How to Get Rid of a Lisp: Complete Treatment Guide

A lisp is an articulation disorder characterised by the misplacement of the tongue during the production of sounds primarily "s" and "z," causing them to sound distorted, whistled, or replaced by "th." ​

Say the word sunshine out loud. For roughly 23% of children at age 5, that word doesn't come out the way it sounds in their head (ASHA, 2021). The tongue drifts forward, or sideways, or presses against the wrong surface, and the "s" turns into something else entirely.

The good news: Knowing how to get rid of a lisp is not complicated. The method is well-established, the timeline is predictable, and the outcomes are genuinely strong at any age. This guide covers every treatment path, speech therapy, at-home exercises, and dental intervention, so you leave with a clear picture of what to do next.

Yes. A lisp is one of the most treatable articulation disorders in speech-language pathology. The correct answer isn't "maybe" or "it depends on severity," it's yes, with appropriate treatment and consistent practice.

The more useful question is which type of lisp you're dealing with, because the timeline and approach matter.

Frontal (Interdental) Lisp is the most common. The tongue protrudes between the front teeth during "s" and "z" sounds, producing a "th"-like replacement. In children under 4.5, this is developmentally normal. The articulatory system is still maturing. It often self-resolves by age 5 without intervention (McLeod & Crowe, 2018).

Lateral Lisp is characterised by airflow escaping over the sides of the tongue rather than through the centre, creating a wet or slushy quality on sibilant sounds. Lateral lisps do not self-resolve. They require structured speech therapy in virtually all cases (ASHA Clinical Practice Guidelines, 2023).

Palatal Lisp involves the mid-section of the tongue making contact with the hard palate. Like lateral lisps, palatal lisps almost always require direct clinical intervention.

Dentalised Lisp occurs when the tongue presses against the back of the upper front teeth. Milder than a lateral lisp, but persistent without practice.

Which lisp type do you have?
Don't waste time on the wrong drills. Try the Free Test and get your personalized starting point in under 2 minutes.

Children's neuroplasticity accelerates progress. A child working consistently with an SLP may see measurable change in 8–12 weeks.

Adults carry years of habituated muscle memory, so the process takes longer, typically 3–6 months of consistent practice, but the same articulatory principles apply. The motor learning pathway is identical; the speed of change is not.

Speech therapy is the gold standard for how to get rid of a lisp. A licensed Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) doesn't simply tell you to "move your tongue differently." The process is systematic, evidence-based, and individually calibrated.

What a Typical Assessment Involves

Before any therapy begins, an SLP conducts a formal assessment. This includes:

• Oral mechanism examination (tongue strength, range, and resting posture)
• Standardised articulation testing (e.g., Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation)
• Speech sample analysis across single words, sentences, and conversations
• Hearing screen to rule out auditory processing contributions
• Review of any co-occurring issues, tongue tie, dental structure, bite alignment

From this, the SLP builds an individualised therapy plan targeting the specific phoneme error pattern and articulatory placement breakdown.

What Happens in a Typical Session

A session typically begins with placement cues teaching the client exactly where the tongue tip should land (on or just behind the alveolar ridge, not between or against the teeth). The SLP uses tactile feedback tools, mirrors, and verbal cueing to help the client feel the correct position before producing sound.

Sounds are then practised in a structured hierarchy:

This progression is not arbitrary. Research shows that drilling a sound in isolation before moving to connected speech significantly improves generalisation to real-life communication (McAllister Byun & Hitchcock, 2012).

Duration

Most children working with an SLP on a frontal or lateral lisp see meaningful progress within 3–4 months of weekly sessions paired with daily home practice. Adults typically need 3–6 months, with more complex lateral lisps at the longer end of that range. Consistency of home practice is the single largest variable affecting timeline (Law et al., 2004).

Finding a Specialist

The ASHA directory (asha.org/profind) is the primary resource for locating a licensed SLP in the United States. For those without local access, structured online therapy programs, including the Top Speech Health, provide clinician-designed sessions accessible from any device.

Home practice is not optional; it is where the progress actually happens. A weekly SLP session gives you the map; daily practice is what moves you forward. Research consistently shows that short, frequent practice outperforms infrequent long sessions for motor speech learning (Maas et al., 2008). Fifteen minutes a day, seven days a week, beats ninety minutes on a Saturday.

