How to Get Rid of a Lisp: Causes, Treatment, and Speech Therapy
- Stephanie Jeret
- Mar 3, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
If you or your child has a lisp, you may be wondering whether it will go away on its own or if speech therapy is needed. The good news is that many lisps can be successfully treated with the right approach.
A lisp can affect speech clarity, confidence, and communication at school, work, and in everyday conversations. Understanding the type of lisp is the first step toward choosing the most effective treatment.
In this guide, I'll explain the different types of lisps, what causes them, how speech-language pathologists evaluate them, and the treatment approaches that can help improve speech clarity.
In This Article, You'll Learn:
What Are the Different Types of Lisps?
It is important to identify the specific type of lisp you or your child exhibits to effectively address it. This can assist in understanding the underlying issue and will determine the appropriate treatment strategies.
Although the word "lisp" is often used to describe any difficulty producing the /s/ sound, there are actually several different types of lisps. Identifying the specific type is important because each one has different underlying causes and may require a different treatment approach.
Because treatment varies depending on the type of lisp, an accurate evaluation by a speech-language pathologist is an important first step before beginning therapy.
Interdental Lisp also know as a Frontal Lisp:
This is the most common and well-known type of lisp, characterized by the tongue protruding through the teeth and the lowering of the jaw. The change in tongue placement and jaw position impacts the sound produced, often resulting in reduced intelligibility.
Someone with an interdental lisp may produce “thun” for the word sun.
Lateral Lisp:
A lateral lisp occurs when air escapes over the sides of the tongue instead of down the center or midline, producing wet or slushy sounds due to the mixing of air and saliva as the person speaks.
Someone with a lateral lisp may pronounce the word sick as "shik."
If you suspect your child has a lateral lisp, you may find my article on How to Fix a Lateral Lisp helpful.
Dental Lisp:
In this type of lisp, the tongue makes contact with the front teeth but does not protrude through the mouth, leading to a distorted and muffled sound.
Palatal Lisp:
Less common, palatal lisps occur when the mid-section of the tongue makes contact with the hard or soft palate. The sound produced often sounds somewhat slushy and muffled.
Causes of a Lisp
A lisp is a functional speech disorder which means the cause cannot always be determined. Functional speech disorders, including lisps, can be effectively treated by speech-language pathologists.
Some known causes for lisps include:
Incorrect Practice:
Children acquire sounds through imitation and practice from the adults around them. If the adults they are imitating have a lisp, it is possible the child will develop a lisp.
Developmental:
Developmental issues such as high frequency hearing loss can impact the development of speech production. Some can develop a lisp for this reason.
Anatomical:
In some cases a lisp can be caused by structural factors. Irregularities in the soft palate, tongue, or positioning of the teeth can all contribute to the development of a lisp. Examples include: missing teeth, anterior open bite, underbite, cross bite, permanently crooked teeth, cleft palate, and fistulas.
Oral Myofunctional Disorders (OMD) can be the root cause of these anatomical anomalies. For example, an abnormality in the shape of the palate or crooked teeth could be caused by a tongue tie or thumb sucking.
Structural differences are only one possible cause of unclear speech. Other speech sound disorders can have different underlying causes and treatment approaches, which I discuss further in Speech Sound Disorder vs. Articulation Disorder: What's the Difference?
Utilizing Different Dental Appliances:
The utilization of a bite-plate, dentures, retainers, and other appliances can cause a temporary lisp. This occurs because the place where the tongue anchors is more slippery given the appliance and can cause incorrect tongue placement
How Does a Speech-Language Pathologist Evaluate a Lisp?
A lisp is often not hard to recognize; however, a thorough speech evaluation is necessary to determine the possible causes for a lisp, the type of lisp, and the proper treatment plan.
The speech therapist will gather all pertinent information about the client, including medical history, past speech history, and current concerns.
Oral Peripheral Exam: The SLP will examine the structures of the mouth, including the tongue, teeth, hard and soft palate, jaw, and lips. These structures play a critical role in producing sounds and are therefore an important part of the examination.
Observation: The speech-language pathologist will listen to the client speak and identify speech-sound errors, including lisping and other difficulties with speech sounds. The speech therapist will take note of which sounds are impacted by the lisp, as well as determine whether any other sounds are produced incorrectly.
Standardized Assessment: The speech language pathologist may use a formal or standardized assessment to evaluate overall speech-sound production. These assessments may involve tasks where the individual is asked to say specific sounds, words, sentences, or engage in conversation. The SLP will listen for errors in speech sounds, including lisp-related errors.
