The best way to approach teen about a speech impediment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. Now I fear that I overstated the problem. (I get the irony in a post about articulation.) Based on my research it sounds like a bilateral lisp and the mush mouth is more like the extra saliva that appears when she speaks quickly. It mostly makes her speech sound more juvenile than it might otherwise sound. It's certainly not crippling. I think my guilt at assuming it would go away went into overdrive.

If it were a really severe problem for her age, the school would have done ST therapy for free and/or your ped would have caught it and insurance would have paid.

However there is a gap between what is noticeable and what gets caught and paid for by insurance or the school district.

I think you just at say kids have quirks if speaking and some are outgrown and some are not, and now that her braces are off it seems she hasn't outgrown it so you want to get it checked out.

Hahahahahahaha

Thanks for starting my day with a belly laugh. Do you really believe that the school system and pediatricians are set up like this? What planet/state/city do you live in?

Our public school has a full time speech therapist and teachers refer kids for an evaluation and parents can request evaluations. I know many kids who got speech therapy at school. Likewise pediatricians catch speech issues (they are part of the annual well child visit) and send kids to speech therapy that insurance can pay for. These things are true and I am sorry if you have had a bad experience with schools and pediatricians. I have friends and family members whose kids were treated at school and treated through early intervention and treated under their health insurance.

I was stating those things because op felt people were thinking her dd's speech issues are more severe, so I was pointing out that they clearly aren't too severe or her dd would have been flagged by other people, but hat doesn't mean she should not post for advice in the children with special needs forum.

There is a wide range of posters on that board with a lot of experiences. I think op thinks it only kids in wheel chairs or with intellectual disabilities.

+1 to the Belly Laugh! My kids are in HS now but have always gone to an FCPS school that had an SLP - did you know that most SLPs are assigned to more than one school? Two of my kids have IEPs and we have had to battle nearly every single year to bet anything more than de minimis speech services. The bar is: Is the child intelligble and is there any educational impact? Even when you can say 'yes' to both and have well documented needs, you still may be SOL. I couldn't even get services through the school for my typical DD who had a lisp well into 4th grade. Insurance wouldn't cover it either. It was all out of pocket.

We had multiple private evaluations from different providers documenting every detail and we could only get 30 minutes of group speech. None of the kids had similar issues. We had to do everything privately. My child had/has a severed speech disorder. I don't think some understand what that really means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks again everyone. Actually, I didn't think that the special needs forum was only for more pronounced or severe things. I just picked this board because of the teen self-esteem aspect of all this and because this board feels more active. I'll confess-- I was probably a little defensive after getting advice both that we would make her feel terrible if we mention it and that she might resent us forever for ignoring some really obvious thing that we should have addressed. It is not so pronounced that any doctor, teacher, or family member has ever mentioned it to us. (And I really appreciate the PP who pointed that out. It makes me feel better or at least less foolish or neglectful for not focusing on it before.) We have just one child and no experience and, as I said, we thought it was something that would disappear with time and maturity. I have posted something on the special needs forum now. Thanks for the feedback.

There is a huge range of what is considered SN but that would fall under it. Look at some of the university programs as it will be cheaper and younger/more fun therapists who she can relate to better. Most people are not going to mention it.

[Anonymous]

I really don't understand this discussion.

OP, no lay person with any manners is going to mention that your DD has a speech issue. If you notice it, certainly others do as well. I understand feeling like you should have looked into this earlier, but that is neither here no there now.

And what is with the hesitation about addressing this? I would just sassy that it's helpful for some people to check in with a SLP sheet having braces. And then I would name an appointment and take her.

The way we speak is one of the most important elements of presentation. It makes an impression on people. If she can learn to speak more clearly, that's worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand this discussion.

OP, no lay person with any manners is going to mention that your DD has a speech issue. If you notice it, certainly others do as well. I understand feeling like you should have looked into this earlier, but that is neither here no there now.

And what is with the hesitation about addressing this? I would just say that it's helpful for some people to check in with an SLP
after having braces. And then I would make an appointment and take her.

The way we speak is one of the most important elements of presentation. It makes an impression on people. If she can learn to speak more clearly, that's worth it.

Jeez, thanks autocorrect. Corrected above.

[Anonymous]

I'm an slp and I think you can probably use the braces coming off as a natural transition to approaching this. Maybe suggest having just an evaluation, which is a 1x appointment? At the evaluation, you guys can ask questions and talk about what the therapy would be like, how long it might take, etc. Assure her that the decision will be up to her. I would not try to get services through school- they are unlikely to consider it enough of a problem to put her on their caseload and it will definitely be embarrassing for her at her age. Look around for a therapist who says they work with speech, articulation and/or lisps in particular so that she gets a solid assessment and advice from the beginning. It is not something that every slp does well. It's totally OK to ask them before you go if they see a lot of kids/teens with lisps and even what % of their caseload is articulation vs. other speech-language problems. It might be hard for her but she also might be glad you brought it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand this discussion.

