Should Singing Activities Be Included in Speech and Voice Therapy for Prepubertal Children?

The National Singing Programme for primary schools in England: an initial baseline study

“…Welch 1998Welch , 2006aWelch ,b, 2007 had demonstrated that clear developmental differences in singing behaviour by age and sex were likely to be evidenced by the selection of these two age groups. Other recent findings from research into the acoustics of children's singing voices (Sergeant and Welch, 2008) and children's vocal health in singing and speaking (Rinta and Welch 2008;Williams, Welch, and Howard 2005) similarly supported such a developmental conception.…”

Temporal variability in sung productions of adolescents who stutter

“…In a previous study, Glover et al (1996) proposed that fluency-enhancement in singing arises from a better representation of melodic structure, normally not present in speech. Another possibility may be that melodic structure induces the singer to better control vocal fold tension and breathing which also could help patients with speech and voice disorders (Rinta & Welch, 2008;Sundberg, 1987). Others underscore the role of altered timing and regular rhythm for fluency enhancement (Davidow et al, 2011;Etchell et al, 2014;Howell, 2007).…”

Empirical Criteria for Establishing a Classification of Singing Activity in Children and Adolescents

“…18 Based on a broad review of the literature, Rinta and Welch demonstrated why singing activities can potentially even be exploited in the treatment of prepubertal children suffering from speech and voice disorders. 19 Voice training A second aspect is the quantity and quality of voice training. Voice problems or functional disorders in this age group often stem from unsuitability of the voice and lack of training.…”