How Does A Lisp Impact Speech?
Types of Lisp Speech Disorders
Lisps, also referred to as Functional Speech Disorders or FMDs, are amongst the most commonly identified and widely recognized speech problems people experience. A lisp is an articulation problem that causes the inability to pronounce one or more consonant sounds. The most common example of this is difficulty pronouncing the letter sounds “s” or “z.” This type of lisp is most often due to incorrect placement of the tongue within the mouth and is called an Interdental lisp. However, this is just one of four main types of lisps. Lisps can be common and normal in various stages of speech development in children. In some cases, the lisp doesn’t fade as the child grows and persists into adulthood.
Lisps are among the most common speech disorders, with approximately 23% of individuals working with a speech therapist addressing a functional speech disorder. Speech therapy provides tailored treatment and support for individuals of all ages who are struggling with their articulation.
If you or someone close to you is in need of support to overcome a lisp, connecting with a specialized speech therapist is an important first step. Learn more about speech therapy for lisps by scheduling your free introductory call today!
What are the Different Types of Lisps?
Lisps can take many different forms; however, four main types are most commonly identified among speech and language pathologists. They are:
Interdental lisp: An interdental lisp is the most common and well-known type of lisp. It is caused by the tongue pushing forward between the front teeth. In the case of an interdental lisp, the “s” or “z” sound is pronounced like “th”.
Dentalized Lisp or Dentalized Production: This type of lisp occurs when the tongue pushes against the front teeth. This results in a muffled “s” or “z” sound.
Lateral Lisp: A lateral lisp occurs when air exits the mouth out of the sides, resulting in slushy or wet-sounding speech as the spoken sound mixes with the sound of air and saliva. This type of lisp is most famously depicted by cartoon characters such as Sylvester the Cat and Daffy Duck.
Palatal Lisp: This type of lisp is less common and occurs when the center of the tongue is in contact with the roof of the mouth or the soft palate when attempting to produce the s sound.
What Causes a Lisp?
Like other functional speech disorders, the cause of lisps isn’t always known. In these cases, a lisp would be classified as a speech delay or disorder with an unknown origin. Some of the known causes or risk factors in lisp development include:
Phonetic vs Linguistic Factors: When it comes to lisps, the cause is almost always a phonetic disorder, meaning the affected person struggles to position the tongue, lips, teeth, and jaw correctly to achieve the attempted sound. This differentiates lisps from other speech disorders which are linguistic in origin, meaning the intended sounds can be achieved, but the person struggles with knowing and identifying which sound to use, especially when they are similar to others in sound or meaning.
Physiological Differences: In some cases, there are structural or physiological factors that contribute to the cause of a lisp. These can include abnormalities or irregularities with the soft palate, tongue, teeth, or position of teeth, While these things can be factors in lisp development, they are usually not the main or root cause.
Genetic Factors: Genetics can play a significant role in the development, structure, and position of one’s jaw, teeth, tongue, and bite. In some cases, a lisp can be caused by abnormal development or positioning of the jaw or teeth.
Tongue Thrust/ Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder: Tongue thrust or OMD refers to the reflex of pushing the tongue forward between the front teeth. This reflex is normal in babies and children, and in most cases, children’s speaking and swallowing patterns evolve and develop normally. By the age of 6, most children no longer have a tongue thrust reflex. In some cases, prolonged tongue thrust is related to extended use of pacifiers, baby bottles, or other habits such as thumb sucking, allergies, or an untreated tongue-tie.
Hearing Loss: Some lisps are related to mild hearing loss, particularly involving high frequencies, which can affect the person’s ability to hear sounds correctly, and subsequently, they will struggle to repeat them.
What are the Early Signs of a Persistent Lisp?
It can be difficult for parents to know whether their child’s lisp is a normal part of speech development or a sign that their articulation challenges will persist beyond childhood. As a general rule, if a child’s lisp continues beyond the age of 5, it is recommended to seek an evaluation by a speech and language pathologist. Some of the other most common signs of a persistent lisp in children include:
Distortion of Speech Sounds: If your child has consistent difficulty producing the “s”, “z”, “ch”, or “sh” sounds, this can be an early sign of a persistent lisp.
Tongue Placement Difficulties: Some children will press their tongue against the teeth or stick the tongue out when speaking. This can indicate issues with tongue placement that should be addressed by a speech and language pathologist.