OP, no lay person with any manners is going to mention that your DD has a speech issue. If you notice it, certainly others do as well. I understand feeling like you should have looked into this earlier, but that is neither here no there now.

And what is with the hesitation about addressing this? I would just sassy that it's helpful for some people to check in with a SLP sheet having braces. And then I would name an appointment and take her.

The way we speak is one of the most important elements of presentation. It makes an impression on people. If she can learn to speak more clearly, that's worth it.

OP, I'm in similar boat, except my DD is 10. No lisp, but she cuts words and articulation is off. We had an evaluation scheduled pre-covid but then it got cancelled and now with masks and such I'm in limbo waiting, as I thing it would be much more beneficial to have therapy in person, without a mask, especially while therapist is getting to know/evaluate her. My DH thinks it is no big deal and we can have her read out loud to us more often and work through it. He is not supportive of getting therapy. But I disagree because of what the PP posted above. I feel like judgements are made about a person and their intelligence (and other things) based own how they are able to articulate and present themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand this discussion.

OP, no lay person with any manners is going to mention that your DD has a speech issue. If you notice it, certainly others do as well. I understand feeling like you should have looked into this earlier, but that is neither here no there now.

And what is with the hesitation about addressing this? I would just sassy that it's helpful for some people to check in with a SLP sheet having braces. And then I would name an appointment and take her.

The way we speak is one of the most important elements of presentation. It makes an impression on people. If she can learn to speak more clearly, that's worth it.

OP, I'm in similar boat, except my DD is 10. No lisp, but she cuts words and articulation is off. We had an evaluation scheduled pre-covid but then it got cancelled and now with masks and such I'm in limbo waiting, as I thing it would be much more beneficial to have therapy in person, without a mask, especially while therapist is getting to know/evaluate her. My DH thinks it is no big deal and we can have her read out loud to us more often and work through it. He is not supportive of getting therapy. But I disagree because of what the PP posted above. I feel like judgements are made about a person and their intelligence (and other things) based own how they are able to articulate and present themselves.

I'm the PP above who thinks improving speech is worth it. I'll add, I think this is even more important for girls/women, in terms of how they are perceived in the workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD (14) has a bit of a lisp that we assumed she would outgrow. She also has a tendency to kind of swallow her words. We discussed it with her briefly before that she needs to articulate better, but she blamed it on her braces. Now that the braces are off and the lisp isn't any better we'd like to seek either speech therapy or get her started on some exercises to help but I'm not sure the best way to approach this without ruining her confidence or making her think there's something wrong with her. I really wish we had addressed this earlier before the delicate teen years but here we are. Any suggestions?

This should have been addressed about 10 years ago with a speech therapist.

[Anonymous]

I would definitely address it. I am a speech-language pathologist. Does she thrust her tongue forward when she talks or eats? You should find someone who specializes in orofacial myofunctional disorders to make sure that a tongue thrust isn't causing the lisp along and may also be the reason why she needed braces in the first place. If she has a tongue thrust she will continue to push on her teeth, have a lisp and her teeth will go back to her original position post braces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD (14) has a bit of a lisp that we assumed she would outgrow. She also has a tendency to kind of swallow her words. We discussed it with her briefly before that she needs to articulate better, but she blamed it on her braces. Now that the braces are off and the lisp isn't any better we'd like to seek either speech therapy or get her started on some exercises to help but I'm not sure the best way to approach this without ruining her confidence or making her think there's something wrong with her. I really wish we had addressed this earlier before the delicate teen years but here we are. Any suggestions?

This should have been addressed about 10 years ago with a speech therapist.

Serious questions. What part of this response did you think would be helpful to OP? Why did you post your response?

[Anonymous]

By teenager it's almost certainly too late to fix a lisp... you should have corrected this when she was younger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By teenager it's almost certainly too late to fix a lisp... you should have corrected this when she was younger.

OP here. While I really appreciate this "helpful" advice that's not what the professional we just consulted said. I guess we'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely address it. I am a speech-language pathologist. Does she thrust her tongue forward when she talks or eats? You should find someone who specializes in orofacial myofunctional disorders to make sure that a tongue thrust isn't causing the lisp along and may also be the reason why she needed braces in the first place. If she has a tongue thrust she will continue to push on her teeth, have a lisp and her teeth will go back to her original position post braces.

Not the OP or any of the PP's, my question is for this pp, my nephew had a cleft palate when he was born and it was corrected at 11 months old.

I believe his lisp is from an orofacial myofunctional disorder, do you know if there is an age limit on fixing these?

[Anonymous]

Did tongue thrusting cause her to need braces? Was that corrected during her orthodontic treatment? If not, her teeth might go back to the way they were.

[Anonymous]

OP: table your guilt and focus on walking the tightrope of seeking help while also affirming that she is wonderful the way she is. I’d just tell her you’ve noticed some ppl have a hard time understanding her and want to see if she can get some tips from a speech expert.