Charlotte Speech Therapy

I am a speech-language pathologist and recently I had orthodontic braces put on for the second time in my life. I vaguely remember my experience as a child, they were uncomfortable, made my teeth hurt and eating could be difficult at times. Getting braces as an adult has given me the opportunity to look at the experience from a whole different perspective!

At first, I was extremely aware that there was something different in my mouth! The brackets slightly change the position of my lips and make talking a little more interesting. I have noticed that I have to speak a little slower and exaggerate my mouth movements a little to get the same clarity of speech I had without braces.

What I find interesting about these observations is that I can relate them to the children I see for therapy. I have been talking for a long time and know the placements for all of the speech sounds; however, this is not the case for kids. It has reminded me how just the smallest differences in the positioning on the jaw, lips, and tongue can have a big impact on how a sound is produced. I am able to compensate easily, but children who have difficulty making certain sounds, will find this much more challenging. When I do talk faster, I am getting more "whats?" which results in me slowing down and repeating what I said again. Children with speak production issues often have to say the same things multiple times and still may not be understood.  It definitely can be frustrating!

When I decided to get braces for my teeth again, I had no idea that it would give me this little insight. Just something to remind me that speaking is not always easy, especially for children that have oral motor difficulties and/or problems with their sound production. It makes me happy that I am a speech therapist and am able to help make communication easier for children!