Fickthing a lithp
 

Okay. So it's not nearly that bad, but has anyone here managed to overcome a speech impediment? I've been told by many people that it's barely noticeable, but I am conscious of a very slight lisp everytime I use the letter S. My tongue involuntarily slides to the left of my mouth.

Has anyone here defeated a problem like this? Any ways to work on correcting it?

Edit:
Damn this goes in Angst, doesn't it?

I've actualy gotten braces recently and I've had to over come a list because of a guard on my teeth, youll get over it.

I don't have a speech impediment so much as I have an issue getting words out fast enough. Thoughts escape me sometimes, so I try to spit them out as QUICKLY as possible. Which inevitably leads to cluttered words and misunderstandings.

Sometimes I mix words, too. Fr'instance, if I want to say "I went to the park," I may spit out "I went ta pa dark." Yea. Don't ask me. I have no idea how my brain fucks up what I want to come out of my mouth, but I do it a lot. ;_;

I have trouble enunciating words, so I often have to repeat myself. Sometimes this leads to a s-s-stut-stutter.

I do that too. But I also completely mix up the order of words as well. So if I were to take your example it would sound like, " I to went pa dark". ;|

Everytime it happens I have to pause and slow down so the words come out correctly. I think because I speak less but communicate with text or body language more that I can't speak fast enough to bring the thoughts in my head to my mouth. That or maybe my brain cant keep up with my thoughts. I guess I'm just not use to talking. I don't know. I know it's been like this for years and no amount of effort has fixed it.

I used to not be able to say Canada. I used to always say Canadia! Was an odd thing to have but I got over it when my colleagues constantly pointed it out to me.

Other than that im eloquent all the way baby!

I have trouble enunciating now and then, so every once and a while I'll do that stutter thing trying to remind myself of the correct way to say the word. I think it's mostly a matter of practice.

I know when I was in elementary I went to some special speech class for something, but I don't remember at all what it was that I was saying wrong. I'll have to ask my parents I guess.

But yeah, practice.

Yeah, but how can that be done when it's nearly impossible for me to say S correctly?

You could practice WITH someone, as embarrassing as that may be, they'd at least be able to tell you if you're doing it right or wrong or how close you are. Or maybe listen to how it's said from the TV or such and repeat it, try to get it as accurate as possible... force your tongue to do what it doesn't want to...

I wonder if there are any excercises that you might be able to look up? I'm sure it's an issue that's been approached before.

Sometimes I have trouble gettings words out. Or I say something that sounds similar to the word(s) that I want to, but they actually come out as something different.
This is me trying to get too many words out at the same time. :doh:
When this happens, I stop myself and start again.

I also have trouble pronouncing some words as well, but with practise I will overcome these. I guess the only thing that you can do is practise the words that give you the most trouble.

I have a tendency of saying the wrong word I am looking for, and have trouble pronouncing large words that have s and c with an i in there.

Other than that, I am very articulate.

My best advice for fixing a lisp is to set some time aside and just play with the different sounds you can make with your tongue, teeth, and roof of your mouth. I've noticed that there are actually a variety of ways that someone can have a lisp, all dependent upon the specific place in their mouth that they rest the tip of their tongue.
You will most likely sound like a weirdo, and even feel like a weirdo, so you might want to pick an isolated spot to play with this. While you're driving alone is a good opportunity.
Once you find that sweet spot which generates a good "s" sound, stick with it, and practice that, and start trying to include that in words which use lots of "S"s.
If I have the time, I could possibly draw up a rough illustration of what tongue configuration I use for my Ss, but I fear that wouldn't be of as much help as you just experimenting on your own.

I was just chatting to my mate about this and it turns out his mother is a speech therapist. Apparantley there is no speech impediment that cant be cured unless its a physical abnormality like a growth in the mouth or a gap in your teeth.

She says that pratiscing the words with a friend to correct you and experimenting with your tongue shapes when making the words you will eventually eradicate your speech problems.

He developed a lisp after having his brace taken out because he wasnt used to his new teeth setup so he sat and tried his hardest to fix his lisp and after a few months of practice, he could say S without it sounding like Etsssh.

So dont worry to anyone who has a lisp, it is a curable thing with practice, depends how dedicated you are to getting rid of it.

I have a problem with pronouncing my "r", and instead it comes out more like a "w" (though not quite). Those who're British only have to listen to Jonathon Ross to know what I mean. ;)

However after having just done some research thanks to being prompted by fiercedeity's post, it seems it's very curable. I'm not sure why I've never bothered to search before, but regardless I'll soon be making use of this.

I've only had to overcome my West Country accent. Although, I sometimes slip back and pronounce my r's really hard (so I basically end up sounding like Sam from LOTR). Luckily, it's a rare occurence.

When my sister was in elementary school, she used to say her R's really weird, so they had her go to a speechmathologist (sp?) once a week. It worked somewhat.

I have a small stutter when I'm nervous, but apart from that and maybe talking far too quietly I don't have any speech impediments.

In elementary school, I couldn't make the sound associated with "th" very well, and it would always come out as an "f" sound. Luckily I got over it.

- WraithTwo -

I do the same thing. Especially when I'm trying to describe something. I might think "quick" and "fast" but instead of saying one, I combine them and end up saying "quist" or something. I have to repeat myself pretty often.

I do that too. I'm getting better at it, though. I have a job in retail and I'm usually the one doing all the talking. Really, it's just practice.

I can usually talk pretty well, save for a pretty randomly occuring stutter. But every now and then, when I get the thoughts flowing really fast, like in a heated disscussion or something like that, I can start making a point and just lose complete control of my train of thought and sort of just run out of words. Makes me look a damn fool let me tell ya.

There is a part of the brain that takes what you want to say and puts it into the right order. If that part of the brain is injured or slightly undeveloped then you may find yourself mixing words or sylables. I'm not saying that you have this problem, I'm just spewing random information that I recently learned.

Anyways, I used to have a lisp, but I conquered it when I was 7-8. I just took the time to stop talking like an idiot by repeating my name Scott over and over. "Thott, Thott, Shtott Scott, YETH!!... damn...

I do something similar.

I speak decent Korean. So sometimes I get the Korean and English words mixed. Like when I say "mom", it sometimes comes out as "uhmom". (uhm-ma is the Korean word for mom)

I noticed a while ago that practically everyone has /some/ form of speech impediment... it might not be mispronunciation of words, per say, but perhaps a distinction in the way someone says something... just stuff like that. It's probably not worth worrying about, as everyone seems to have one... and, sometimes, it's what distinguishes people from other people. Sometimes it can even be 'cute'.

I have a slight gap in my front teeth that makes my "th" sounds very blunt. I think it used to be wider when I was younger because I could whistle through it in elementary school. Can't do it anymore. Maybe my tongue just got too big.

"S" sounds are fine, though. Glad my favorite band isn't the Smiths. Morrissey would work. Isaac Brock, who sings for Modest Mouse, has a killer lisp.