During an evaluation, I also determine whether the difficulty is isolated to one sound or part of a broader speech sound disorder, since treatment recommendations may differ.
Language Assessment: The SLP may informally or formally assess the client's language skills. This assessment aims to exclude any language delays or disorders; however, it is important to note that lisping itself is not indicative of a language impairment.
If your child has recently been diagnosed with a speech sound disorder, you may also find it helpful to learn about the differences between speech sound disorders and articulation disorders.
How Speech Therapy Helps Correct a Lisp
Every lisp is different, which is why treatment should never be one-size-fits-all. The specific techniques used during speech therapy depend on the type of lisp, the sounds affected, the person's age, and whether any structural or oral-motor differences are contributing to the speech difficulty.
1) Instruction in Phonetic Placement:
The proper positioning of the jaw, lips, and tongue are described to accurately produce the sound correctly, including:
Stabilizing the jaw: In order to produce most sounds, the jaw must be stable. For /s/, for example, there is a gap between your top and bottom teeth (about 1 mm) and a gap between the sides of your teeth (a little more than 2 mm).
Tooth props such as straws may be used to teach where the jaw should lie when producing each sound.
Stabilizing the tongue: In order to produce the sibilants, the back of the tongue must be anchored on the back molars while the front of the tongue is in contact with the palate (placement is different depending on the sound being produced).
Creating, narrowing, and refining the tongue groove: In order to produce sibilants, air must pass over the tongue. (The narrowness or wideness of the groove depends on the specific sound being produced.)
2) Exercises
Exercises involve strengthening oral muscles to improve sound production. These can include
Compensatory Strategies: Strategies to modify speech patterns and minimize the lisp may be taught if you have an anterior open bite, underbite, crossbite, permanently missing/crooked teeth, clefts, or fistulas.
Collaboration: Collaborating involves partnering with other specialists, such as dentists and orthodontists, when required. If conditions such as crossbite, anterior open bite, underbite, etc. are corrected, compensatory strategies may become unnecessary, and the accurate production of sibilants can be achieved without them. This is because the structures of the mouth have been corrected so proper positioning can now take place.
Production of the sound in varying contexts: perfecting the pronunciation of the target sound in different situations. This requires a systematic approach which entails mastering the sound initially in isolation, then progressing through syllables, words, phrases, sentences, and finally integrating it into natural conversation.
This same structured approach is used to treat many articulation errors—not just lisps. For example, children learning the /r/ sound also progress from isolation to conversation while practicing accurate tongue placement.
If you'd like to learn more about what articulation therapy looks like, including the evaluation process and how treatment is individualized, visit my Articulation Therapy page.
Speech Therapy Techniques You Can Practice at Home
You may be wondering how to get rid of a lisp. Here are some strategies to help you.
These exercises are most effective after a speech-language pathologist has identified the specific type of lisp. Because different types of lisps require different treatment approaches, using the wrong technique may slow progress.
1. Use a mirror
Step 1: Using a mirror can help you see the placement of your tongue and front teeth. This visual feedback is Important for correcting a lisp. Ensure that your tongue is raised and the tongue tip is positioned correctly behind your teeth (called the alveolar ridge) to produce the /s/ sound. Proper tongue placement is essential for making the correct sounds and avoiding a lisp.
Step 2: Look in the mirror and smile, keep your mouth open with your teeth close together (but not touching). Your tongue should touch behind your front teeth. When you produce /s/, the air should flow smoothly over your tongue and out of your mouth when the tongue and tongue tip is in the proper position.
Step 3: Attempt to do the above exercise several times a day for a few weeks or until you can make the /s/ sound while keeping your tongue behind your front teeth.
Step 4: Once you can achieve this, practice the /s/ sound in syllables. Once achieved, move onto words, phrases, sentences, and finally conversational speech.
2. Exploding T- Technique
Before delving into this technique, it is important that you are able to produce the /t/ sound consistently in isolation.
Step 1: Try repeating the /t/ sound rapidly by saying "t-t-t-t." Minimize any vowel sounds as it helps place the sides of the tongue more firmly against the teeth.
As you repeat the /t/ sound quickly, you might start to hear a slight /s/ sound between the repetitions. Listen for this sound carefully.
Step 2: Next, make the /t/ sound and let a small amount of air escape at the end of it. This creates a softer sound. Focus on letting the airflow after the /t/, rather than trying to say /s/ directly.
