Vocal Hygiene — Good vs. Bad Habits
Sort vocal behaviors as healthy or harmful.
Drop here
Drop here
0/12 sorted
How to run it
Spend the time on whispering, which almost every student places in the healthy column. It is the single most useful correction on the board — whispering brings the folds close without vibration and costs more effort than a soft voice. Notice that the healthy column is full of substitutions rather than prohibitions: clapping instead of shouting, moving closer instead of raising the voice, which is the shape every recommendation should take.
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 habits sorted into healthy and harmful: drinking water all day, taking a voice break, moving closer instead of shouting, resting after singing, clapping instead of shouting and telling an adult when your voice hurts are healthy; yelling across the playground, clearing your throat over and over, talking over loud music, whispering for a long time, cheering at the top of your lungs and coughing hard on purpose are harmful.
What to listen for
Watch which harmful habits the student recognises in themselves. Sorting the cards is easy; naming the one they do at break time is the useful step and where behaviour change starts. Notice telling an adult when your voice hurts, which is a self-advocacy item hiding in a hygiene list and is often the one that has never occurred to them. Habits are worth changing and they are not a substitute for finding out what is going on. A student hoarse for more than about four weeks should be examined by a physician, ideally an ENT, first.
Carrying it home
Families can supply the substitutions rather than the prohibitions. A water bottle within reach, and a rule about coming closer instead of shouting between rooms, are both easier to keep than an instruction to be quieter.
What's in this activity
- healthy
- harmful
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through eighth grade, which is a wide range because the habits are the same at every age.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all twelve items play free.
- Why is whispering in the harmful column?
- Because it is not resting the voice. It brings the folds close without full vibration, which is often more effortful than speaking softly with voice — which is the substitution to offer instead.
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.