Report on the topic “Lateral sigmatism and ways to overcome it”

Sigmatism is a deficiency in the pronunciation of hissing ([Zh], [Sh], [H], [Sh]) and whistling ([S-S′], [Z-Z′], [C]) phonemes. Both groups belong to the sounds of late ontogenesis, while hissing ones are considered articulatory more complex than whistling ones. Among speech sound defects, various variants of sigmatism are more common than other distortions. In older preschool children with dyslalia, whistling sigmatism is detected in 22% of cases, sibilant sigmatism - in 24%, in children with erased dysarthria - in 95% and 82%, respectively. Often, defective sound pronunciation persists in adults.

Causes of sigmatism

Sigmatism as a short-term phenomenon can occur in children during the period of physiological change of teeth. When baby teeth fall out, the tip of the tongue sometimes occupies an interdental position, which gives speech a lisping tone. Typically, children quickly find compensatory articulation that promotes normative pronunciation, and the problem soon disappears. Persistent pathological sigmatism has the following causes:

• Dentofacial anomalies.
  Prognathia can lead to labiodental sigmatism. The cause of interdental pronunciation of sounds is usually an anterior open bite, a narrow and high hard palate, and a shortened frenulum of the tongue. Nasal pronunciation is typical for cleft palates.
• Violation of the innervation of the organs of articulation.
  Leads to changes in the tone of the tongue, laxity of the soft palate, paresis or increased spasticity of the lips. With innervation inferiority, interdental or lateral sigmatism most often occurs.
• Diseases of the ENT organs.
  Difficulty in nasal breathing caused by adenoids, vasomotor or allergic rhinitis causes the child’s mouth to constantly remain slightly open. In this case, the tip of the tongue ends up in an interdental position - interdental sigmatism is formed.
• Incorrect articulation patterns.
  There is no organic pathology on the part of the articulatory organs. The immaturity of articulatory praxis comes to the fore. This situation can occur in somatically weakened children when imitating incorrect speech patterns.
• Hearing loss.
  A decrease in physical hearing usually leads to sound substitutions - parasigmatism; less often, with hearing loss, distorted pronunciation of sounds is observed. It is caused by unclear auditory differentiation of correctly and incorrectly pronounced phonemes.

In practical speech therapy, sigmatism occurs in a number of speech disorders: various forms of dyslalia and dysarthria, alalia, rhinolalia, ONR, FFN. A lisp may occur in children with intellectual disabilities.

Problems with the pronunciation of whistling sounds “s, z” or “lisp”

Home — About speech therapy — Whistling sound disorders

In this article we will continue the conversation about lisps, but we will dwell in more detail on the distorted “lisp” pronunciation of the sounds “s, z”. The term “lisp” refers to the incorrect pronunciation of sounds, which is accompanied by hissing, whistling and other “noisy” tones.

Usually, young children pronounce whistling sounds softly at first (example: dog - “syabaka”, teeth - “zyuby”), but by the age of 3.5-4 years, the firm pronunciation of whistling sounds should be successfully mastered. To correctly pronounce the sounds “s, z” you need the following:

• The lips are half-opened, in a smile;
• The teeth are clenched or tightly brought together, so that the distance between the teeth is 1-2 mm;
• The tongue is wide, the tip of the tongue rests on the lower teeth, and a groove is formed along the midline of the tongue through which air passes.

If there are irregularities in the structure of the teeth, the tongue is poorly mobile, tense or overly relaxed, defects in the pronunciation of whistling sounds may occur - a lisp.

The lisp pronunciation of the sounds “s, z” is divided into 2 main forms:

1. The most common types of distortions are: Distorted pronunciation of whistling sounds or their absence - the scientific name is “sigmatism”.

• Interdental pronunciation - the tip of the tongue is pushed between the teeth, and a lisping tone appears;
• Dental pronunciation - the tip of the tongue rests against the teeth, interfering with the free passage of air. And you hear “t,d.” Example: dog - tobacco, teeth - oaks.
• Hissing pronunciation - the tip of the tongue rests on the lower gums or is slightly pulled away from them, and the back of the tongue is curved into a hump. A soft hissing sound is heard, like a “sh”. Example: a dog is shabaka, teeth are juby.
• Labial-dental pronunciation - the lower lip touches the upper incisors, like the sound “f”, a snorting sound is obtained. Example: dog - fabaka, teeth - fuba.
• Lateral pronunciation - with this option, the tip of the tongue or the entire half of the tongue is pulled to the side, resulting in a noisy, lisping sound, or the tip of the tongue is raised up, and air passes between the cheek and sides of the tongue (a squelching sound like “lch” is obtained).
• Nasal pronunciation - with this defect, the soft palate does not sufficiently cover the exit to the nasal cavity and a nasal tone of sound is heard, as with a runny nose.

