Breath Support for Voice
Exercises for diaphragmatic breath support.
Session summary (SOAP)
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Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Do not skip the lying-down card, even with an older student who finds it undignified. Feeling the belly rise is the fastest way to establish what is being asked for, and the hand-on-belly and hand-on-chest card is the standing version of the same check. Work through in order across sessions rather than sampling: a student who cannot sustain an /s/ for six seconds is not ready for a sentence on one breath. Ten minutes is a full pass once the pattern is established.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentThe student uses good breath support on their own. Listen without reminding.Log as correct
- Visual reminderPut a hand on your own belly to show the breath going in.Log as cued
- Verbal reminderSay a short reminder, such as 'Breathe low, then speak.'Log as cued
- ModelSay it yourself using the technique; the student copies, then tries the card again.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
Go back to breathing only, then one word on each breath out.
Move to longer turns, then conversation, then a noisier room.
Matching IEP goal
Student will use good breath support in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual reminder.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve exercises that build from lying down to running speech: lie down with a book on your belly and watch it rise; breathe in for four and out for four; breathe out for six on an /s/ sound; count out loud to ten on one breath; read one sentence per breath, pausing to refill at each period. The order matters — the last few cards are the point, and the first few are what make them possible.
What to listen for
Watch the shoulders. Rising shoulders on the in-breath mean the student is breathing high in the chest, which is the pattern most voice work is trying to change, and no amount of practice at the sentence level will fix it. Time the sustained ah across weeks — it is a simple number that moves and that students can see moving. Listen for the voice getting tight at the end of a breath, which is the sign to refill sooner rather than to push harder. Breath work assumes someone has looked at the folds themselves. Hoarseness lasting beyond about four weeks warrants an ENT examination first, since better support can make a voice sound easier without changing what is causing it.
Carrying it home
The book-on-the-belly exercise takes two minutes at bedtime and needs no supervision. Ask the family to make it part of settling down rather than a separate task, and to leave the correcting to the sessions.
What's in this activity
- Lie down with a book on your belly. Watch it rise as you breathe in.
- Sit tall. Breathe in for 4, out for 4. Repeat 5 times.
- Breathe in for 4, out for 6 on an /s/ sound.
- Breathe in, then say 'ah' as long as you comfortably can. Time it.
- Breathe in, then count out loud to 10 on one breath.
- Breathe in, then say a whole sentence on one easy breath.
- One hand on belly, one on chest. Only the belly hand should move.
- Blow out slowly through a straw for 10 seconds.
- Breathe in, then hum for as long as is comfortable.
- Read one sentence per breath. Pause and refill at each period.
- Practice: breathe, then say your name and one sentence.
- Notice: running out of air means the breath in was too small.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Second through eighth grade, and the exercises are the same ones used with older students for voice and breath support work.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all twelve exercises are free to use here.
- My student runs out of air mid-sentence. Where do I start?
- With where the breath is taken, not with how much. The read-one-sentence-per-breath card teaches refilling at punctuation, which solves most of these cases faster than increasing capacity does.
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.