Mrs. Margaret Crawford, M.S SLP

Thank you for your question; it's a good one!

Frontal lisps are often a side effect of an individual's swallowing pattern. It would be ideal to seek out an assessment with a SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) trained in orofacial myofunctional therapy or oral facial myology to assess speech and swallow. From there, and individualized plan of care can be recommended to support you in correcting the muscle
function pattern. At our facility, all clinicians on the team are speech pathologists and trained orofacial myology practitioners.

Thank you and kind regards,

Thank you for your question. The /r/ sound is one of the most difficult sounds to treat. This is particularly difficult for children who are still developing what's called tongue-jaw dissociative movement patterns. Basically, the jaw overcompensates for movements that should be completed by the tongue. The jaw elevates to make the /r/ (sometimes the lips round/contract as well), but since the tongue blade is not elevating/retracting, the sound is inaccurate or distorted. Sometimes this sound is hindered if children have a short sublingual frenum (that band of tissue under the tongue). One way to stretch the frenum, is to suction the tongue to the roof of the mouth, gently open the jaw, and click the tongue down. Another helpful exercise is pointing the tongue forward (not down toward chin), and pulling it back inside as far as possible (pulling with the back of the tongue - not the tip). The school speech language pathologist should also be a helpful reference, as he/she probably had an opportunity to assess your child; each child has a unique set of needs and to be appropriately treated, it is best to receive an assessment from a qualified speech language pathologist.

Hi! Thank you for reaching out to me.

This type of question is very difficult to answer without conducting an assessment on your specific child. Some children have phonological processes or speech sound substitution error patterns that interfere with speech clarity. Some children have a vocal fold disorders that interfere with vocal amplitude and overall intelligibility. Some children may have word ordering inconsistencies or vocabulary substitutions that make speech more difficult to decode. In order to determine your specific child's needs, I recommend he be evaluated by a licensed and trained speech language pathologist (SLP). If he is enrolled in school, you can request a speech evaluation or screening be conducted, which is a service accessible through public school districts.
I hope this helps!

Thank you for your question. Yes, most of the time lisping patterns on fricative and affricate sound classes /s, z/ or "sh" and "ch" are amenable to change with speech therapy. Most children lisp during toddlerhood and are expected to outgrow this pattern around age 5. If the lisping persists beyond this age, it would make sense to consult with a speech language
pathologist. On occasion, the lisp pattern is a consequence of oral muscular dysfunction (e.g., a "tongue thrust" in which the tongue patterns through the teeth during swallow). In these instances, it is best practice to participate in a myofunctional therapy program to address the underlying condition. This type of program is designed to re-pattern the oral muscles
appropriately for speaking, chewing and swallowing before addressing the secondary speech sound presentation.