Voice disorders and the knowledge of care for voice among teachers of children with special needs

The theoretical starting point of the master's thesis starts with a short definition of language, phonation and voice. The factors that have an effect on the voice are underlined. Special attention is devoted to voice disturbance which is defined and where possible reasons therefore are indicated. There are shown symptoms and signs of voice problems. There are defined the main users and a special focus is on the professional voice users – the teachers. There is emphasize on the teachers who deal with disabled children with special needs. The risk factor and the data of appearance of voice disturbance with teachers is also mentioned. Attention was called to the need of team approach to people with voice difficulties. A possibility of defining voice disturbances is presented as occupational disease. In the conclusion of the theoretical introduction there are mentioned some ways how to care for the voice. The research was focused on teachers who are confronted with disabled children at their work. An anonymus questionnaire about voice difficulties, habits and knowing the factors was used which have an effect on the voice. On the basis of the research it was found out that among the individual groups of teachers there do not appear statistical important differences according to the frequency of the presence of voice difficulties although it was found out that teachers for additional professional help (DSP) are very rarely confronted with voice difficulties, teachers in the regular primary school and teachers at primary schools with adapted programs (OŠPP) in the same frequency. It turned out that the frequency of hoarseness increases with the old age and the length of years of service. About the care for the voice it turned out that the teachers are in a less extend acquainted with the effect of hormones to the voice. They are not acquainted with the idea of voice hygiene