May Is Better Hearing & Speech Month! Pick up your voice FREEBIE here!

Hello! May is Better Hearing and Speech Month!  It is a special month that has been designated to help increase the awareness about Shanda and I's chosen profession that we love so very much- Speech Therapy! Better Hearing & Speech Month has  inspired us to share this voice freebie with everyone we know, and especially the teachers who use their voices a tremendous amount during their working days!  Did you know that speech- language pathologists help to diagnose and treat voice disorders?  This is just one of the many areas that we help out others with.  A short list of our wide range of diagnosis and treatment areas include: stuttering, articulation disorders, verbal expression delays, receptive language delays, cognitive deficits, swallowing disorders, and social pragmatic delays (to name a few). Also, did you know that teachers seek professional voice therapy more than any other profession?  Here's some information for you about one of our common treatment areas- voice:  

What is a Voice Disorder?

A voice disorder can be defined as a problem involving abnormal pitch, loudness or quality of the sound produced by the larynx, more commonly known as the voice box (ASHA PDF 1). A person may have a voice disorder or dysphonia (medical term) if the change in the voice has occurred for at least two weeks and in those two weeks the person wasn't experiencing an illness.

Who diagnosis a Voice Disorder?

Often a person who is having voice concerns will mention the problem to their General Practitioner who will in return, refer the patient to see an ENT (EAR Nose & Throat Doctor).  The ENT doctor is also called an Otolaryngologist and the ENT will examine the patient by putting a scope down the patients throat. If voice concerns are found a decision to have surgery to help correct the pathology is made by the ENT.  More often than not, a referral is made to a Speech- Language Pathologist who is specialized in voice therapy to see if the vocal fold lesion or vocal nodule, polyp or cyst can be improved with voice therapy (Anderson & Sataloff, 2002;Johns, 2003).  This voice therapy often eliminates the need for surgery. 

* Please see our document for reference links.

What we would like to do, is provide you with a link to a 13 page document that we have put together to help increase a teacher's knowledge of voice disorders and how to help prevent and manage them.  Please click on any of the descriptive pictures below to pick up this voice freebie over at Teachers pay Teachers and feel free to share this with your own clients (as it can be adapted to be used with a wide audience from children to adults who are struggling with problems with their own voices) and the teachers that you know that may benefit from the information provided.  

Best wishes for a happy May and Better Hearing & Speech Month!

Manda & Shanda, SLPs

This document includes a 30 day calendar that you can use to track the days to a better voice in just one month! 

We have also included a description on separate pages describing why the change in behaviors mentioned on the calendar are encouraged. 

And please look over this slide provided by ASHA -American Speech-Language & Hearing Association.  It has been provided to teach the public about communication disorders.  We hope you find it informative!