[skittles_86]

Hi there. I noticed that not many people have posted here. I am adopted and I have now (at 18) only have a lisp. I started speech therapy in the mornings before preschool and continued though it until Jr High. It is extremly hard to go to speech thereapy during school, which is how nevada does it, because you get pulled out of class and miss what is being taught. I had an extremly hard time with s's r's ths' l's es' blah blah you name it. I sound perfectly fine now except for my slight lisp that most people don't notice offhand.

It is funny how speech is a "special education" and requires so many IEP's and such. I droped it in highschool because I didn't want to miss class or to have that label. Some of my friends had learning problems and had to deal with SE and I didn't want that problem. When I was little my speech pathologist made home visits and gave me summerhomework. I learned this year what all the "visits" were about. The home studys showed how i was in my enviroment and oddly enough i was called "very mature and creative" and "unintelligiable"(sorry for the spelling). Go figure.

I personally think that parents should read to their children as much as possible, and make reading and speaking fun. They say that speech problems go away by the time you are 7, but if it doesn't go away, then it's too late. My only question is now that I'm older is "will my children have lisps because they will be learning lanuage from me?????"

Just my little info

[chaosjade]

Hi Skittles,
Welcome to the site!
My daughter is 7 years old and has a stuttering problem. The school that she goes to also pulls her out of class. She knows that she has a speech problem & is afraid that kids will make fun of her so she is way behind in all her classes, because she won't speak up in class if something is confusing her. Her younger brother has started to pick up from her.

Than ran tests on her last year and they said they very surprised by her high scores. I wanted to hold her back because she is so far behind, but because of the program that she is in they would not hold her back. They told me that she will always stutter but that at some time she will be able to control it better.
I have been to a lot of sites and read up on a lot of stuff about speach and Genetics may play a role in some speech problems but in most cases no one knows the exact cause of a persons speech problem.
If you are concerened that maybe your children will inherit this trait then you could try to meet with a speech pathologist, or theripist.

And you are so very right reading is such a very big part in a child's life..Reading is big in our family.

[Volfe]

hrm, my older child stuttered from 5-8 yrs of age. We always told her she'd outgrow it and let it go at that. It did drive us crazy sometimes though. We'd tell her to slow down, think of what you're gonna say, and say it (it didnt work but it helped us I think). We'd wrote if off as the brain synapses going faster than the mouth.
Not saying that was a good thing, just that she, herself, outgrew it.

As for your kids piicking up your lisp, I don't think that's a major concern unless there's a genetic deformation of something related to vocals/ speech like the cleft palate. IMO kids will learn more from their surroundings, you, other parents, teachers, friends (especially friends). But they DO learn from you of course... I'm from the South but have no southern accent. My single mother is from the NE and I grew up in an area with many transients (people move there from all over the world).
However, I have good grammar and my teen does not Sometimes you wish they'd pick up your speech!

Maia