If your child is finding trouble to pronounce simple words like bus or slush, they are found to possess one type of speech disorder. LISP refers to an articulation impediment where a child has difficulty in pronouncing certain letters and creating different sounds than normal. For example in bus, your kid says /buth/ and instead of saying seven, your child says /thuh-ven/.
Parents who notice their kids are lisping are quite concerned about its association with their academic performance. More so, if having speech disorders actually affect their child’s intelligence or IQ.
Many young kids experience difficulty in speaking and enunciating words correctly. It is, in fact, normal for children ages 0-5 years old to still be in the process of refining their speech skills. According to Bilingual Speech Path, Sarah Wu, speech difficulties do not produce adverse effects on children’s education. Just because your kid pronounces ‘s’ with ‘th,’ it does not mean that she is less intelligent and will not perform well in school.
However, if your child does not grow out of their lisp by the time they reach grade school, experts recommend trying speech therapy. It does not have to be public or with a speech therapist if you are worried about your child’s take on seeing a “doctor.” Parents can do therapy at home. There are plenty of available resources online to help you with your home therapy with your kid.
Does Your Child Need Professional Speech Therapy to Correct Lisp?
Children with lisps are not to be forced to enter speech therapy. It is probably not a big deal for some parents but could be seen as alarming if you are unable to notice that your child has one. Saying “I am theven years old” can be cute when they’re still little but growing up with a lisp can have social implications when they become adults. Some people who do not know anything about lisp at all would say that children with a lisp are not as smart as those without one. Therefore, awareness and understanding of this type of speech disorder are extremely important.
What Parents Need to Do When Speech Therapy is Not Working
Even if your child is enrolled in professional speech therapy but is not motivated by improving his or her speech, nothing will happen. Good results come from hard work and perseverance. I personally believe that it is our responsibility as parents to instill the goals we want for our children and help keep them stay on the right track. Lack of motivation will halt the child’s progress. However, each child has their own threshold and if the speech therapy happens to have reached a plateau, continuing will only waste your time and money.
In the same scenario, it is possible that your child simply wants to be in the classroom. Being pulled out of the class for speech therapy can adversely impact the child’s progress academically. Understand that the more time your child spends in the classroom; the better it is for his or her education. Most schools forbid speech therapy to interfere with regular classroom time. Hence, speech pathologists require for the communication disorder to be severe and evident enough to warrant missing out on classroom lectures.
Does Lisp Affect My Child’s IQ?
Ultimately, no studies show that having a lisp means being less smart than someone who talks in a normal way. There is no direct correlation between this kind of speech disorder and a child’s intelligence. The only way it will affect your child’s academic performance is if he or she keeps skipping classes to attend therapy sessions.