2. Replacement of whistling sounds with others is the scientific name “parasigmatism.”

Most often, whistling sounds are replaced with “s, z”, “sh, zh” (example: dog - sabaka, shabaka), however, there are also completely atypical replacements with the sounds “t, x, g” (example: dog - habaka, teeth – lips, sleds – tanks, etc.). Only substitutions with “sing, z” up to 3-3.5 years are normal, typical, and there is a high probability that the child will independently learn to pronounce whistling sounds correctly. If atypical, jarring sound changes immediately appear, then parents should pay attention to this and make an appointment with a speech therapist.

It is best for children to start attending speech therapy at age 5

– by this age, the child can already control himself and is better aware of the movement of the muscles of the lips and tongue.

If it was not possible to correct a lisp in childhood, then this defect remains and we often hear it in the speech of adults and adolescents.

Mostly in adults and adolescents, interdental pronunciation is observed due to the incorrect structure of the teeth and bite (especially anterior open bite, when there is a hole between the teeth and the tip of the tongue is constantly sticking out). After treatment by an orthodontist and wearing braces, the teeth are already closed, but the habit of sticking the tongue between the teeth and lisping remains. Then you cannot do without the help of a speech therapist. During the classes, a specialist will show you how to position your tongue and teeth correctly, and then help you introduce a new correct sound into speech.

From practical experience:

Zhanna, 27 years old: had a malocclusion, is completing treatment with an orthodontist, wears braces. 6 sounds are broken, including “s, z”. In 4 lessons, I learned to pronounce these sounds correctly and already actively uses them in speech (she constantly practices at home, actively uses new sounds at work when communicating with colleagues and clients).

If a lisp prevents you from fully communicating and causes embarrassment when communicating, then it is never too late to make an appointment with a speech therapist who will help you gain beautiful, clear speech.



Phonetic characteristics of whistling and hissing sounds

Whistling [S], [Z] and hissing [Sh], [Zh], [Sh] - consonants, oral, anterior lingual, fricative. Of these, [Z] and [Zh] are voiced (during phonation, the vocal folds vibrate, producing a voice), the rest are voiceless. Whistling [C] and hissing [Ch] differ only in the method of formation - they are occlusive-fissional. [H] and [Sh] are always soft, [C], [Sh], [F] are always hard, [S], [Z] - have soft pairs [S′] and [Z′]. An important difference between the group of whistlers and hissers is the basic articulatory structure, including:

• position of the lips: when pronouncing sibilants, the lips are stretched in a smile, when pronouncing hissing ones, they are rounded and slightly extended forward;
• position and shape of the tongue: when articulating sibilants, the tongue is located “mound” behind the lower incisors, when articulating sibilants - at the alveoli in the shape of a “cup”;
• characteristics of the air stream: for those who whistle, it is narrow and cold; for the sizzling ones, it is wide and warm.

Report “Correction of hissing sigmatism”

Normal installation of the organs of articulation when pronouncing the sound “S” and “Z”.

• The tip of the tongue rests on the lower front teeth;
• The lips are in a “smile” position and do not cover the teeth;
• Teeth in a “fence” position;
• The air is blown out forcefully from the middle of the tongue;
• A sharp cold stream is felt on the palm brought to the mouth.
• The voice motor is not working. (When pronouncing the sound “Z” - it works).

Disadvantages in the pronunciation of whistling and hissing sounds are called sigmatism; the replacement of whistling sounds with hissing or other sounds of the Russian language is called parasigmatism.

Sigmatism is of the following types:

1. Interdental sigmatism.

This disadvantage is expressed in the fact that when pronouncing whistling or hissing sounds (and sometimes both), the tip of the tongue is pushed between the lower and upper incisors, which results in a lisping sound.

