Lisps

[mbs]

Hi

I'm wondering whether any NAPM has any advice about lisps. My DD has a very slight lisp, and mostly it's unnoticeable (at least to me) but it can be more prominent when she sings.

She's had some feedback recently which suggested that her lisp might be a problem in MT auditions.

I just wondered whether anyone had any experience of speech therapy for lisps. Is it worth us going down that road? Are there specialists that can help with diction for performances perhaps?

I wouldn't normally think of doing anything about a slight lisp - it's just part of who she is. But she is so determined to get somewhere with her musical theatre, I'd hate for it to be holding her back.

Thanks
x

[esmum]

My Dd had a slight lisp - less noticeable through singing. Chips were pronounced as Ships! Funnily enough my Mum and I were recently saying how it has now disappeared, and we didn't really notice when! Dd is now 12 - had this up until age 10 I would say....never held her back so good luck to your Dd x

P.s. I was a little bit concerned like you - but never did anything about the lisp - was rather cute too

[mbs]

Hi esmum

Thanks for that - it obviously hasn't held back your very talented DD which is great to hear. Interesting too that the lisp just disappeared. Maybe that will happen with my DD. She's 9 now.
x

[TalyaB]

DS had quite a marked lisp till he was well gone 12. He hated it in the latter years, but ot didn't stop him getting into Matilda or playing Michael in Billy Elliot, but when the casting team for BE were (briefly) thinking of him as a Billy they said he'd have to get rid of the lisp.

A couple of months of working with a private speech therapist, which cost us a fortune and which he hated, didn't seem to have much effect, except for making him very self-conscious, and then we found a general vocal coach who took him for a couple of sessions, which he preferred and seemed able to implement better. Since then it does seem to have disappeared - presumably at least partly thanks to the intervention. We didn't find it easy to find someone who was used to working with older children through.

[mbs]

Thanks TalyaB

It's really encouraging to hear that lisps aren't necessarily an obstacle to getting parts. Your DS is clearly a superstar!

I'm really interested to hear about your DS' experience with a speech therapist. It all sounds a bit painful. I really wouldn't want my DD to become self-conscious about her lisp.

Was the vocal coach you found a singing coach? Finding someone that actually specifically works with performers sounds like a really good idea.

[TalyaB]

Yes, she's a drama and singing teacher, runs her own p/t school, but also works as a voice coach on WE shows - e.g. Matilda, but not when DS was there and that wasn't how we found her. We saw her in Beaconsfield - let me know if you'd like her details. I think it's inevitable that there will be some self-consciousness around getting over a lisp - that's why we didn't do anything about it until he really wanted to.

It's worth establishing first of all whether your DD CAN manage to form an 's' without lisping (in which case the lisp is habit - though there might be, or have been, physical factors involved) or can't. DS always could, he just didn't in natural speech.

[mbs]

Thanks TalyaB. Beaconsfield isn't really our neck of the woods so I'll try and find someone a bit closer. But if I fail, I may come back to you!