Dear Alice,

I know a lisp is a hard thing to deal with. I too suffer from a speech impediment. Throughout middle school, no one mentioned my lisp. I hardly thought I had one. As I joined the marching band at my high school in my freshman year, it seemed like more and more people brought it up. They made me aware that I do not speak like everyone else.

I am a twin, so in order for my friends to tell us apart, they ask us to say, "Sallie sold sea shells on the sea shore." After I have repeated the phrase, they find out that I am the twin with the lisp. It has been hard to be known as "the twin with the lisp." I often wondered if people could notice my speak impediment right off the bat. It made my self confidence level drop dramatically!

Since then, I have learned to live with it. God made me the way I am, so why should I change? My lisp is apart of who I am. No one can change it. I think that surgery to fix the lisp is an unwise decision. You are who you are, and no one can change that. You should learn to make the best of it, look for your positive features. I think of it as, not many people have lisps.. so I am unlike any other person. I feel like my own person with my lisp. It would be in your best interest to think of a lisp as YOU and YOUR feature. A lisp truly is a characteristic that I am proud to have, and you should be too!

With great appreciation,
MarGREAT P.