Lateral Lisps & EPG Studies
Electropalatography (EPG) studies can help us understand how the tongue makes contact with the palate. In these studies, vowels are examined in a variety of populations. High vowels have consistently the most contact with the palate, whereas low vowels make little to no contact with the palate. This has implications for the words we choose in treatment. For instance, choosing high vowels will be useful if treating lateral lisps. In treatment for a lateral lisp, we want to retrain the tongue placement so that the lateral sides of the tongue meet the palate. High vowels naturally do this, so they create a facilitative context.
