Does your Preschooler have a Lisp?

Who can forget cute Cindy Brady’s lisp from the classic television show The Brady Bunch? Though many viewers found this trait endearing, many children are upset by lisps that can sometimes cause problems in school and with peers. Lisps can be innocuous and short term for many preschoolers, but in some cases therapy is needed to prevent a long lasting lisp and its associated problems.

How can a lisp affect your preschooler?

A lisp is a speech problem that can affect your child’s ability to make speech sounds to varying degrees. Speech experts generally say that lisps usually outgrow by age 7 to 8 because that’s when “s” and “z” sounds are generally mastered. But for some, lisps can last a lifetime without proper therapy. For some, a long lasting lisp can affect school and social development. Having a lisp may not cause difficulty in understanding your preschooler’s speech by others, but it can cause others to view your preschooler as “different” and can negatively affect development in that way.

What is a lisp?

There are different types of lisps that speech pathologists use for clinical diagnosis, but for non-experts, a lisp in a preschooler is noticeable usually when “th” or “shl” sounds are made instead of “s” or “z” sounds. This usually happens when the tongue touches the front teeth or protrudes between the rows of teeth when speaking. For example, your preschooler may say “tho what?” instead of “so what?” or “thipper” instead of “zipper.”

What to do for a preschooler who has a lisp?

What should preschooler parents do if there is a lisp? Waiting to see if your preschooler outgrows a lisp by age 7 or 8 is not the best idea, according to speech pathologist Caroline Bowen (www.speech-language-therapy.com). If a lisp is still present at 4 ½ years old, she recommends parents should at least have a professional evaluation by a speech-language therapist (SLP) to see if therapy should be started. The length and success of therapy for a lisp depends on the child, though according to Bowen, therapy is usually short-term and successful. Be aware, however, that this is up for debate among other speech-language experts.

At home, parents can use these modeling techniques as a first step to help their preschooler with a lisp. All of these things should be implemented, of course, in an encouraging, light-hearted and relaxed manner!

1. Emphasizing an “s” sound in an overstated way, moving the mouth and tongue slowly and properly for your preschooler to see and copy.

2. Pointing out the strong “s” sound versus the improper “th” sounds for your preschooler helps create awareness of proper speech sounds.

3. Encouraging your preschooler to keep their tongue behind their teeth when they form sounds is also helpful.

By: Pia Chaparro

References:

Bowen, C. (1999). Lisping: When /s/ and /z/ are hard to say. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/lisping.htm on 14 December 2007.

Smit, Ann Bosma. “The Iowa Articulation Norms Project and Its Nebraska Replication”Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders Jan 1990. Retrieved 11 November 2007.

York Region Preschool Speech and Language Program. Retrieved from http://www.beyond-words.org/faq.htm on Dec 14 2007