Correcting a Lisp: Why Experts are Overrated
By: Keith
My six year old has a frontal lisp when pronouncing words with S or Z. I did a little research on how to correct the problem and I discovered that the information available pretty much all involves therapy. Well, call me old fashioned, or modern, or whatever really, but I don’t like therapy for anything apart from major mental problems (reference Charles Manson). Of course, I would have seen a therapist if my attempts at self correction were a complete failure. So far the results have been pretty good. Guess what? It didn’t take a bazillion dollars either. All it has taken so far is to stop the boy whenever he says an S, go over the word slowly, have him watch me say it, and repeat ’till success has been achieved. Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t serious cases of speech problems that I could solve. Neil’s problem was far from serious. It reminds me of the time I went to a doctor for a calcium growth under the skin on my pinky toe. The doctor said there was nothing he could do about it. I went home that day, heated up a knife, and I cut that sucker right out by myself. I’ve got a picture of the big bloody hole to prove it. I’ll see a doctor when I need my spleen taken out. Otherwise doctors, and experts in general, don’t know me as well as I know me.
The Bad Habit
Neil has had a lisp for as long as he’s been speaking. I thought it was just a natural baby sort of thing so I didn’t do anything about it, at first. But, because I’m an observant parent, I paid attention to his peers and discovered that very few of them have lisps. Hmmm, I thought to myself. It’s time to do something about this. Anybody who reads this blog regularly knows that I homeschool my kids. That made it easy to incorporate some homemade speech therapy into our lessons. Of course, I’m not a professional so I probably didn’t use the approved methods, but I think experts are overrated anyway. My feeling is that the lisp is nothing more than a bad habit. Runners develop all sorts of bad habits when they learn to run. That’s why so few people can run fast in a straight line. I have a friend who couldn’t swim until he got into high school. Did he take lessons? Nope. He got a book on swimming from the library and read it, then he jumped in the pool and almost drowned. Then he tried it again, and again, until he stopped almost drowning and started swimming. So why not try it with the lisp?
The Correction
Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator, had a speech impediment. He had a variety of problems including stuttering and a weak voice. I don’t know if he also had a lisp but he was, at least in the beginning, a rather inarticulate guy. He overcame his problems by what amounts to self medication (because professionals were probably just as useless back in those days as they are now). He went down to the ocean, stuffed his mouth with pebbles, and tried to talk over the waves and wind. The rocks made him speak clearly and the wind and waves forced him to project his voice. He also practiced in front of a mirror. And, the only reason we remember him is because of his oration skills. Go figure. Neil and I aren’t quite that extreme, but we do practice speaking over the television. We practice projecting our voices without yelling. I made a list of about 50 S words that we have been working on; he’ll stand in front of our mirror and say the words with me watching him. We’ve been doing it for a week and a half. The boy is just about cured of his lisp.
Again, if his speech impediment were anything approaching the severity of Daffy Duck or Barney Frank then I’d certainly seek professional help. There are so many problems that we can deal with ourselves. Most experts are a waste of time and money. Our intuition is normally spot on. When I was a kid one of my favorite activities was hitting a tennis ball against a backboard for hours and hours at a time. I got good at tennis not from having coaches; I got good at it because my intuition told me to practice hitting a ball against a wall until I never missed. The lisp is the same way. My intuition tells me that the way to cure a lisp is to practice until every S comes out perfect. I really think it’s that simple. We have to ask ourselves, “How did people like Demosthenes overcome their problems before modern medicine and therapy?” The answer is that they took matters into their own hands and figured it out themselves. Maybe it wasn’t a perfect way to do it, but it was at least self reliant. I’m a fan of self reliance.
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If only there were a lot more like you!
For those that want to help themselves I have put together a video to help you get started. Take it with a grain of salt though. I am an expert:)
.-= Marcus Little´s last blog ..Stimulability – The Foundation for Success. =-.
Hey, Marcus. I just saw your videos. Very nicely done!
Me parece estupenda tu logica. Y lo mejor es que te ha dado resultados. Lo unico que le agregaria a tu articulo es que expliques como es la forma correcta de pronunciar la S, pues, la mayoria que entra a leerlo es porque presente ese problema o conoce a alguien que lo presente, para corregirlo.
So how is that lisp now Mr. Fix it yourself?
Ashley: I must admit that it was more persistent that I expected it to be. But, in the end, I actually did succeed it correcting it. It took repeated tongue twisters and a lot of practice making the sounds slowly. But, yeah. It’s gone now.
Demosthenes: Could his name really have been Demosenes but the ‘th’ got added in the middle because of his lisp? What cruel person put that ‘s’ in the word lisp anyway. Working on curing my 7 year old the same way you did. Wish me luck.
IM 22 AND ALWAYS HAD A LISP,BUT IT HAD KINDA GONE AWAY BUT FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS IV HEARD MYSELF AND PEOPLE ASK ME WHY I SOUND LIKE THAT AND I COULD HEAR IT MORE,I HATE IT!!!MY BOYFRIEND TELLS ME NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT BUT ITS GETTING SO BAD THAT SOMETIMES I REALLY WANT TO CRY. : – ( WHAT DO I DO?
Julie: If you’d like to practice on your own, I suggest doing it in front of a mirror. Also, if you look down the comments here, there’s a guy named Marcus Little. I know I say I don’t rely on experts to fix problems, but Marcus has a bunch of free resources on his website and videos which I think are really helpful to assist you in your practice. Give it a try. Hope that helps a little.
Hi Keith,
I read this article with interest. As a Speech and Langauge Therapist I am often confronted by parents who feel homework activities are not appropriate and wish for me to ‘fix’ their child instead. Homework activities are an essential and highly important part of therapy. I am pleased to hear that you have been successful in assisting your son in resolving his lisp. However, I am keen to comment on your first statement in bold type which is very misinformed:
“All it has taken so far is to stop the boy whenever he says an S, go over the word slowly, have him watch me say it, and repeat ’till success has been achieved.”
Stopping your child every time they say a target sound and having them correct it can lead to your child developing a stammer/stutter.
Correcting your child and highlighting their mistakes in speech and/or language can lead to them feeling negative about speaking and communicating.
The best thing you can do is indeed to raise your child’s awareness of the way in which they are saying the sound compared to adult production – such as in front of a mirror as you have mentioned later in your article.
Once they are able to produce a clear /s/ without seeing their tongue, you can have them practice Consonant-Vowel combinations, e.g. sa, see, so. I like to use a teeth and a tongue picture to allow the child to choose which one they used. You should avoid telling them they were wrong – focus on praise for use of a clear /s/ and allow them to develop their own self awareness. Once Consonant-Vowel combinations can be produced correctly, move on to single words beginning with /s/.
My advice would always be to see a Speech and Language Therapist before attempting home therapy. You are likely to find that they will be highly supportive of a home programme as an alternative to regular sessions. An initial appointment with a Speech and Language Therapist would have given you and your child the information and techniques you needed to carry out an informed, effective home programme without the need to attend weekly for a long period.
I hope this information is of use to any parents considering trying therapy at home.
Two years on, no stutter and no lisp. My way worked like a charm.
I am so glad that you were able to correct the problem with dedication, awarness and time with your child. Obviously with love and concern and logic you were able to figure it out. My concern is that we have parents that forget to feed or wash their child on a regular basis, or don’t realize that children need to sleep at least 8 hours at least on school nights who will read this article and think that speech theropy is bad or a waist of time. For many of our children, this speech will be the only help they will ever get to sound more “adult like” before their habbits become too ingrown and unchangeable. I am grateful that we have one speech theropist at our school.
Kindergarten Teacher