you describe. I'm not a professional to possibly know how those affect things, But "I" would get a professional opinion and I would start the process now. It took us a few months to get in for the evaluation and then a few more months to get started with therapy.

Edited May 13, 2011 by snickelfritz

[snickelfritz]

I actually just saw that you see a pediatrician and ortho this summer. Our pediatrician was only able to help by referring us to a speech pathologist. The ortho might be more helpful.

[olan719]

Thanks for the responses. I did watch that bilateral lisp video yesterday, and it doesn't appear to me that she is doing that. In that video, the teeth appear together, and she is sticking her tongue out between her teeth like in the /th/ sound, but instead it makes an /s/ sound.

 

I definitely plan to discuss this with the ortho and pedi this summer.

 

Snickelfritz, that is interesting your dd makes it the same way. It's rather bizarre. Like you said, it sounds right, but I cannot do it myself! I've thought about getting an independent speech eval, but I know it's pricey. And then you have the therapies too. But I also have reservations about using the free services from the school district. Have you had good experiences/progress so far from your dd's therapy?

 

Thanks again for everyone's input. :001_smile:

[snickelfritz]

I love the therapist. She is patient, young, fun for dd (college graduate students in a speech path program.). Progress is slow. If she is concentrating, she can speak sentences saying her s correctly. She occasionally self-corrects. But, that's an improvement from not even noticing what was right and what was wrong in January, when we started.

 

With what you have described, I'm not sure your school district would even serve you. Here, they have to be a certain percent behind to qualify. If you decide to try therapy, check into university degree programs (what we use), moonlighting speech paths (trying this summer), and ask around the homeschool community. I live in a city, but I've seen occasional references to speech paths trying to build up homeschool clientele while they stay home with their own kids.

 

With an ortho appt coming up, I would try working with her a bit yourself until you talk to the ortho. He may think the teeth straightening/palate expansion will help fix it.

 

In the other lisp thread, I described some techniques our speech path uses. One other, which helps with the teeth clenching is to have them go t, t, t, t, sssss (like a snake). The /t/ sound has the same tongue position as the s, so it helps them position it.

[olan719]

I love the therapist. She is patient, young, fun for dd (college graduate students in a speech path program.). Progress is slow. If she is concentrating, she can speak sentences saying her s correctly. She occasionally self-corrects. But, that's an improvement from not even noticing what was right and what was wrong in January, when we started.

 

With what you have described, I'm not sure your school district would even serve you. Here, they have to be a certain percent behind to qualify. If you decide to try therapy, check into university degree programs (what we use), moonlighting speech paths (trying this summer), and ask around the homeschool community. I live in a city, but I've seen occasional references to speech paths trying to build up homeschool clientele while they stay home with their own kids.

 

With an ortho appt coming up, I would try working with her a bit yourself until you talk to the ortho. He may think the teeth straightening/palate expansion will help fix it.

 

In the other lisp thread, I described some techniques our speech path uses. One other, which helps with the teeth clenching is to have them go t, t, t, t, sssss (like a snake). The /t/ sound has the same tongue position as the s, so it helps them position it.

 

Thank you for sharing, particularly these techiques. I will try this while we wait for our appt. Like you said, we may not even quality for school district services. I do have another homeschooling mom that utilizes these services in our district, and I plan to talk to her. Thanks for the recommendations about other options for ST.

 

The more I think about it, I do feel the crossbite is definitely a contributor to the problem. Because when I ask her to put her teeth together to make the /s/ sound and not let her tongue get through, she has a really hard time finding a good position. I tried myself to crossbite my teeth, and it really makes for awkward tongue position when making s sounds. Even if the bite issues are not the whole cause of the lisp, I'm afraid therapy may be fruitless until her bite is propertly aligned. I don't want to pay for therapy with a "bad bite" only to need additional therapy once the bite is corrected, and have to relearn everything. I just need to talk to the ortho. I want to hurry up and get this bite corrected, but we have to wait on certain teeth to get in first. ;)

 

Thank you for listening. :001_smile: