Ahhhhhh, Voice Monsters!!!!

Today I am excited to share a review of a great SLP blogger’s activity.  The material is called ‘Voice Monsters’ and it comes from The Queen’s Speech. Don’t worry though, these monsters want to help your students learn how to use their voices in a safe way.  The activity is thorough, well laid out, and kid/parent friendly.

The activity comes with an explanation of what a voice disorder is, as told by a monster, how cute is that. It also educates students with ways that they can help their voice and have good vocal hygiene. These helpful voice recommendations are on cute monster cards.  The bulk of the packet is dedicated to having the student learn and practice two techniques: the yawn-sigh and what this activity calls the ‘buzzy voice’.

Sorry for the glare


I wanted to show you pictures of the the layout, before I cut everything up. 

There are 79, yes 79 cards, to have students practice the yawn-sigh technique, aka ‘Easy Onset’. I really liked that these cards were scaffolded from vowel, to word, to sentence.  This allows students to progress through the levels as they master this technique. There are also blank cards for you to customize.  

The ‘buzzy voice’ technique encourages students to use nasals like /m/ and /n/ to create a hum while speaking so that lighter contact is made with the vocal folds.  This is what some people may know as ‘Resonant Voice Therapy’, did that give anyone a grad school flash back.  There are 59 cards for activity in the same hierarchy and the yawn-sign.   The cards for these activities have fun phrases for the kids and the monster graphics are cute and engaging. Who doesn’t love a cute monster? There is an introduction paragraph for each technique informing you what the physical goal of the strategy is and how to implement it. This was super helpful!!! I did not have to go digging out my voice book from grad school to refresh my memory of what these strategies were or how to implement them. This would be great for parent or teacher education too. 



It doesn’t stop there! We know that it can be difficult to get kids to sit and practice vocal strategies so there is an included game board to use. There is also a pre/post-test worksheet. This is a great way for students to show that were not only paying attention when you looked like a goof, demonstrating ‘easy onset’ or ‘resonant voice therapy’, but that they understand and can utilize that information. There is a ‘Voice Thermometer’ that you can use with students to help them monitor their voice and use their strategies. I actually gave these to the teachers of my voice kiddos and they loved it. They really like having a visual aide they could just point to give the student feedback. One of the teachers even started using it as a tool for her entire classroom! 



There is also a chance for students be voice detectives 🙂 You can make a paddle using the red and green faces and a popsicle stick.  Students are asked to hold up the ‘good face’ or ‘bad face’ to identify if a stated behavior is a ‘good voice’ behavior or a ‘bad voice’ behavior. Also included is a page of additional resources highlighting and explaining other voice techniques as well as where to go on the web for more information about vocal exercises. 

 In the beginning, there is an included disclaimer stating that the techniques targeted are geared towards the remediation of vocal nodules and that students should have a check up with their doctor or ENT if there are vocal concerns.  There is so much to this activity! This packet has so much helpful information and is presented in an informative and engaging format, I don’t really know what more you could ask for in a resource. This is a must have resource for those voice clients that pop up 🙂

Stop by TpT to add this great activity to your speech tool box! 

Don’t forget to follow The Queen’s Speech on facebook and check out her blog, they always have great information!