A lisp is a speech impediment that typically affects the production of the /s/ and /z/ sounds. People who have a lisp do not have clear production of the /s/ and /z/ sounds where the sounds are often described as ‘slushy’ sounding. The individuals who have a lisp will have difficulties with moving their tongue or airflow correctly to produce a clear sound.
At WELL SAID, we converse with many clients who are seeking communication improvements for a variety of professional communication concerns. Often, clients do not expect to be able to target these concerns in a speech therapy appointment as it does not appear to be traditionally thought of as something a speech-language pathologist (SLP) can work on. However, SLPs can be some of the best individuals to target these areas as we are so focused on communication in a holistic sense, with training on the physiology of the subsystems of speech.
How Speech Therapy Can Help Your Career Read Post »
Often I have a lot of clients telling me that they are having difficulties with the ‘L’ sound. So why is it so hard to say the ‘L’ in words in English such as ‘ball’, when you already have this sound in your language as well? The reason is because there are differences in how we pronounce the ‘L’ sound in English.
Are You Having Difficulty With The ‘L’ Sound? Read Post »
There are many sounds in English, but people often have trouble with R. What makes this sound harder for some people to pronounce, even into adulthood?
What Makes “R” So Difficult, and How Can I Change It? Read Post »
Whether you lisp or someone in your life has a lisp, it’s important to be aware of the challenges that can be associated.
Ten Challenges Facing People who lisp Read Post »
A sharper, more “sibilant” production of “s” has become associated with the speech of gay men. The lack of distinction between disorder vs. difference has lead many to associate any type of “s” variation in a male speaker with assumptions of that speaker’s sexuality. However, real lisps, as functional speech disorders, have no correlation with sexual orientation.
Lisp: Social Indexing and Identity Read Post »
Submitted by a WELL SAID client. Lisping does not necessarily make a person less understandable. Rather, it can be a distraction that leads the listener to focus less on the content of the message and more on the assumptions the listener makes about the speaker.
Life with a Lisp From the perspective of a client Read Post »
Have you noticed that many of the resources, blogs, and articles on the internet are for lisps and speech therapy with children, not adults? Not anymore.
Why is working on an adult lisp different than a child’s lisp? How is working on an adult lisp and a child’s lisp the same? What is a lisp? What causes a lisp? We’re answering these questions in a unique post on treating frontal and lateral lisps in adulthood.
Lisps: Speech Therapy For Adults Read Post »
We helped Kevin to prioritize his goals: first, the frontal lisp and second, the rate of speech. Next, we systematically worked through changing his pronunciation of the S and Z sounds. This took 10 weeks from start to finish. During the 10 weeks, Kevin attended weekly appointments with our speech-language pathologist, Melissa James, and completed 10 minutes of practice each day.
An Educator With A Frontal Lisp Read Post »
