Q: I have had success with your “Long T Method” for teaching S and Z with my adolescent lateral lisper, but he continues to break down in reading and in conversation, he can do Sh and Zh on words, but he can’t do Ch or J at all. Where do I go from here? Can I expect braces to help improve his speech?

Braces will not help.  This is not a tooth problem.  It is a tongue movement problem.

You are trying to go to fast. Take your time. He needs to be lead slowly and carefully through each phoneme.  You are expecting that just because he can do one thing that he should be able to do all things.  Client who are difficult do not generalize skills that way.

You have taken my class on lateral lisp, so you will know what I am saying here –– You have used T to teach S and Z, but you also need to use E to teach Sh and Zh, and then you need to use Sh and Zh to teach Ch and J.

This is all explained in my seminar handout.  Go back and look at each of these slides carefully.

And when you work on sentences and paragraphs, make sure they are void of all other words that contain sibilants.  And make sure you are using straws throughout to double check that that airstream is in fact midline.