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For example, when looking in a mirror, it’s often easy to see the tongue protruding between the two front teeth. This can be helpful when working on strategies for correction. Since interdental lisps are caused by incorrect tongue placements, they’re easy to visualize. If you or your child has an interdental lisp, words like “sing” may be pronounced as “thing,” and words like “zebra” may be pronounced as “thebra.” It's called an interdental lisp because these sounds are caused by incorrect placement of the tongue in the speaker’s mouth, often protruding between the front teeth. This is where a sound is produced instead of an /s/ or /z/ sound. Interdental lispĪn interdental lisp, sometimes called a frontal lisp, is the most commonly recognized production of a lisp. We’ll provide a quick overview of each, along with some helpful practice activities you can do at home. Now let’s talk about the different types of lisps. The 4 different types of lisps and tips to correct them The only difference is the use of the voice.
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This is all to say that when reviewing correct production of /s/, the same rules can be applied to /z/ production. No vibration, right? This is because the vocal folds are not being used.
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Now, keeping your hand in the exact same position, say the /s/ sound. Do you feel the vibration? This is caused by your vocal folds rubbing together. Try this yourself! Place your hand on your throat while saying the /z/ sound. The only difference is that our vocal cords are not used when we say the /s/ sound, whereas they are activated when we pronounce the /z/ sound. This is because the same tongue placement that's used for /s/ production is also used for /z/ production. The simple difference between /s/ and /z/ productionīefore diving into each type of lisp, let’s first cover some basics about correct /s/ and /z/ sound production.įor the purposes of this article, we’re going to use the /s/ production most frequently when providing examples. We'll also cover some helpful activities you can practice at home if you or someone you love is working to overcome their lisp. But did you know that there are actually four different types of lisps, each with distinct characteristics? This article will explain and help you identify each type of lisp. These speech errors are often referred to as lisps. If not corrected at an early age, they can continue into adulthood. Speech errors with the /s/ and /z/ sounds are very common in young children.
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