Appropriate Loudness Sort
Sort speaking situations by appropriate loudness level.
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0/12 sorted
How to run it
Have the student say something at the chosen level after each sort, not just place the card. The sorting checks the judgement; the production checks the control, and plenty of students can name the right level and not produce it. Contrast adjacent bins directly — the dinner table against a waiting room — because that boundary is where the real decisions live. Eight minutes covers all twelve with time to demonstrate.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentRead the card and wait 5 seconds for the student's answer.Log as correct
- HintAsk 'How would your voice feel after that?'Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two answers, the right one not always second.Log as cued
- ExplainGive the answer and the reason; the student says it back in their own words.Log as cued
Voice work belongs after an ENT examination. If hoarseness lasts or gets worse, stop and refer back to the physician.
Adjust it
Use fewer cards and sort into just two groups.
Plan what the student will do in their own hardest voice situation this week.
Matching IEP goal
Given everyday scenarios, Student will identify the voice-healthy choice and a reason in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve everyday situations sorted into three bins: whisper, inside voice, outside voice. In the library and telling a secret go in the first; asking the teacher a question and reading aloud in a small group go in the second; cheering at a soccer game and shouting for help go in the third. Loudness is a judgement about a setting rather than a property of a voice, and this board makes that the explicit task.
What to listen for
Listen for whether the student can hold a level for a whole sentence or only for a word. Sustained control is the harder half and it is what classrooms actually require. Watch for a student who whispers when asked for quiet — whispering is not a quiet voice, it is a different mechanism, and for a student with a voice concern it can be more effortful rather than less. None of this explains why a voice sounds the way it does: a student who has been hoarse for more than about four weeks should be examined by a physician, ideally an ENT, before loudness work becomes the plan.
Carrying it home
Name the level before entering a setting rather than correcting after: we're going in the library, so that's a whisper. A cue that arrives before the voice does is easier to follow and does not read as a reprimand.
What's in this activity
- whisper
- inside voice
- outside voice
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through fourth grade, and it works for both vocal loudness goals and classroom pragmatics.
- Is it free?
- Yes, the whole board plays with no account and no card.
- My student whispers instead of using a quiet voice. Does that matter?
- It can. Whispering uses the vocal folds differently and is not a low-effort way to be quiet — for a student with a hoarse or strained voice, a soft voiced sound is usually the better target.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.