“Why do I have trouble pronouncing certain letters?”
I am a 21 year old female and I have trouble pronouncing words with the letter "s". Why is that?
6 Answers
Have you always had trouble, or is this a new issue? If it is bothersome I would suggest consulting an SLP with experience in adult speech disorders
There can be several reasons. It may be a lisp. If you are substituting /s/ with another sound it may be a phonological problem. Best way is to get treatment for it. Find a speech pathologist.
The way you produce /s/ could be for a few different reasons. I would suggest getting a referral from your primary care physician for a speech evaluation and beginning therapy to train a new technique.
Terlenda Lassiter
Speech-Language Pathologist
I would recommend you consider an evaluation by a speech language pathologist in your local area before that question can be answered. There are many reasons including dentition related components that could interfere with the production of the /s/ sound.
There are different factors that may negatively impact someone's speech. Seeking a speech-language evaluation can help decipher the reason(s) you're having trouble.
The /s/ sound is the most common sound in our English language and there are many ways it can be distorted. Typically, the /s/ sound is produced as a long, continuous sound. It is most accurately produced by biting the back teeth together, lifting the mid tongue slightly up towards the roof of the mouth, smiling, and pushing air out the front of the mouth. This sound may get distorted if the air is coming out of the sides of the mouth (cheeks), if tongue is protruding out, or if dentition is mis- aligned (over or under bite). Some people also have difficulty producing this sound if they have a gap in their teeth or a large tongue.
