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Hooper 2018 Treatment of Voice Disorders in Children
Hooper 2018 Treatment of Voice Disorders in Children
Clinical Forum
not available to support the premise that childhood voice WHAT ARE VOICE DISORDERS?
disorders continue into adulthood. In addition to those
medically complex children with voice disorders According to Ramig and Verdolini (1998), voice
(Woodnorth, 2004), there are a significant number with disorders are
vocal hyperfunction, with and without other co-occurring generally characterized by an abnormal pitch, loudness, and/or
speech and language disorders. Ramig and Verdolini (1998) vocal quality resulting from a disordered laryngeal, respiratory,
reported evidence for successful treatment of voice disor- and/or vocal tract functioning. Voice disorders range from a
mild hoarseness to complete voice loss and may limit the
ders in child and adolescent populations; more recently, intelligibility or effectiveness of oral communication. Voice
there are reports of successful treatment of children with disorders may be due to habits of vocal misuse and hyperfunc-
surgery, aggressive respiratory care, vocal hygiene pro- tion (e.g., improper use of the larynx, such as excessive throat
grams, and direct voice therapy (Baker & Blackwell, 2004; clearing, yelling, prolonged talking over loud background noise,
muscular imbalances) commonly producing physical changes in
Mori, 1999; Sandage & Zelazny, 2004). Teacher and parent
the vocal folds, other medical/physical conditions (e.g., trauma,
referral to the school speech-language pathologist (SLP) neurological disorders, allergies), or psychological factors (e.g.,
and acceptance of the child with a voice disorder on the stress, conversion reactions, personality disorders). It is not
school caseload/workload may continue to be problematic uncommon for a voice disorder to reflect a combination of
in this population until the academic and social ramifica- these factors. (S101–S102)
tions of a disordered voice are appreciated. This article is
320 LL , S,PEECH
ANGUAGE
ANGUAGE SPEECH , AND
, AND HEARING
HEARING SERVICES
SERVICES IN S CHOOLS
IN S CHOOLS • Vol. 35 •• 320–326
Vol. 35 • October
• 320–326 • American
2004 © October Speech-Language-Hearing
2004 Association
0161–1461/04/3504–0320
Downloaded from: https://pubs.asha.org Flinders University on 10/27/2023, Terms of Use: https://pubs.asha.org/pubs/rights_and_permissions
disorders initially, and after 5 years, 19 of the 203 children Can Voice Disorders in
still had a voice disorder, with none of the children Children Be Prevented?
receiving treatment. Mori (1999), however, in a retrospec-
tive survey of 259 Japanese children or their parents, Voice disorders and many of their primary causes are
indicated that voice problems may resolve at or before amenable to prevention practices of either primary or
puberty, although these data were incomplete. secondary focus (Kahane & Mayo, 1989; Marge, 1991;
School SLPs in the United States have reported that McNamara & Perry, 1994; Mori, 1999). McNamara and
children with voice disorders constitute 2% to 4% of their Perry found that 27 of 145 (19%) school-based SLPs had
caseloads (Deal, McClain, & Sudderth, 1976; McNamara & worked on vocal abuse/misuse prevention with groups of
Perry, 1994). A recent survey of one primary care trust in students, primarily with elementary students, in the 2 years
the United Kingdom indicated a prevalence of 2% of voice before the survey. However, 59% of respondents agreed
referrals in children, but this was a health care setting, not that prevention programs were a cost- and time-effective
a school setting (Broomfield & Dodd, 2004). Most authors means to manage voice disorders secondary to vocal abuse
agree that anywhere from 1% to 23.4% of children have a and misuse. Most SLPs in this study and later follow-up
voice disorder (Deal et al., 1976; McNamara & Perry, surveys thought that they did not have the time required for
1994; Powell et al., 1989; Senturia & Wilson, 1968; prevention practices, nor did all of them think that preven-
Silverman & Zimmer, 1975) at any given time (incidence), tion of voice disorders carried a high priority in the school
and somewhere between 6% to 9% is the best estimate of setting (Clark, 2003). Some SLPs in the schools, in
prevalence (McNamara & Perry, 1994). The incidence of consultation with classroom teachers, provide prevention
vocal pathology in adolescents may exceed these estimates information as part of the regular curriculum. Examples
(Peppard, 1996). It is likely that the numbers vary so include information during the standard curriculum topic of
widely because of a lack of consistency in measurement, as “the respiratory system” in later elementary years and
well as variability in listener perceptual judgment. “taking care of your body” in the earlier grades. There are
no data on prevention programs in preschools.
322 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS • Vol. 35 • 320–326 • October 2004
324 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS • Vol. 35 • 320–326 • October 2004
• From the American Speech-Language Hearing Association good information about drinking water and a brief explanation
(ASHA), Questions and Answers About Voice Disorders, 2004, of puberty), http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/adams_apple.html;
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Voice-problems.htm; retrieved July 6, 2004.
retrieved July 6, 2004. • From the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and
• Also from ASHA, Nodules and Polyps, 2004, http:// Neck Surgery, 2003, reflux and children, http://www.entnet.org/
www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/nodules_polyps.htm; KidsENT/LPR.cfm; retrieved July 6, 2004.
retrieved July 6, 2004. • For teachers’ vocal health, an outstanding interactive link, The
• From the University of Washington Department of Otolaryngol- Voice Academy, 2003, sponsored by the National Center for
ogy–Head and Neck Surgery, 2002, simple, clear pictures of the Voice and Speech, http://rtweb.its.uiowa.edu/vaweb/
larynx and vocal folds, voiceacademy.html; retrieved July 6, 2004.
http://depts.washington.edu/otoweb/patients/pts_specialties/ • For preschool teachers, a voice disorders class project by
pts_voice-prob/pts_voice-prob.htm; retrieved July 6, 2004. Kristen Matthis, graduate student at the University of North
• From the University of Pittsburgh Voice Center, 2001, clear Carolina at Greensboro, 2004, http://www.uncg.edu/~crhooper/
multimedia pictures of vocal pathology for use with older classes/voice/management/PreschoolTeachers.html; retrieved July
children or teachers, http://www.upmc.edu/upmcvoice/ 6, 2004.
Multimedia.htm; retrieved July 6, 2004. • Therapy materials and classroom materials free on the Internet,
• From the San Diego Center for Voice and Swallowing, 2004, links by Judith Kuster, CCC-SLP, an award-winning site, http://
anatomy of the human voice, with Real One video and sound, www.mnsu.edu/dept/comdis/kuster2/sptherapy.html; retrieved
http://www.sandiegovoice.org/anatomy.html; retrieved July 6, July 6, 2004, links to commercial products that include voice
2004. therapy workbooks and materials for children, http://
• From Branski and Murray, 2004, e-medicine.com article with a www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster2/commercial.html; retrieved July
description of the types of voice therapy, most of which are 6, 2004.
used with children and adolescents, with links in the bibliogra- • The Web site of The National Center for Voice and Speech
phy to many voice articles, http://www.emedicine.com/ent/ (NCVS), at http://www.ncvs.org/ has a link from the main page
topic683.htm; retrieved July 6, 2004. for “young explorers,” http://www.ncvs.org/ncvs/tutorials/
• From kidshealth.org, 2004, a good answer to “Why am I youngexp/index.html, both retrieved July 28, 2004, which
hoarse?” http://kidshealth.org/kid/ill_injure/sick/laryngitis.html; includes enjoyable information about the voice (including
retrieved July 6, 2004, and “What is an adam’s apple? (with burping and hiccupping!) for children of all ages.
326 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS • Vol. 35 • 320–326 • October 2004