Articulation and Phonology Disorders 35not required to conform to the Standard American Dialect. Ophelia commented that she was more
intelligible than most of the professors with En glish as a second language.
The dean was also adamant about the negative implications of lisping. He noted that persons
are judged by their speech and that “how they talk often speaks louder than what they say.” He said
that Ophelia should rid herself of the lisp because it would prob ably be a professional hindrance
and reduce her chances of obtaining future employment in higher education. He observed that,
rightly or wrongly, most people consider lisping a sign of immature development and reduced
intelligence. He suggested that Ophelia watch the movie My Fair Lady or see the play Pygmalion,
on which the movie was based, to see the ste reo types people accept about speech patterns.
Ophelia countered this argument by noting that many past negative ste reo types about people
have dis appeared. Although pro gress has been much too slow, she said, many people now accept
and even revel in the differences in other people. Ophelia again stated that her speech was intel-
ligible and that negative ste reo types about it were the prob lems of the people who believed them.
She concluded her argument with the statement, “I am perfectly content with who I am and how
I speak.”
The meeting lasted for nearly 2 hours. Ophelia and the dean, both intelligent, articulate, and
persuasive debaters, fi nally reached a conclusion about lisping and diversity. The decision was
acceptable to both parties.
Case Study 2-2: A 6-Year-Old Child With a Frontal Lisp.
The speech- language pathologist receives an urgent telephone call from a father requesting a
confidential meeting. He wants to discuss his son’s speech impediment as soon as pos si ble. The
clinician returns the call, and a meeting is scheduled for the end of the week.
The speech- language pathologist identified Seth, the child in question, as having a frontal lisp
about 6 months ago during a routine screening. It is caused by Seth’s consistent production of
the /s/ speech sound as “th.” The frontal lisp occurs in the initial, medial, and final positions of
syllables and words. Sometimes articulation disorders occur because the speaker has a shortened
lingual frenulum. During the oral- facial examination this structure was found to be normal,
and Seth’s tongue protrusion, retraction, elevation, and depression were within normal limits for
mobility and excursion. The evaluation indicated that Seth fronted, meaning his tongue had ante-
rior placement during /s/ production.
The speech- language pathologist treats many children with /s/ articulation disorders. It is
not uncommon for young children to have prob lems with the /s/ speech sound. About 75% of
children acquire normal /s/ speech sound production in all three word positions (initial, medial,
final) between the ages of 4 and 5. At 6 years, 8 months, Seth, a second grader, is clearly delayed
in acquiring this phoneme.
The therapy Seth receives for the articulation disorder involves the standard sensorimotor
approach. First, the clinician trains him to perceive the differences between correct and incor-
rect productions of the /s/ phoneme. Seth first learns to distinguish the /s/ phoneme from other