So as the week goes along, I am in full solidarity by wearing my retainer with the lone student who wears a full set of braces. Now, unlike braces, retainers come in a set of two, top and bottom and are removable. Wearing the bottoms was normally what I did. But things changed when I added the tops.
Similar to braces, retainers will slur one’s speech. And that’s exactly what happened mid-week. As I attempted to speak students stared in shock as I physically struggled to pronounce every word. But that wasn’t the grand shock.
I looked up once during my struggles to find one student leaning over in full-on laughter. It was none other than the lone student. No? Yes. I said, “Ixmaa, you bedda not be waughing at me?” It was comical and no feelings were hurt. It was probably the lesson of the day. He was able to realize that there can be something funny about hearing altered speech, but it is not polite to laugh aloud. And his classmates were able to see that it is not the lone student who has the problem inherently but rather it is the device in his mouth that’s causing his slur.
WeLove2Learn 