2. Labiodental sigmatism.

With this lack of pronunciation, whistling or hissing sounds (and sometimes both) are pronounced similar to the sounds f

and
in
, i.e., in such a position of the parts of the articulatory apparatus, when the lower lip is raised to the upper incisors, forming a narrowing through which the exhaled stream of air passes, and the tongue is in the position of the sound
c.
With such combined articulation, a sound is formed that contains elements of the sounds
f and s (v
and
z
), as a result of which the pronunciation becomes unclear, incomprehensible and unpleasant to the ear.

3. Dental sigmatism.

This drawback of pronunciation is distinguished by the fact that when pronouncing whistling sounds, the tip of the tongue rests against the edges of the upper and lower incisors, forming a barrier and interfering with the passage of air through the tooth gap, as a result of which there is no whistling characteristic of these sounds and instead of the sounds s, z

sounds t and
d are heard,
for example:
soup
- “tup”,
airplane
- “tamolet”,
winter
- “Dima”,
umbrella
- “dontik”,
heron
- “taplya”. This disadvantage can also be called parasigmatism, since in this case one consonant sound is replaced by another.

4. Hissing sigmatism.

With this type of sigmatism, sounds are pronounced in the following position of the tongue: its tip is pulled away from the lower incisors deep into the oral cavity, the back is sharply curved towards the hard palate, as a result of which, instead of a whistle, a softened sound

or
f (dog
- “shabaka”,
castle
- “zhamok”).

5. Lateral sigmatism.

With this deficiency, whistling or hissing sounds (sometimes both) can be pronounced in two ways:

a) the tip of the tongue rests on the alveoli, and the entire tongue lies on its edge; one of its edges rises to the inside of the molars, passing exhaled air along the lateral edges of the tongue, resulting in a “squelching” sound;

b) the tip of the tongue rests on the upper alveoli, passing air along the sides, as with the sound l.

Lateral sigmatism can be unilateral or bilateral.

6. Nasal sigmatism.

With this deficiency, whistling or hissing sounds (sometimes both) are pronounced in the following position of the tongue: its root rises and adjoins the soft palate, which descends and forms a passage for exhaled air through the nose, which is why a sound similar to x is heard,

but with a nasal undertone.

Preparatory exercises for sounds “S”, “Z”

Exercises to develop air pressure.

1) Having drawn air into your lungs, forcefully blow (and not just exhale) it through your lips extended forward like a “tube”. Control with the palm of your hand, a piece of paper or cotton wool: you feel a sharply beating cold stream, the paper or cotton wool is deflected to the side. Repeat the exercise.

2) Stick out your tongue so that it rests on your lower lip. Place a thin round stick (match) along the tongue to its middle and press to form a groove. Round your lips, but don’t tense them. The teeth are open. Inhaling, forcefully blow out the air, puffing out your cheeks. Control with the palm of your hand, a piece of paper or cotton wool. Repeat the exercise.

3) Do the previous exercise without using a stick.

Lip exercise. Stretch your lips into a smile to the limit and hold them in a tense position for some time. The teeth are closed. Repeat the exercise.

Exercise. Pronouncing the long sound “S”.

1) Open your mouth. Spread your tongue and rest the tense tip against your lower teeth. Place a round thin stick (or match) along the tip of the tongue so that it presses only the front part of the tongue. The lips are stretched into a smile. Close your teeth as far as the stick allows. Blow the air forcefully evenly, controlling it with the palm of your hand, a piece of paper or cotton wool. A long sound “S – S – S” is heard. Repeat the exercise.

Note. If the stick is not in the middle of the tongue or the air pressure is insufficient, the “C” sound will be unclear and not whistling.

2) Do the same exercise with slowly removing the stick from the mouth to the teeth and out.

3) Do the exercise several times without using a stick.

Correction of hissing sigmatism.

In this case, the speech pathologist must be weaned from the habit of straining the tongue and pulling it into the depths of the mouth. To this end, suggest that the speech pathologist hold the front edge of the tongue between the lower and upper incisors, spreading it wide; with this position of the tongue, the speech therapist, exhaling air and feeling its stream at the tip of the tongue, reproduces a sound similar to a lisping (interdental) s. Then the speech therapist, lightly pressing the spread out front edge of the tongue with a spatula, gradually moves it behind the lower incisors. Once the correct pronunciation of the sound s is established and the speech therapist can maintain the correct position of the tongue without mechanical assistance (without support with a probe or spatula), the delivered sound s can be included in syllables, words and differentiated with the sounds з and ц.

