Presented are rating scales designed to assess severity in communication problems of elementary and secondary students and described is a training program connected with the scales. The scales are explained to provide a 5-point rating for language, voice, articulation, and fluency. The training program section includes sample historical…

Provided is a program of behavioral objectives for use with speech handicapped preschool and elementary level children in the areas of articulation disorders, language disorders, stuttering, tongue thrust, and voice. Communication disorders are defined as substandard behaviors which interfere with the student's ability to perform acceptably for…

Five papers presented at two inservice institutes for school speech and language pathologists delineated identification, remediation, and management of voice disorders in school children. Keynote remarks emphasized the intimate relationship between children's voices and their affective behavior and psychological needs, and thus, the importance of…

Voice programing for preschool children with communication disabilities is discussed, including suggestions for enriching the child's auditory environment, selecting target goals, and providing consistency of target presentations by caregivers. Sample vocal awareness and production goals and strategies are offered. (Author/DB)

Adolescent students with voice disorders need information concerning the physiological, environmental, and psychosocial aspects of voice production. This paper describes a multiple-choice quiz format that has been used effectively as part of the awareness phase of vocal reeducation. (Author)

Background noise from loud ventilation systems, outdoor activities, and poor acoustics can lead to voice problems for teachers, worsen hearing-impaired students' listening ability, and create unhealthy learning environments. Solutions include providing teachers with a sound-field amplification system and improving classroom acoustics. (MLH)

A study compared 11 preschool children with developmental delays and 15 with autism to evaluate early vocal behaviors in young children with autism. Results indicated that children with autism did not have difficulty with the expression of well-formed syllables, however they did display significant impairments in vocal quality. (Contains…

Three documents are provided to help the speech-language pathologist (SLP) identify children with voice disorders and educate family members. The first is a quickly administered screening test that covers multiple aspects of voice, respiration, and resonance. It was tested on 3,000 children in kindergarten and first and fifth grades, and on 47…

Children with voice disorders do respond to treatment, with vocal hyperfunction being the predominant disorder on the caseload of the pediatric voice clinician. This article reviews the literature in describing what is known about these children and typical disorders, prevention of voice disorders, the need for treatment, the referral patterns of…

This study evaluated whether slight decrements in hearing sensitivity are associated with other communicative deficits. Data from the 38,497 students included in the National Speech and Hearing Survey (NSHS) were used to partition students into three categories of hearing sensitivity, and the prevalence of other communicative problems was computed…

Noting that the progressive aging of the American population has created a need for a body of knowledge about the vocal characteristics associated with aging, this paper provides information on geriatric voice. The first section of the paper contains a selected bibliography of materials concerning geriatric voice, including literature on the need…

Presented for the practicing speech clinician is a guide for appropriate management of voice disorders. The value of a clinician's awareness of vocal dysfunction is stressed, and various techniques (such as indirect laryngoscopy) used in laryngeal examinations are described briefly. A chapter on procedures for evaluation and quantification of…

This article, addressed to singing and choral teachers, examines functional voice disorders resulting from incorrect or abused functions of the laryngeal mechanism. Symptoms, testing methods, and correction techniques, short of medical help, are outlined for disorders of resonance, registration, articulation, and of the vocal fold mass.…

Sixteen severely-to-profoundly hearing-impaired students, aged 7-8, received training using a curriculum for remediating monotone voice. Some students also used visual or tactile sensory aids. All students evidenced marked improvement in remediating monotonous pitch, with those using the curriculum in conjunction with a tactile display showing the…

Two preschool children with phonological disorders were administered a linguistically based treatment program that utilized minimal pair words. Only when motoric components (models and phonetic placement cues) were added did both subjects successfully pass through all treatment steps, though neither subject generalized trained sounds to treated…