Speech Sound Substitutions: If your child regularly replaces difficult-to-pronounce sounds with other sounds that they can produce more easily, this can be a sign of a persistent lisp. An example of this would be swapping out the “s” sound for a “th” sound, causing the child to say “thun” instead of “sun” or “thwing” instead of “swing.”
Delayed Speech Development: Some children with a persistent lisp display a more general delay in speech development. If your child seems “behind” in their speech production relative to other children their age, it might be a good idea to consult with a speech therapist.
Pronunciation Inconsistencies: It is common for children with a persistent lisp to struggle to produce certain sounds in some words or contexts and not in others. These inconsistencies can be an early sign of a persistent lisp that should be addressed by a qualified speech and language pathologist.
It is important to note that early intervention speech therapy offers the best outcome for children facing articulation challenges and persistent lisps. Speech therapists provide tailored treatment plans and age-appropriate interventions to support early speech development and solidify important skills such as tongue placement and the coordination of the tongue, lips, and jaw during speech production. If your child is exhibiting any of the signs listed above, we recommend speaking with a speech and language pathologist. Connect with us by scheduling your free introductory call today!
What are the Psychological Impacts of Lisping?
When left untreated, a lisp can have profound psychological effects on a child or adult. Children who lisp often face bullying and teasing by other children, often causing them to develop low self-esteem or social anxiety.
In some cases, this leads children with a lisp to withdraw or avoid communicating with others. They may speak less in general, which limits their ability to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. This type of communication avoidance can also make it difficult to build and maintain meaningful relationships and achieve social and academic success.
The silver lining is that children who work with a speech therapist and successfully overcome their speech challenges develop a strong sense of resilience and empowerment, which can benefit them in all aspects of their lives.
Home Exercises for Lisping
While speech therapy offers the best outcome for individuals wanting to overcome an articulation disorder such as a lisp, there are a few exercises that can be done at home to support these efforts and ensure steady progress toward communication goals.
Use a Mirror: Speaking in front of a mirror provides clear visual feedback for correct tongue placement. By using a mirror as a guide, practice producing the challenging speech sounds while ensuring proper tongue placement. This technique can help individuals to replicate correct tongue placement, speech patterns, and mouth movements on their own. If your child is working on their “s” sound, for instance, they must be sure that their tongue stays behind their front teeth. By mastering correct placement and movements, your child can effectively improve their overall speech sound production accuracy.
Simple Drills: Sound drills are commonly used in speech therapy, as they are an effective technique for practicing proper pronunciation of challenging speech sounds. Have your child repeat words that contain the challenging sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of words and sentences. By practicing the production of these sounds in various contexts, your child will gradually master the sound and maintain correct tongue placement during speech.
Practice Conversations: Using everyday speech and conversation to practice articulating the difficult sounds reinforces any progress made and encourages further development during lisp speech therapy. By engaging in simple conversations with your child and providing your undivided attention, you encourage them to continue to work on their articulation and strengthen their speech production using natural speech situations. If your child does lisp during your conversation, don’t stop the exercise to correct them. Instead, revert back to simpler steps and build on those skills.
How is a Lisp Treated? Can a Lisp be Corrected?
Speech Therapy can be incredibly effective when it comes to addressing pronunciation and articulation concerns such as lisping. Speech Therapy to improve a lisp typically involves a progression of skill development, working first to clearly say the challenging sounds on their own (S and Z, for example) and then, over time, working to properly execute these sounds within various words and combinations of words.
How long this process takes and what the steps between each goal look like, will vary from person to person. Speech Therapy will aim to bring awareness to the various challenges and areas in need of improvement and to help bring mindfulness to related goals and positive outcomes. This is referred to as Articulation Therapy.
Some specific techniques in individualized therapy might include the use of verbal, visual, or tactile cues. Verbal cues refer to the use of verbal instructions and demonstrate how to properly and effectively position the tongue and lips to articulate the sound. Visual clues include modeling how the sound should look and sound, as well as the use of gestures to illustrate a certain sound. Tactile cues are when the therapist models the positioning and placement of the tongue and lips using touch. Other techniques that may be included in speech therapy are muscle strengthening exercises, learning to pronounce certain sounds and words, and a more general approach to annunciation coaching and support.
If you or your loved one is struggling to identify or correct a lisp, connecting with a speech therapist can be an incredibly helpful and effective first step. Simply book a free introductory call and start your journey with one of our highly specialized therapists.