This softer sound is sometimes called the "lazy t." You can distinguish between a "sharp quick T" and a "lazy t" by practicing and listening to the differences.
Step 3: Once you can easily produce the /ts/ sound, you can move to the next step. It's important to get a proper /s/ at the end of this step to ensure the sound is being made correctly. Sometimes, this step can take the longest. It might take several practice sessions of repeatedly saying "t-t-t-tssss" until it sounds right.
Step 4: Once mastered, you can begin practicing words that end in /ts/. Practice words can include "eats," "beets," "meets," "hits." Just make sure there are no other s sounds in the word.
Step 5: Finally, you can bridge this practice to help you produce the /s/ sound at the beginning of practice words by having an ending /ts/ sound next to a word that begins in /s/.
For example:
He hits even
He hitssssss even
He hitsssss seven
How long Does It Takes to Fix a Lisp?
From my experience, the longer the lisp has gone untreated, the more therapy and time it may take to remediate. For example, a 10- or 20-year-old who's been lisping for a while will probably need more therapy than younger children. That being said, older children and adults tend to be more motivated for therapy. So, the dynamics operate in a dual direction.
Intervention for a lisp varies, It can take take a few weeks, but also may take longer. The more you practice by yourself and with a speech therapist, the quicker progress will be.
Your speech-language pathologist will create an individualized treatment plan that focuses on the sounds giving you difficulty. You will receive helpful tips and strategies to produce these targeted sounds.
How Speech Therapy Can Help Children and Adults With a Lisp
f you or your child has a lisp, speech therapy can help improve speech clarity, confidence, and overall communication. During an evaluation, a speech-language pathologist identifies the specific type of lisp, determines any contributing factors, and develops an individualized treatment plan based on your needs.
Therapy focuses on teaching correct tongue placement, establishing accurate speech sound production, and gradually carrying those skills over into words, sentences, and everyday conversations. Sessions are individualized, engaging, and designed to help children and adults communicate more clearly and confidently.
Conclusion
A lisp doesn't have to affect communication forever. With the right evaluation, individualized treatment, and consistent practice, many children and adults make meaningful improvements in their speech.
If you or your child has a lisp and you're wondering whether speech therapy is the right next step, I'd be happy to help you determine the best approach. Every treatment plan is personalized to your specific speech goals and communication needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) What are the causes of a lisp?
We do not always know the cause of a lisp for every person with a lisp; however, some underlying factors include: incorrect practice, hearing loss, and structural irregularities in the the mouth (for example, teeth, tongue, soft palate) that assist with speech production.
2) At what age should a lisp be corrected?
In a public school, many speech therapists may begin seeing children with lisps in second grade. A speech therapist in a private practice can begin treating lisps much earlier. Some lisps are developmental; however, others like the lateral lisp should be treated as soon as possible as this is not normal trajectory for speech development. If a lisp goes untreated, it may impact a child's communication and self esteem.
Speech Therapy for Children and Adults With a Lisp
At Speak with Stephanie, I provide individualized speech therapy for children, teens, and adults with lisps and other speech sound disorders. Therapy begins with understanding the specific type of lisp and developing a treatment plan tailored to your goals.
Sessions focus on building accurate speech sound production while making therapy engaging, functional, and applicable to everyday communication. Whether you're seeking help for your child or yourself, my goal is to help you communicate with greater clarity and confidence.
Learn more about my Articulation Therapy services, where I treat lisps, /r/ errors, and other speech sound disorders.
Online Speech Therapy for Lisps
In addition to in-person therapy, I provide online speech therapy for children, teens, and adults throughout Illinois and New York. Virtual sessions are individualized and designed to help clients improve speech clarity from the comfort of home.
Related Speech Therapy Services
Some children and adults with lisps also benefit from support for other communication challenges. In addition to articulation therapy, I provide individualized treatment for speech sound disorders, language disorders, and stuttering.
Learn more about:
About the author:
Stephanie Jeret, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and owner of Speak with Stephanie, a private speech therapy practice serving children, teens, and adults in Skokie and Chicago's North Shore.
With more than 10 years of experience, Stephanie provides individualized therapy for speech sound disorders, language disorders, stuttering, and other communication challenges. She offers in-home, school-based, and online speech therapy, with a focus on helping clients build practical communication skills they can use in everyday life.
Wondering if speech therapy may be a good fit for you or your child?
Schedule a free consultation with Stephanie to discuss your concerns and learn more about therapy options.
