Balls

“Balls.”

“Ballsh.”

“Ball’S’.”

“Ballsh.”

“ssss.”

“ssshhhh.”

“ssss.”

“sssshhh.”

This went back and forth for five minutes before I decided too much time had been spent trying to procure the ‘s’ sound from a little boy who was at the mercy of a speech impediment. I knew it wasn’t his fault that the sound the letter ‘s’ makes is sometimes too difficult for someone with a dinner plate for a tongue, but he was frustrated that all of his classmates had successful pronunciations.

“Teacher, teacher! ‘sshhhh’.”

All I could say was, “It’s getting better, keep trying.” Adding to the situation was the fact that he was trying to say the word ‘balls’. Which, being an immature person, I found funny after constant repetition. It also didn’t help that he understood he was at a disadvantage and was trying to compensate by contorting his face to try and make the sound differently. The little engine that could (or couldn’t) must have said ‘balls’ nearly a hundred times with a different hysterical face each time. He was completely aware that he looked ridiculous and laughed along with everyone else in the class. I am sure he was making some of the faces for the pleasure of his classmates, but, by and large he was trying and failing.

Poor guy. At least he wasn’t trying to say ‘nutsh’ or ‘teshticlesh’.