Vocal behavior of children in early childhood education center

Abstract

Introduction: Concern about children´s communication, underlies speech therapists in their work in institutions such as early childhood education centers. It is known that vocal problems bring damages to children´s communication and the voice suffers environmental influences, so it is necessary to elaborate vocal health programs for children in institutions. In order to perform such action effectively, it is important a previous knowledge about the vocal behavior of the population on which it intends to implement such actions. Objective: To measure the prevalence of risk behaviors for dysphonia and quantify the frequency of signs of dysphonia in preschoolers. Material and methods: The study was conducted in a municipal early childhood education center. There were attended parents and the teacher of 20 preschool children, 11 boys and 9 girls, aged 4 to 6 years old. A questionnaire consisting of 20 closed questions relating the children´s vocal behavior was applied. The study was approved by the Ethics in Research Involving Human Subjects of the Center for Health Sciences of the University in which this study was conducted, with number 350/11. Results: Most of the children had a high prevalence of vocal behavior risk for dysphonia. A higher prevalence in girls was found, high frequency behavior of “screaming” and often significant signs of dysphonia and in 10% of children, “hoarse voice” was identified as a signal nearly always present. Conclusion: The prevalence of risk behaviors for dysphonia was high in the children studied and showed effects on vocal signs and symptoms.