Types of sigmatism

All forms of sigmatism are divided into two large groups: hissing sigmatism and whistling sigmatism. The methods for correcting defective sound pronunciation depend on the nature of the distortion of sounds. The main types of sigmatism in both groups of sounds are identical:

• Interdental.
  The tip of the tongue takes a position between the upper and lower incisors. Phonemes acquire a lisping sound.
• Prizubny.
  The tongue rests against the edges of the incisors, blocking the passage of air through the interdental gap. The sound produced is acoustically close to [T].
• Labial-dental.
  The lower lip comes closer to the upper teeth, the air comes out in a jerky manner. Instead of the correct sound, a distorted [F] or [V] is heard.
• Side.
  The exhaled air stream exits through a one-sided slit or along both lateral edges of the tongue. The sound is noisy and squelching.
• Nasal.
  During phonation, air does not come out through the mouth, but through the nasal cavity. Because of this, the sound has a snoring sound with a nasal tint.

In addition, hissing [Sh], [Zh] may have other types of distortion that are characteristic only of them:

• lower
  - the tongue is lowered behind the lower incisors, hissing sounds are pronounced softly;
• buccal
  - the air stream goes into the cheeks, causing them to swell, instead of sound a noise is heard;
• posterior lingual
  - air passes between the hard palate and the back of the back of the tongue, a “hunting” or “whooping” is heard, reminiscent of the southern Russian dialect.

Symptoms

Children's speech is almost never clear right away. Violations in sound pronunciation are gradually eliminated spontaneously due to articulation practice, improving the movements of the speech organs with the age of the child. You can talk about the disease only after preschoolers reach 4 years of age.

Dysfunction can be determined by the following phonetic and physiological symptoms:

• S and Z are not pronounced clearly. Instead, similar interdental phonemes are heard with the overtones D, T, soft Sh, Zh.

Goat - pronounced as koza, scythe - kotsa, dog - tabaka, live - divut, etc.

• Whispering, ugly articulation N-W.

The tongue sticks between the teeth. The defect is visible to the eye.

• Nasal sound during phonation.

Nasal articulation is due to the immobility of the oral organs. The lips do not stretch, the tongue moves sluggishly, moves deeper into the oral cavity closer to the nasopharynx. The air stream cannot pass through the mouth and exits through the nasal opening.

• Squelching sounds during articulation.

The air stream is directed sideways. The tongue will turn to the side or rest against the teeth. Phoneme C, sibilants are pronounced with excess noise.

Diagnostics

To identify sigmatism, determine its form and causes, a speech therapy examination is carried out. It is also important to understand which speech disorder is manifested by sound distortion. During the diagnosis, the speech therapist examines the medical and speech history, then proceeds to an objective examination:

• Articulatory organs.
  The oral organs are examined, the tone of the facial and articulatory muscles, and the state of oral praxis are assessed. If anomalies of the maxillofacial area or muscle tone disorders are detected, a preliminary speech diagnosis is established. If necessary, a referral to a consultation with an orthodontist or neurologist is issued.
• Speech hearing.
  The differentiation of sounds is checked when they are pronounced in isolation, in syllables, words, phrases. For this purpose, special picture and speech material is used that corresponds to the age and intelligence of the speech pathologist. Special didactic techniques are used to distinguish between different types of sigmatism and parasigmatism.
• States of sound pronunciation.
  It is carried out to identify all defects in sound pronunciation (both phonetic and phonemic), the number of disturbed sounds. With hissing and whistling defects, the type of sigmatism is established. After this, the sequence of correction work is determined.

If a child is suspected of having a systemic speech disorder, examination of the lexical and grammatical aspects of speech is mandatory. If hearing loss is suspected, it is advisable to refer the patient to an otolaryngologist to check the state of hearing function.

Exercise “Calyx” - basic for making hissing sounds

Correction

Health care

Special treatment is required to eliminate factors predisposing to sigmatism. Bite correction may include various types of orthodontic care: wearing braces, special mouth guards, and devices of various types. If necessary, orthognathic intervention is performed. The choice in favor of surgical tactics for a shortened frenulum is made if it is impossible to stretch the ligament using speech therapy methods.

