Parents of older children may need a referral to a speech and language specialist if their child stutters, lisps, has difficulty forming words or producing coherent speech, or exhibits certain learning disabilities.
It has been thought that some of these children may be imitating another child or an adult who lisps.
Lateral and palatal lisps are not found in typical speech development and should be evaluated by a speech-language pathologist.
Most lisps are developmental and resolve themselves in children by the time they are about five to eight years old.
These children may have serious self-esteem issues related to their lisps.