Here are six exercises, structured from foundational to functional:

1. Tongue-Tip Placement Drill

Place the tip of your tongue lightly on the alveolar ridge the small ridge just behind your upper front teeth. Hold it there for 5 seconds without letting it touch the teeth. This builds proprioceptive awareness of the correct resting position. Do 10 repetitions.

2. Mirror Practice for "S" and "Z"

Sit in front of a mirror and produce an extended "ssss" while watching your tongue. It should not be visible between your teeth. If you see it, consciously pull it back. Visual biofeedback like this accelerates self-correction in both children and adults (Preston et al., 2014).

3. Straw Airflow Exercise

Hold a straw horizontally between your lips. Produce an "s" sound while directing air through the straw. This trains the central airflow the pattern disrupted in lateral lisps and gives immediate tactile feedback when airflow drifts sideways.

4. Minimal Pair Word Drills

Practice contrasting word pairs that isolate the target sound: sue/through, sip/tip,. Start slowly. Accuracy matters more than speed.

Here's a starter set: sue / through, sea / thee, sip / tip, sail / tail, sing / thing. Say each pair slowly, three times. The goal is to feel the tongue difference between the two words — not just hear it.

5. Sentence-Level Practice

Move to full sentences once word-level accuracy reaches 80% or above. Use sentences loaded with sibilant sounds: "Sally sells seashells by the seashore" is classic, but structured lisp practice sentences from a clinician-designed program give better coverage of phoneme contexts.

6. Conversational Carryover

Pick one low-stakes conversation per day a phone call, a coffee order, a chat with a colleague and consciously monitor your "s" production throughout. This bridges the gap between drill and real speech.

Which exercise should you do first?
You don't need to do every drill to see progress. Use the Free Lisp Test to find out exactly which movements are holding you back, and only focus on what works.

Not every lisp has a dental solution. But in certain cases, dental or oral structural issues are driving the articulatory error and addressing them directly changes outcomes.

Orthodontics:

An open bite or significant overjet can physically prevent the tongue from achieving correct alveolar placement. In these cases, orthodontic treatment, such as braces or aligners, may correct the lisp as a byproduct of correcting the bite alignment. The lisp should be reassessed after orthodontic completion before concluding speech therapy is needed (Bloomer, 1971).

Managing a Lisp from Braces or Aligners.

A temporary lisp after getting braces or clear aligners is extremely common. The hardware physically disrupts habitual tongue movement patterns. This typically resolves within 4–8 weeks as oral motor adaptation occurs. Speech exercises during this period can accelerate adaptation.

Tongue Tie (Ankyloglossia) and Frenectomy.

A short or thick lingual frenum, the band of tissue connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth, can restrict tongue elevation and forward movement. When tongue tie is assessed as a contributing factor to the lisp (not all tongue ties affect speech), a frenectomy (surgical release of the frenum) may be recommended. This is always followed by SLP-guided post-surgical therapy to establish new motor patterns.

Learn more about lisp correction surgery and when it is and isn't appropriate.

Three clear criteria. If anyone applies, book an assessment, not a consultation, an actual speech and language assessment.

1. Your child is past age 5, and the lisp persists. By 5, the frontal lisp should have resolved on its own. If it hasn't and especially if a lateral or palatal lisp is present waiting further does not help. Early intervention consistently produces faster outcomes than delayed intervention (Law et al., 2004).

2. The lisp is affecting confidence or daily communication. Social-emotional impact is a clinical indicator, not just a quality-of-life concern. Research links untreated articulation disorders to reduced classroom participation, lower reading acquisition rates, and negative peer perception in school-age children (McCormack et al., 2009). Adults with persistent lisps report measurable effects on professional confidence and social engagement.

3. Self-correction attempts have stalled. If you or your child has been practising consistently for 6–8 weeks without measurable progress, the issue is likely articulatory placement, something a clinician can identify and correct in a single session that self-directed practice cannot.

Getting rid of a lisp is not a matter of willpower or waiting; it is a matter of method. The right tongue placement, the right practice structure, and the right support make this one of the most correctable conditions in speech-language pathology. Most people who commit to daily practice see real change within weeks.

The next step is simpler than you think. Take the free lisp test → Find out which type you have and get a personalised practice plan in under 2 minutes.