By Pam Marshalla
Q: I see kids in a school setting. My 3-year-old client has a private SLP who is using kinesio tape on his mouth to help improve lip closure and resting posture. I had not yet heard of this technique but I am intrigued. I would love to know your opinion regarding this method. Some traditional SLPs placed tape on the side of the lips to signal the client that he was moving them instead of his tongue*. You see it…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a new referral for a 4-year-old client who has had several cleft repairs and prior therapy. Per his last report his only speech error is a lisp but I also saw in his mom’s referral info that he has some feeding problems and is sensitive to certain food temperatures and consistencies. Could his atypical sensory and chewing issues be factors in his interdental error pattern? Do you have suggestions for evaluating and treating this child? His mom…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I recently started working with a student with a right side unilateral lisp caused by jaw and tongue instability. He also has a midline bulge. Right now we are working on maintaining a stable jaw. Do I focus on tongue position as well? It sounds like he is shifting both his jaw and his tongue to one side. If so, stabilize the jaw first and use a straw to analyze what is going on with the airstream with the…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Would you work on a lateral lisp in a 3-year-old? How? Most therapists would not treat a lateral lisp in a 3-year-old, but one could, and some do. Use the “Long T Method” and make it playful. Hold one end of a straw in front of the central teeth and have the child make a T. The airstream should go into the straw and amplify. Now make it “longer” — aspirate it. It won’t sound like “S” but it…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am an SLP and a mother with a four-year-old boy who has a frontal lisp. Do you think I should work with him, and if so, what simple things could I do at home? I always tell parents we do not have to work on a frontal lisp in a preschool child, but we usually do anyway because the parents want it. I find that the absolute key to remediation of the frontal lisp has three essential parts:…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Can I expect correct articulation on S, Z, Sh, ZH, CH, J, T, D, N, and L when my client has a tongue crib that fills the entire alveolar ridge? The orthodontist is recommending SL therapy for the phonemes and to fix the swallow. In my experience clients usually cannot produce any of their lingua-alveolar and/or sibilant sounds correctly as long as an appliance like that is in the mouth. The appliance distorts sound, especially stridency. I usually do…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My 4-year-old son has a frontal lisp. The school is refusing services and says he will outgrow it. Is this true in all cases? No one that I know of is researching this area any more and there are big questions like this one that are going un-answered. There seem to be two types of frontal lisps. The first is an immature speech pattern that will go away with time––by 7-9 years of age. The second is the result…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: How do you transcribe a frontal lisp? There are many ways to designate a frontal lisp– Some therapists do like to write it as Th/S (using IPA symbols, of course.) Some place a right-facing arrow under the phoneme, to indicate that the tongue is protruding forward. Some draw a circle between a downward-facing caret and an upward-facing caret, indicating the tongue is between the upper and lower teeth. Some simply write D for distorted, but I think that is…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: How do you teach Sh and Ch when a client has a lateral lisp? Start with Sh–– Have the client smile and produce an exaggerated Long E–– Eeeee. Then tell him to hold his tongue in the E position and pant. He will be making a gross Sh at that point. Now have him keep panting in that way and round the lips. He will be saying Sh. Then go to Ch–– Have the client prolong Sh–– Shhhhhhhhhhh. While prolonging…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My friend’s daughter has a lateral lisp and has been denied services in her school because “it does not affect her ability to learn the curriculum.” I was alarmed and upset by this. Is it possible that certain school districts do not treat this? What is your stance on this? Unfortunately there now are many school districts that hold this policy. Frankly, it makes me sick. If I were a parent I would be screaming about this. Sometimes a…
