Is there a name for this?

That's a lisp. The vast majority of children do grow out of it. But I would suggest talking to someone at her school, just in case. It does seem that six is older than normal to still be lisping.

It's not unusual. She'll grow out of it. Work with her on "L'' and whatever other letters that are problematic. And for goodness sake, be patient. Once she has learned you will miss her 'widdle teef' talking to the 'Word'.

It might not truly be a lisp. It might just be a 'lazy' pronunciation.

My son had a 'lazy' R problem. Think wascally wabbit. It took about four months of in-school help for him to lose it.

You might want to just do a one-time consultation with a speech therapist, or maybe do an internet search or something. Sometimes professionals can give you some great ideas for curing the problems easily and without a lot of fuss. When I was little I had some issues but a visit or two to a speech therapist and some creative little things like holding cheerios on the roof of my mouth with my tongue and I was cured.

Greenwolf103 said:

Thanks so much, everyone!

I was talking with my sister about this and she said that my daughter was homeschooled for too long for the schools to do anything.

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That's bull.

There might be school personnel out there that will refuse to help and use that as an excuse - but as far as it being a 'fact', that's just bull.

With all due respect to your sister, PHOOEY. Too long? She's six? What on earth is your sister basing that kind of an assessment on?

Substituting one letter for another, especially replacing a "lipped" letter with a "tongue" letter is not unusual and seldom a life-long condition. If I were you, I might speak with a therapist, just to see what they say, but you can force correct pronunciation with R words and rewards (not candy or toys) but with Hurrahs and stars on a board. She'll get used to using her lips instead of lolling her tongue against her upper teeth. Don't worry. She'll get over it.

My three youngest (ages 6, 4, and 3) all do this. I can tell they're just lazy speakers because when they ask to go to the pwayground, I tell them we can't until they say it correctly. Then they say playground and I (crap!) have to take them.

What drives me crazy is the th/f thing. My 6yo makes me nuts with it! He'll say "Firsday" and I'll correct him with Thursday, and then he'll say back to me, "ThFirsday." Grr. The school is working with him, too.

I did speech therapy in 2nd grade for a lisp (saying "th" for "s" sounds). It was basically just playing word games that forced me to correctly pronounce S words over and over the right way. I went twice a week (1 hour) for about 2 months and never had a problem again. I was just lazy and once the correct pronouncations were drilled into me I was fine.

My non-professional opinion: When you hear her saying words incorrectly, just correct her. Let her see you pronounce them and how your mouth moves. Ask her to pronounce them correctly without harping on her or making a big deal out of it. But don't let her slide on it either...sort of like correcting grammar or manners.

Good luck!

Greenwolf103 said:

My daughter has the tendency to say her "L" words with a "W." She calls her cousin Laurie "Waurie" and prays to her "Word" at bedtime. She also says "teef" instead of "teeth," "wiff" instead of "with" and "piwwow."

She's 6 years old and this has been going on for 3 years. A family member said it was a speech impediment but my husband says that it's not. That she's just young and will grow out of it.

But IS there a term for this? Besides..."baby talk"?

I'd appreciate any opinions. I hope she DOES grow out of it....

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I got custody of my grandson when he was seven, and talked like that.. I gently corrected him and he talks beautifully now..

Our youngest son had a ferocious jackhammer stutter from the time he learned to talk until he was nearly six. A speech therapist worked with him--and us, as his parents--gently showing us how he could overcome this. It took a year, but he did. Now, at thirty, he has a terrific speaking voice.

Hey, Dawn, llike the others said, bet she'll outgrow it and she's great, like her momma!

"Lazy liquids" are one of the commonest childhood speech impediments. She'll probably grow out of it; encourage her to practice at home, and if there's speech therapy at school, that's great, too!

One thing that helps is to have her read a favorite book out loud into a recording device (tape recorder, computer recording-to-CD); if she can hear for herself what's not quite working, it may focus her on the particular sounds she's having trouble with.

On the other hand, Barbara Walters still has a very distinct "lazy liquids" problem, and it hasn't stopped her from being a very successful broadcaster.

I had a stammer, and my brother had the thing where he confused "s" and "sh" sounds, and we both had speech therapy with the very-pleasant-but-looked-exactly-like-Lurch-from-"The Addams Family" school speech therapist. Fast forward to today, when we've both done radio and TV broadcasting on occasion, and have been complimented on our great voices. Speech therapy rocks!