Does your child have a voice disorder?
The following checklist can be used to gather background information of the
child’s voice disorder with parents, teachers, and/or other significant individuals
in the child’s life:
child’s voice disorder with parents, teachers, and/or other significant individuals
in the child’s life:
- Coughs, clear throat, chokes frequently
- Experiences breathing and swallowing problems
- Frequent sore throat
- The child’s voice sounds rough, hoarse, breathy, weak, strained
- Loss of voice whenever a cold occurs
- Voice sounds stuffed up or speaking through their nose
- Voice sounds worse in morning, after school or evening
- Continually shouts, screams, cries
- Likes to sing and perform
- Frequently uses character voices
- Voice sounds like it is being pushed out
- Voice runs out of gas or tires easily
- Yells and screams at sports activities
- Unfamiliar listeners have difficulty understanding your child
- Talks loudly, even in quieter environments
- Voice problem is affecting school performance
- Voice is unusually quiet
- Stays up late
- Is unhappy or tired a lot
- Is experiencing difficult social changes e.g. death, divorce, financial problems in
- the family
- Does not express emotions
- Lives with a family of loud talkers
- Frequently eats junk food, complains of sour taste in mouth or burning sensation in throat
- Drinks caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, Red Bull)
- Drinks little water per day
- Suffers from allergies, asthma or respiratory problems
- Hearing loss or frequent ear infections
- Any injuries to the head, neck, throat
- Any history of intubations at birth or later
Parental Suggestions
- Seek Physician's advice
- Model “inside” voice
- Try to identify vocal abuses
- Drink a lot of water