help with speech

Message

#1 Post by **maia1orual** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:07 pm

kay, i hate to keep posting about this expander thing. . . it's only been in since monday (1/15) night. but, i talked to my ortho today and she seemed suprised about how i sounded -- which is still pretty rough, i guess. i'm a teacher, so i talk all day. admittedly i haven't practiced reading the rainbow passage b/c i figured i didn't need to since i talk so much at school. how long did it take everyone else to adjust to speaking and did your speach ever sound "normal?"

i have a haas expander (no key), and i was wondering if my dentist could shave a little off the back b/c i think that would help me be able to speak a little better. anybody know anything about that?

thanks again for all your support!

#2 Post by **chicklets** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 2:55 pm

Sorry I missed this when you posted, Maia. I have had my expander since early October (the kind with the key), and I still can't eat or talk properly. Everyone can understand me, but I definitely have a BIG lisp and cannot pronounce any words beginning with "D" at all. I have to fake it. I have to scrunch my mouth funny to say words with "S".

My expander is removable so I can take it out and enjoy a meal. I tried and tried to eat with it, but it's just too awful. I have a very narrow palate sideways but very high vertically. I don't know if that has anthing to do with my difficulty, but it seems like it to me. My ortho seemed surprised the last time I went in that I was not talking better. Originally he said it would take a few DAYS -- yea right. At 4 months, it still is not happening. He was not as surprised that I had trouble eating.

Thankfully, I don't have to speak to a class all day so it has not been so bad. My friends and family are used to me slurring and spitting at this point.

#3 Post by **overseasmel** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:31 pm

Okay it's been a while but let me try and remember...

First week or two I sounded like I had been dropped on my head as a child. I tried to order flowers over the phone after a death in the family, and they simply couldn't understand the delivery address...

I guess I started to adjust over weeks 3-6. That was interrupted by surgery, but other than the few days of not talking at all afterwards, surgery didn't affect my speech like the expander did.

From about 6 to 8 weeks onwards I sounded perfectly functional. There were still some combinations of vowel sounds I couldn't quite get out, and in those cases I tried to use synonyms wherever possible, but for the life of me I couldn't find a synonym for the word "new"! (I tried to say it in an American accent instead, the Australian/British new being impossible for me).

I was teaching Chinese language at a university at the time and there were also a number of "y" related sounds I never ever got with the expander....

BUT overall it was fine and noone really noticed except perhaps my language students from time to time. I'd say give it 6 weeks and then see.

My ortho did tell me though that some adults have particular troubles adjusting, in which case he recommended speech therapy to get you back on track. Seriously though, at only two weeks I wouldn't expect you to be there yet- your tongue has had..... 20? 30? 40? years of working in one way and you've suddenly asked it to change everything. It does take a while.

Good luck.

#4 Post by **platinum** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:33 pm

I have a removable retainer, which causes me a horrible lisp. But luckily I can remove it, when there are meetings at work. I just have to remember not to bite down. Now I am trying to learn to speak clearly. It starts to get annoying when people are always asking "what" or "can you repeat what you said"....

#5 Post by **danz23** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:59 pm

I've had my removable expander since March and after over three months I still cant talk properly. Yeah I agree chicklets, D is such a hard letter!! And my name starts with D

. I was actually kinda looking foward to braces cause I thought they'd be easier to talk with but it seems like when I do get them I'm going to need a fixed expander anyway so so much for that! I was also told that most people take a few days to a couple of weeks before their speech returns to normal. Hmmm!

#6 Post by **chicklets** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:06 am

Danz, I'm so sorry you are having trouble too.

Palate expanders seem to be very common with young kids (my children's frends all have or have had them), but they adapt so eaily. Maybe its because we are all grown up that it's harder? Whatever it is, I seemed to reach a point after a few days with mine, and it never got better. Once the metal braces went on and the expander was gone, I could finally talk as clearly and quickly as before.

I wonder if a fixed expander will be better. Maybe someone who has had both will chime in.

#7 Post by **gunter8888** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:19 am

While I never got back to "perfect" speech, I did find that I did get proficient at adapting my speech to the expander around the 6 week timeframe. One thing I learned was that I always sounded worse to myself than to others. I thought I was lisping horribly and others would say they couldn't tell a difference.

The best thing I found was to slow my speech way down and practice ennunciating each sylable and even exaggerating my lip and tongue movements until I got the sound I wanted.

IMO - the removable expanders are tougher because not only do they have all the metal hardware, they also have a large amount of plastic, too. Either way, all expanders pose some real challenges, but in my case they do good work, too.

Best of luck and remember - expanders aren't forever!