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Home › Articles › Development › A Lithp is Just a Lisp!

A Lithp is Just a Lisp!

Understanding Lisping in Children

By Mindy Hudon, M.S., CCC-SLP

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There are many theories regarding how a lisp develops in a child including thumb sucking, long-term pacifier or bottle use and/or frequent upper respiratory illnesses. The placement of a thumb or pacifier in a child's mouth may cause the tongue to lay flat and/or protrude forward. Also, children may attempt to talk while a pacifier is in their mouths, causing reduced placement of the tongue for correct sound productions. Additionally, research has found that a child who has frequent upper respiratory infections may develop speech disorders, because the tongue lays flat in order for the child to breathe through the mouth (rather than the nose). "Alternatively, the child has learned to say a sound or sounds the wrong way, and the incorrect pronunciation has become a habit," says Bowen.

What to Do About a Lisp
If a child does not present with other disordered speech sounds and only appears to have a lisp, then what do you do? "The sound 's' is one of the most frequently occurring phonemes in conversational speech," says Jena Piekarski, M.A., CCC-SLP, school-based and private practice speech-language pathologist and mother of two. Developmentally, the "s" and "z" sounds are not "mastered" until 7 or 8 years old. However, in most situations children have acquired these sounds way before that time. Many children use these sounds clearly by 2 or 3 years of age.

"I usually wouldn't treat it (lisp) until at least the age of 4 to 4 1/2 unless the child's intelligibility is compromised, the family doesn't understand the child, they're getting frustrated or the sounds include more than just 's' and 'z'," says Piekarski.

Sharon Frank, M.A., CCC-SLP, private practice speech-language pathologist and mother of one recommends that, "if the child is able to correctly say 's' in words (and maybe sentences) at age 4, I say wait and have them re-evaluated in one year, and in the meantime, I give parents suggestions on how to foster the 's' at home."

Most speech-language pathologists would agree that if you wait too long, a lisp could become a habit. "If the child is 5 years old and not saying 's' in conversation correctly, I would recommend speech therapy," says Frank. "It can be harder to correct a few years down the road, because the incorrect patterns have been more ingrained."

In regards to a lateral lisp, Frank recommends therapy as early as 4. "Lateral lisps are a whole different ball of wax . I don't think they're as likely to outgrow a lateral lisp and would recommend therapy for that as early as 4 years of age," says Frank.

Therapy for a lisp should be determined following an evaluation by a certified speech-language pathologist, who will also determine if the child is ready for treatment. To find a certified clinician in your area, contact the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association at 800-638-8255 or e-mail actioncenter@asha.org.

Saturday mornings are still filled with laughter as Sylvester desperately attempts to capture Tweety and Daffy tries to outsmart Bugs. Today, I try to look at their speech as entertainment rather than a very treatable communication disorder. I'm sure if I could get Daffy and Sylvester into treatment, I would be able to correct their lisps. The only problem would be dodging all the pie pans and exploding dynamite. So, as Porky Pig likes to say, "Th, th, th, that's all folks


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