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Expert Q&A
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| By Mindy Hudon Speech and Language Pathologist | ||
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Our 5-year-old daughter, who just began her pre-K year in preschool, has a teacher with a strong frontal lisp. We are noticing that our daughter is experimenting with lisping certain "s" sounds, like her teacher. We correct her and she immediately repeats the proper pronunciation. We are very concerned. What can you tell us about this situation and how valid is our concern?
I understand your concern, but children often imitate things they see and hear around them. From your description, it does not appear that your daughter has a frontal lisp. She is imitating something that she sees. I think that you are correctly addressing the issue with your daughter by showing her the correct way to produce these sounds.
You can try discussing that making these sounds may be difficult for her teacher and that she should try not to imitate them because the teacher may be embarrassed.
The teacher may be sensitive about her speech. I think it is important to gently discuss communication disorders with children so they are sensitive to these issues and understand them so they won't unintentionally hurt someone's feelings. At this age, I am sure she is exposed to some of her classmates who are also having issues with their speech. Educating children correctly about all types of diversity is an important skill.
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