How to Pronounce Words Clearly With a Lisp_ 15 Steps

How to Pronounce Words Clearly Witha LispThree Parts: Saying the Sounds Using a Mirror Practicing Vocalization Exercises

Strengthening the Mouth and Tongue

A lisp is a Functional Speech Disorder (FSD), or difficulty in learning to makea specific speech sound or sounds. The term “lisp” itself is a lay term, and isnot something that most speech pathologists use. A lisp is characterized bydifficulty in saying the sounds /s/ and /z/. For example, the words “soup” and“zebra” may sound like “thoup” and “thebra.” The most common types of lispare the interdental and dental types, also referred to as frontal lisps. The /s/and /z/ sounds are made either with the tongue protruding between the teeth(interdental) resulting in a /th/ sound, or the tongue touching the teeth (dental),resulting in a muffled /th/ sound. Both of these common types of lisps areconsidered normal parts of speech development for children, and should notbe seen as unusual for children under the age of 4 ½. If you have a lisp, hereare some tips for correcting your pronunciation.[1]

1 Smile. Looking in the mirror, open your lips like you’re smiling. When you begin

saying the sounds, you’ll want to keep your lips open like this to be able to see

your teeth the whole time.[2]

2 Close your teeth and line them up. Line up your teeth so that the bottom row

rests just below the top row, touching them lightly. Hold them together like this. If

you have a natural slight over-bite when you smile (many people do) you’ll need to shift

your bottom jaw forward a little bit to get your teeth in the right position. It may no

longer look like a genuine smile in the mirror, but that’s okay.[3]

3 Get your tongue in the right position. Keep your tongue back away from your

teeth. It should be sort of in the center of your mouth, slightly pulled back and just

behind the upper teeth. You don’t want it to be locked to the roof of your mouth,

otherwise the air won’t be able to come through to make the sounds.[4]

4 Practice the sounds. Practice saying /sssss/, as though you’re hissing like a

snake. To do this, blow air through your teeth while they are lined up as explained

above, being sure to keep your tongue back away from the teeth. Do this several times,

until it sounds like a clear /s/ sound.

To practice /z/, you keep your teeth and tongue in the same position, but you

“turn your motor on” as a speech therapist would say. This means you vocalize

a sound in your throat instead of just blowing silent air.[5]

5 Ask a trusted friend or relative for their feedback. After you’ve tried this

method, a good way to check and make sure you’re making the right sound is to

Part 1 of 3: Saying the Sounds Using a Mirror

How to Pronounce Words Clearly With a Lisp: 15 Steps http://www.wikihow.com/Pronounce-Words-Clearly-With-a-Lisp

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ask someone. Ask someone who doesn’t speak with a lisp, who will genuinely want to

help and won’t make fun. They should be able to tell you if the sounds you’re making

sound like clear /s/ and /z/ sounds.

Ask them to make the sounds too, and try to copy what they do. Watch their

mouths and teeth, and try doing the same thing in the mirror.[6]


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1 Start with just the sounds. You’ll need to work up to saying the sounds correctly

while speaking naturally. Practice saying just the /ssss/ and /zzzz/ sounds to

yourself, and continue using the mirror and someone else for feedback. The more you

practice, the faster you’ll be able to say the sounds clearly while speaking sentences.[7]

2 Increase your speed gradually. For each step in this section, you’ll want to begin

slowly and once you’re comfortable saying the sounds correctly, you can start

doing each step faster. Soon you’ll be saying the sounds clearly at a natural pace![8]

3 Try syllables and words. Practice saying the sounds with syllables first. Try saa,

see, soo, sie, and sor. Then, try zaa, zee, zoo, zie, and zor. Repeat these

gradually and then quickly, trying to maintain the correct sounds for /s/ and /z/.

Next practice words: sun, soup, Sue, sigh, saw, see, sip, soap, silly, seven,

seals, zoo, bizarre, zippers[9]

4 Practice sentences. Try repeating sentences containing the sounds /s/ and /z/.

For instance, “I see a sock,” and “We saw the store.” Here are some more you can

try:

The striped zebra made me sneeze.

I eat spaghetti with a spoon.

He laughs when using scissors.[10]

5 Repeat tongue twisters. Once you’re able to say sentences using clear /s/ and

/z/ sounds pretty easily and quickly, try some tongue twisters:

Sister Suzie sat on the sea shore sewing shirts for sailors.

The shrewd shrew sold Sarah seven silver fish slices.

6 Keep practicing. Changing how you’ve been speaking can take quite a bit of

work. Don’t give up if you don’t see results right away. Practice the techniques for

at least 20 minutes every day. Ask your friends and family for feedback on whether or

not they think you are improving your pronunciation during conversations.

Children in school often participate in speech therapy for months or even years

to improve their lisps. If you’re not finding any improvement in a couple of

months, try contacting a speech therapist for more help.

1 Use a straw when drinking. Using a straw can help promote oral strength by

strengthening your tongue because you have to keep it pushed back while

drinking. So, get some straws and pop them into your cups, cans, or bottles when

you’re getting a drink.

Part 2 of 3: Practicing Vocalization Exercises

Part 3 of 3: Strengthening the Mouth and Tongue


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2 Blow into a round mouthpiece. Blowing of any kind, whether through an

instrument mouthpiece, whistle, horn, kazoo, etc. helps to strengthen the mouth

area muscles.

You can also blow bubbles. Sure, it’s for kids, but it can be fun for adults too.

And if you have kids of your own or nieces/nephews, they’ll love doing it with

you.[11]

3 Practice tongue-tip sounds. Say “lalalalalalalala” without moving your jaw up

and down. Just move the tip of the tongue. Rest and repeat.

Do this with other tip of the tongue sounds such as “tatatatatata” and

“nanananana” and “dadadadada.” Any sounds getting your tongue moving

quickly will help to strengthen it. [12]

4 Do tongue pops. Suck the tongue up onto the roof of your mouth for a 1-2

seconds and then pop it. Try working up to 25 repetitions of this. Doing these

types of exercises should cause you to gradually feel more control over the use of your

tongue, which will help when you’re speaking to avoid making unclear sounds. [13]

Can you tell us about

High heels?Can you tell us about

Telephoneproviders?

Can you tell us about

Mario Kart Wii?Can you tell us about

Crafts?

Seek help from a speech therapist if you are still having a hard timeforming the sounds clearly, or if after practicing you still speak with alisp despite your efforts.

Relax. Many times speech disorders become more obvious whensomeone is anxious or nervous. If you lisp by accident while speaking,try not to become embarrassed. It’s a part of who you are, and quite afew celebrities have had lisps. It’s understandable to want to change it,but changing it can be a slow process and most people aren’t able to

do it overnight. So be patient and kind to yourself!

↑ http://speech-language-therapy.com/~speech/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:lisp&

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catid=11:admin&Itemid=120

↑ http://www.howtogetridofalispfast.com/learn-how-to-get-rid-of-a-lisp-today.html

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↑ http://heatherspeechtherapy.com/2011/05/correcting-a-frontal-lisp/3.




↑ http://speech-language-therapy.com/~speech/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:lisp&catid=11:admin&Itemid=120

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↑ http://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/speech-therapy-frontal-lisp/10.

↑ http://www.arktherapeutic.com/blog/post/40311.



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How to Pronounce Words Clearly With a Lisp_ 15 Steps