Don’t you hate those pesky interdental lisps? You know, the ones that won’t stay fixed? To fix an interdental lisp – those lisps where your tongue sticks out between your teeth when you try to say /s/ – speech pathologists used to start with simple tasks, like saying an /s/ on its own. Once the child had mastered their /s/, we progressed in tiny hops (like baby bunny kittens) to slightly harder tasks. This traditional approach works. But it’s SO SLOW! Many kids – particularly older and more mature kids – hate being treated like babies. And, even after finishing traditional treatment, many kids have difficulties using their “new /s/” on words they haven’t practised and in more natural tasks, like story-telling and conversation. Which is, of course, the main point of trying to fix a lisp! A better approach Research evidence supports a different route for better results. Once a child can say the sound on his or her own, randomly mixing up hard and easy tasks can have quicker results that transfer more efficiently to real-world, lisp-free speech (e.g. see Skelton, 2004). For 10 years, speech pathologists, teachers, and parents around the world used our popular Pesky Lisp Fixer v1.0 to help young children with interdental lisps. But time catches up with us all. Version 1.0 has retired! Pesky Lisp Fixer 2.0 Introducing the Pesky Lisp Fixer Version 2.0! It’s easy to use - 6 modules, fully-scripted, no preps. It’s multimodal - Ready to play video and audio, pictures, and words. It’s evidence-informed - Built on principles of motor learning. It’s tech neutral - Print, iPad, smart phone, Zoom: your choice! It’s clear on dose and practice - Scripted home practice between sessions. It’s comprehensive - 300+ pages of materials, with multiple sets of pre-randomised exercises. Audio and video models feature female Australian-accented speech pathologists. We use the Pesky Lisp Fixer in our speech pathology clinic every day: we hope it is useful to you too!
