Yeth It Ith A Lithp

So, last night I was having conversation number 743, 692 with my three and a half year old daughter who, like me, never stops talking. I have noticed in the past that she has had some trouble pronouncing some of her words and have worked with her on pronunciation of a few of them. I have thought for several months now that sometimes her speech sounds a little bit "muddy".

Why it took me until last night to realize that my daughter is actually lisping, I have no idea. Maybe it was because we were talking about her older "thithter" and I was lying down while she was standing next to me and I could see her mouth working while she spoke. After about 10 minutes of work, she was able to say "sister" but only if she kept her teeth together for the entire word.

She has an uncannily extensive vocabulary for a three and a half year old. She can talk the socks off of just about anyone and most adults understand her perfectly well enough to carry on a rather extensive conversation. So I start to wonder...is this lisp something she will outgrow and I can just work with her on it, or is this lisp something that she would need a speech therapist to assist her with? Or...will it stay with her throughout her life?

I did a little bit of research and it has all told me so far that she may out grow it by the time she's four and a half. In the mean time, I suppose it won't hurt to keep trying to teach her how to put her teeth together when making "s" and "z" sounds.

And of course, I'm not about to let her think there is anything wrong with her lisp. In fact, in a three year old, it's kind of cute. But when she's ten and in the fifth grade, she could get teased relentlessly. So, I'll work with her and hope that she outgrows it before anyone gets a chance to tease her about it.

And onward to conversation number 743,693!