#speech impediment

LIVE

I had speech therapy for the first time yesterday, and my therapist is used to working in schools with primary age children who find speech and literacy inaccessible. I don’t fit that category; I’m a 16 year old, quite intelligent girl who needs to correct a lisp in order to begin a career in theatre. I’m also autistic, and she knew that going in. She came in and treated me like her primary kids, really talking down to me and being really touchy-feely. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t like unexpected contact.
I’m finally understanding what it is that every one else complains about when it comes to people infantilising us. It’s demeaning and annoying.

I used to have a lisp. A couple tips:

If you have any bite issues, try to get yourself braces. I know they’re expensive, but some bite issues (I had a really severe overbite frex) make it almost impossible to notlisp.
The SSS noise is made by holding the tongue against your palate in behind your teeth and letting the air slowly bleed out between your tongue and the roof of the mouth.
The hard TH (think the th in the word “think”) is made with the tongue pressed hard against the tips of your upper teeth.
The soft TH (think the th in the word “the”): Start like a hard TH, and then soften your tongue and let the air blow it off the upper teeth.

If your lisp takes the form of substituting one of those noises for the other(s), try practicing consciously making each sound, and then working the sounds into words with them. If it takes the form of prolonged sounds, practice bringing your tongue to the bottom of your mouth abruptly to stop the noise promptly.

Your speech therapist will probably have other tips - but that’s what worked for me.

Finally: You are within your rights to ask her not to touch you, and also to get yourself a new speech therapist. You won’t click with everyone, and it’s difficult to make progress or be taken seriously by a therapist who doesn’t respect you.