Voice
The term ‘voice’ describes our voice quality. Everyone voice sounds different. It is really important to look after our voices – after all we only have one!
What you might notice if your child is experiencing voice difficulties?
Your child might:
- sound husky
- lose their voice some of the time, or completely
- experience intermittent voice – it might sound like their voice is ‘giving up’
- experience discomfort when talking
There are lots of different reasons why a child might experience changes in their voice quality.
If your child is not talking but when they do you're not concerned about voice quality you might find our Situational Mutism page helpful.
How you can help
Check out our Five Top Tips Video to find out more about how you can help:
Our Advice Leaflet contains lots of helpful information and ideas of things you can try at home to help.
Voice: How to look after your voice [PDF 136KB]
Recommended links
You might also find the following trusted website helpful:
The British Voice Association: British Voice Association : Voice Care
The BVA is a ‘voice for voice’. They provide lots of helpful information to help look after your voice.
What we can offer
Advice service
You can speak to one of our Speech and Language Therapists via our advice service. We can make suggestions about what might help and answer any questions you might have.
Our advice service is open every Thursday 9.30am to 12.30pm.
Tel: 01228 608177
Email: CumbriaCommmunicates@ncic.nhs.uk
Making a Request for Support
Anyone, including parents and carers, can request support from Speech and Language Therapy. You can do this via our Request for Support Form.
The support we offer is always tailored to the needs of your child. Some children benefit from individualised support, others benefit from support in their environment. Speech and Language Therapy support children who have voice difficulties when:
- understanding what can damage our voices will help
- learning strategies to protect will help
- a medical reason has not been identified, and is impacting their:
- learning
- joining in at home and at school
Speech and Language Therapy for voice may look like:
- helping children to recognise the volume of their voice
- support to identify ways that children can protect their voice
- support to change a child’s talking environment to make it voice friendly
- practice activities to support voice quality
We discharge at a point when:
Your child, and the adults around them, understand the strategies that will maintain a healthy voice.