Tom Watson responds:

about having a speech impediment, overuse o fthe word "like." I can no
longer
tease her about it, because it now seems to be an ACTUAL impediment. Every
third word is the best she can do right now. When you say anything to her
about
it making her speech hard to understand, she says, "Well, you know what I
mean."

I'm fighting this fight with my eleven year old daughter. I've told
her that she can talk like a child to other children but must do
better when talking to me.

I've encouraged her to think of it as being bilingual.

So far, I'm winning.

Good luck. My granddaughter is now 14, and the impediment has gotten worse each
year...day?

It isn't being bilingual, though: I think these kids talk to each other like
that to fill up time, because they have nothing to say that is important enough
for clear speech and don't know enough to STFU.

Charlie Self

"Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal."
Alexander Hamilton

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/m.../business.html