Exercises to educate the children's voice
The voice is a means of expression in which the interrelation of two fundamental elements of the person is evidenced in a special way: the physical and the psychological. Voice and body are two inseparable realities that are linked in the same process and there are a series of exercises to educate the children's voice when there are problems of infantile dysphonia.
The precise phonation of the collaboration of different muscles in a coordinated and balanced relationship, hence the importance of controlling and carrying out an adequate contraction and relaxation of all the muscles involved.
All muscle tension influences breathing and consequently, voice, so that activities and relaxation exercises usually lead to better respiratory function.
Relaxation exercises for a good phonation of children
The activities and games that we propose are aimed at achieving a global relaxation at a corporal level as well as specific in terms of phonation and serve to educate the voice of children.
1. THE JUGUETONE FLEECE
The child is asked to lie in the supine position (lying on the floor, face up). The head slightly raised, the arms extended along the body, the palms of the hand upwards and the tips of the feet directed slightly outwards. Eyes closed. He is asked to notice and feel how the air penetrates through the nose, but ... what's up? ... a small playful flea has entered it. The flea wants to walk around the body and we will help her thinking mentally where we want to go. Telling in a suggestive voice the path our friend is following, and the child at rest is noticing. Finally, the flea that is very tired from so much walk, tickles us in the nose, to provoke a sneeze and ..... aah * -aah * -charis!, We get rid of it.
2. CLOSE EYES AND SEE LANDSCAPES
With closed eyes imagining calm things. The child has to close his eyes, and "see" landscapes, objects or situations that transmit calmness. They will change the subject every 3 seconds: a calm lake, a kitten that is sleeping, the leaves of a tree when they fly ... When the child is seen calm, serene, he has to say to himself "I am completely calm", not they need to say it out loud.
3. VALS OF THE BUTTERFLIES
With relaxing music, make the child move his arms as if dancing with the wings of a butterfly. This movement has to be smooth and with the joints (elbows and wrists) relaxed.
4. THE CLOCK PENDULUM
Make with the child the movement that makes the pendulum of a clock imitating that swing, placing the child on a stool with the body totally relaxed, feeling the support of the thighs on the stool. You are asked to lean the trunk forward from the pelvis, noticing how the spine is stretched from the sacrum. The arms, hanging well relaxed. Eyes closed. Note the weight of the body. We swing our arms gently from side to side imitating the pendulum of a clock.
5. THE PUPPET
With the trunk flexed, the child has to make the joints of the arms "wobble". Standing, relaxed, let the trunk fall forward, so that all the muscles are loose, like "floating"; the face and cheeks are also "loose". Let the arm joints move freely.
6. FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW
The child has to press the soles of the feet against the ground, as if they wanted to leave marks in the snow. Maintain pressure for one minute and then relax the feet.
Maria Teresa Molina,Speech therapist and Secundino Fernández,Otolaryngologist from the Otorhinolaryngology Department of the University Clinic of Navarra.