In case of disturbances in the innervation of the articulatory muscles, all speech therapy work is carried out against the background of drug treatment and physiotherapy prescribed by a neurologist. The lack of free nasal breathing, as a cause of sigmatism, requires appropriate treatment: removal of the adenoids, antiallergic therapy.

Speech therapy correction

Speech therapy work to eliminate all forms of sigmatism is subject to a single algorithm. It includes three periods during which certain corrective tasks are solved:

• Preparatory.
  At this stage, the necessary articulation patterns are formed: the correct position of the lips and tongue. Work is underway to develop the strength and direction of the air stream. Support sounds are practiced ([I], [F] - for [S], [T], [S] - for [Sh]. Methods by which the objectives are achieved include articulation and breathing exercises, and, if indicated, speech therapy massage .
• Sound production.
  It is carried out in different ways: by imitation (“how a pump whistles”, “like a mosquito rings”, “like a snake hisses”), using articulation exercises or with the help of instruments (probe substitutes, probes). The basic sound for all whistling sounds is [S], and for other hissing sounds - [Ш].
• Automation.
  Having achieved the correct pronunciation of an isolated sound, they move on to consolidating it, sequentially introducing syllables (direct, reverse, with a combination of consonants), words, phrases and spontaneous speech. After practicing hard sounds, they begin to assimilate their soft pairs. There is no differentiation stage for sigmatism and other sound distortions.

The traditional sequence of production of sounds is determined by the timing of their appearance in ontogenesis. If both groups are violated, the sound production of whistling sounds is carried out first, then hissing sounds (an exception may be dysarthria, when the sounds are placed in the reverse order).

If sigmatism is part of a complex speech defect, then work is carried out in parallel on other aspects of speech: syllable structure, vocabulary, grammar, prosody, etc. The time frame for correcting sigmatism may vary for different children; the period of speech therapy work takes up to 45-90 days or more.

Some features of correction of lateral sigmatism article on speech therapy on the topic

Some features of the correction of lateral sigmatism in preschool children.

In case of polymorphic insufficiency of sound pronunciation in children, lateral sigmatisms require the most painstaking and scrupulous work.

Classical methods suggest starting work on correcting sound pronunciation with the production of whistling sounds, which, of course, corresponds to the sequence of appearance of sounds in ontogenesis. In children with defects in sound pronunciation, there is a decrease in articulatory kinesthesia, i.e., the child does not feel the position of the organs of articulation and the direction of the air stream when pronouncing sounds. Work on developing the correct pronunciation of whistling sounds with lateral sigmatism is often recommended to begin with the interdental pronunciation of the sound “C”. This technique ultimately leads to a positive result, because makes it possible to control the passage of a stream of air through the center of the tongue, and the interdental space formed in this way is unstable, and the tongue is quite easily moved behind the lower teeth.

If a child with lateral pronunciation of sibilants and sibilants has rhoticism, then you can start working with the sound “R”, because with prolonged exaggerated pronunciation of the sound “P”, the passage of an air stream through the center of the tongue is felt more strongly, and the tongue itself touches the molars with its lateral edges, which makes it possible to use this position when correcting lateral sigmatisms of whistling and hissing.

The position of the organs of articulation when pronouncing the sound “R” is a good basis for producing the sounds “Sh” and “Zh”, but with persistent air leakage through the lateral edges of the tongue, the result is achieved faster if work on sibilants begins with the sound “Ch”. A short but active push of air is clearly felt in the child’s palm brought to the speech therapist’s mouth, and then in the child himself. Automation of the delivered sound should begin from a position comfortable for the child, having first asked to pronounce several syllables and even words in order to hear in which of them the sound is as close as possible to the norm.

At the initial stage, any newly formed sound is pronounced exaggerated, this makes it possible to form stable kinesthesia. Sometimes sound automation is more effective in position in words with a combination of consonants, especially if their articulations are close. For example, if after the sound “Ш” there is a sound “T” (staple, tripod, stroke, pin, etc.). The same can be applied to the sound “C” (stan, flock, shutters, machine, glass, etc.)

The use of these techniques, of course, is not excluded, but is preceded by the implementation of articulatory gymnastics exercises, which makes it possible to create the correct articulatory structure for mastering pure sound pronunciation.