How to Talk with a Lisp

A lisp is a Functional Speech Disorder (FSD), or difficulty in learning to make a

specific speech sound or sounds. The term “lisp” itself is a lay term, and is not
something that most speech pathologists use. A lisp is characterized by difficulty
in saying the sounds /s/ and /z/. For example, the words “soup” and “zebra” may
sound like “thoup” and “thebra.” The most common types of lisp are the
interdental and dental types, also referred to as frontal lisps. The /s/ and /z/
sounds are made either with the tongue protruding between the teeth
(interdental) resulting in a /th/ sound, or the tongue touching the teeth (dental),
resulting in a muffled /th/ sound. Both of these common types of lisps are
considered normal parts of speech development for children, and should not be
seen as unusual for children under the age of 4 ½. If you have a lisp, here are
some tips for correcting your pronunciation.[1]

Part 1
Saying the Sounds Using a Mirror
1.
1
Smile. Looking in the mirror, open your lips like you’re smiling. When you begin
saying the sounds, you’ll want to keep your lips open like this to be able to see
your teeth the whole time.

2
Close your teeth and line them up. Line up your teeth so that the bottom row
rests just below the top row, touching them lightly. Hold them together like this. If
you have a natural slight over-bite when you smile (many people do) you’ll need
to shift your bottom jaw forward a little bit to get your teeth in the right position. It
may no longer look like a genuine smile in the mirror, but that’s okay.[2]
3 Get your tongue in the right position. Keep your tongue back away from
your teeth. It should be sort of in the center of your mouth, slightly pulled back
and just behind the upper teeth. You don’t want it to be locked to the roof of your
mouth, otherwise the air won’t be able to come through to make the sounds.[3]
 4: Practice the sounds. Practice saying /sssss/, as though you’re hissing like
a snake. To do this, blow air through your teeth while they are lined up as
explained above, being sure to keep your tongue back away from the teeth. Do
this several times, until it sounds like a clear /s/ sound.
 To practice /z/, you keep your teeth and tongue in the same position, but you
“turn your motor on” as a speech therapist would say. This means you vocalize a
sound in your throat instead of just blowing silent air.[4]

5: Ask a trusted friend or relative for their feedback. After you’ve tried this
method, a good way to check and make sure you’re making the right sound is to
ask someone. Ask someone who doesn’t speak with a lisp, who will genuinely
want to help and won’t make fun. They should be able to tell you if the sounds
you’re making sound like clear /s/ and /z/ sounds.
 Ask them to make the sounds too, and try to copy what they do. Watch their
mouths and teeth, and try doing the same thing in the mirror.[5]
 Part 2
Practicing Vocalization Exercises

1
Start with just the sounds. You’ll need to work up to saying the sounds
correctly while speaking naturally. Practice saying just the /ssss/ and /zzzz/
sounds to yourself, and continue using the mirror and someone else for
feedback. The more you practice, the faster you’ll be able to say the sounds
clearly while speaking sentences.[6]
 2
Increase your speed gradually. For each step in this section, you’ll want to
begin slowly and once you’re comfortable saying the sounds correctly, you can
start doing each step faster. Soon you’ll be saying the sounds clearly at a natural
pace![7]

3
Try syllables and words. Practice saying the sounds with syllables first. Try
saa, see, soo, sie, and sor. Then, try zaa, zee, zoo, zie, and zor. Repeat these
gradually and then quickly, trying to maintain the correct sounds for /s/ and /z/.
 Next practice words: sun, soup, Sue, sigh, saw, see, sip, soap, silly, seven,
seals, zoo, bizarre, zippers[8]
 4
Practice sentences. Try repeating sentences containing the sounds /s/ and /z/.
For instance, “I see a sock,” and “We saw the store.” Here are some more you
can try:
 The striped zebra made me sneeze.
 I eat spaghetti with a spoon.
 He laughs when using scissors.[9]
 5
Repeat tongue twisters. Once you’re able to say sentences using clear /s/ and
/z/ sounds pretty easily and quickly, try some tongue twisters:
 Sister Suzie sat on the sea shore sewing shirts for sailors.
 The shrewd shrew sold Sarah seven silver fish slices.
 6
Keep practicing. Changing how you’ve been speaking can take quite a bit of
work. Don’t give up if you don’t see results right away. Practice the techniques for
at least 20 minutes every day. Ask your friends and family for feedback on
whether or not they think you are improving your pronunciation during
conversations.
 Children in school often participate in speech therapy for months or even years to
improve their lisps. If you’re not finding any improvement in a couple of months,
try contacting a speech therapist for more help.
 Part 3
Strengthening the Mouth and Tongue

1
Use a straw when drinking. Using a straw can help promote oral strength by
strengthening your tongue because you have to keep it pushed back while
drinking. So, get some straws and pop them into your cups, cans, or bottles
when you’re getting a drink.
 2
Blow into a round mouthpiece. Blowing of any kind, whether through an
instrument mouthpiece, whistle, horn, kazoo, etc. helps to strengthen the mouth
area muscles.
 You can also blow bubbles. Sure, it’s for kids, but it can be fun for adults too. And
if you have kids of your own or nieces/nephews, they’ll love doing it with you. [10]
 3
Practice tongue-tip sounds. Say “lalalalalalalala” without moving your jaw up
and down. Just move the tip of the tongue. Rest and repeat.
 Do this with other tip of the tongue sounds such as “tatatatatata” and
“nanananana” and “dadadadada.” Any sounds getting your tongue moving
quickly will help to strengthen it. [11]
4
Do tongue pops. Suck the tongue up onto the roof of your mouth for a 1-2
seconds and then pop it. Try working up to 25 repetitions of this. Doing these
types of exercises should cause you to gradually feel more control over the use
of your tongue, which will help when you’re speaking to avoid making unclear
sounds. [12]