Article 4: A Taxonomy of Voice Therapy & Thoughts on Organizing Categories of Speech Therapy
Van Stan, J., Roy, N., Awan, S., Stemple, J. & Hillman, R.E. (2015). A taxonomy of voice therapy. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 24: 101-125.
I often try to post articles that I think are helpful because they cover a lot of ground. This article does that, and it is an article that truly changed my way of thinking about speech therapy. Before reading this article, I thought about speech in the way my university had organized it for me--by classes. There's the voice class, motor speech disorders, swallowing, language disorders, etc...yet I never stopped to think that there might be a more personal way of organizing speech therapy for myself.
This article opened that personal avenue for me; it changed my way of thinking.
In brief, this article looked at several different textbooks, hospital therapy notes, courses, and articles in order to try and find a common thread between voice terms. The authors sought to systemize and streamline the way voice therapy was referred to because there were so many different ways therapists categorized voice therapy. This led to, in the authors' opinion, less sharing of resources and ideas because there was no universal terminology for voice therapy.
Although this may seem trivial--why care about how things are organized? Just know the methods! I found this idea to be incredibly useful. Other therapists, like Aaron Ziegler on the "Speech Uncensored" podcast, Season 3, Episode 4, seem to agree. What I like most about this article is that, at the end, it lists the many different methods of voice therapy in subcategories AND the research quotes to support them. Furthermore, it helped me to nail down the authors associated with voice and other areas of speech. Knowing the authors also can help with further research!
Below is a beautiful figure from the article that allows visualization of the taxonomy as well.
Finally, I found that organizing voice therapy this way also helped me think about organizing speech therapy in general and how we can begin to see the crossovers and common language between classes, not just within them. For instance, if you're studying, researching, or providing therapy for voice, you can also be looking into dysphagia, respiratory issues, and physical therapy because the bodily mechanisms in these areas are closely related. If you're studying child language disorders, take a look at the literature on aphasia. You may be surprised at the many ways researchers have found methods of common speak amongst and between disorders. Always use evidence-based literature for any therapy you provide, but start to open your mind to the many ways you can organize your own thoughts around your clients, disorders, and therapy that goes beyond grad class categories.
I often try to post articles that I think are helpful because they cover a lot of ground. This article does that, and it is an article that truly changed my way of thinking about speech therapy. Before reading this article, I thought about speech in the way my university had organized it for me--by classes. There's the voice class, motor speech disorders, swallowing, language disorders, etc...yet I never stopped to think that there might be a more personal way of organizing speech therapy for myself.
This article opened that personal avenue for me; it changed my way of thinking.
In brief, this article looked at several different textbooks, hospital therapy notes, courses, and articles in order to try and find a common thread between voice terms. The authors sought to systemize and streamline the way voice therapy was referred to because there were so many different ways therapists categorized voice therapy. This led to, in the authors' opinion, less sharing of resources and ideas because there was no universal terminology for voice therapy.
Although this may seem trivial--why care about how things are organized? Just know the methods! I found this idea to be incredibly useful. Other therapists, like Aaron Ziegler on the "Speech Uncensored" podcast, Season 3, Episode 4, seem to agree. What I like most about this article is that, at the end, it lists the many different methods of voice therapy in subcategories AND the research quotes to support them. Furthermore, it helped me to nail down the authors associated with voice and other areas of speech. Knowing the authors also can help with further research!
Below is a beautiful figure from the article that allows visualization of the taxonomy as well.
Finally, I found that organizing voice therapy this way also helped me think about organizing speech therapy in general and how we can begin to see the crossovers and common language between classes, not just within them. For instance, if you're studying, researching, or providing therapy for voice, you can also be looking into dysphagia, respiratory issues, and physical therapy because the bodily mechanisms in these areas are closely related. If you're studying child language disorders, take a look at the literature on aphasia. You may be surprised at the many ways researchers have found methods of common speak amongst and between disorders. Always use evidence-based literature for any therapy you provide, but start to open your mind to the many ways you can organize your own thoughts around your clients, disorders, and therapy that goes beyond grad class categories.
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