I’M GLAD U ASKED WHAT I DO 4 BREATH EXERCISES. NON-MUSIC STUFF:
1. I DO “CANDLE THERAPY”, & BLOW OUT A CANDLE 30 TIMES IN LESS THAN 5 MIN…& I INCREASE THE AMOUNT, & DECREASE THE TIME. I TRIED BLOWING BUBBLES, BUT I AM NOT STRONG ENOUGH YET, & IT IS MESSY!
2. I HAVE A SPIROMETER FROM MY OLD SPEECH THERAPIST–IT MEASURES YOUR BREATH, & I TRY 2 GET IT UP TO SOMETHING LIKE 2600.
3. LEE SILVERMAN VOICE TREATMENT (LSVT). THE PROGRAM I WAS DOING (LSCV), CAN BE DIVIDED INTO 5 SECTIONS:
• IN SECTION 1, I SAID “AAAH” 12 TIMES.
• IN SECTION 2, I SAID “AAAH” 12 TIMES, IN AN ASCENDING SCALE.
• IN SECTION 3, I SAID “AAAH” 12 TIMES, IN A DECENDING SCALE.
• IN SECTION 4, I SAID 10 FUNCTIONAL PHRASES
• IN SECTION 5, I SAID 10 WORDS/SHORT PHRASES FROM A LIST–SOME WORDS ARE “YES,” “NO,” HELP,” “THANK YOU,” “YOU’RE WELCOME,” “WHAT,” “OK,”HELLO,” “HOW ARE YOU,” I’M FINE”
I WILL TRY TO POST ON MY BLOG THE VIDEO OF ME DOING MOST OF LSVT W/MY OLD SPEECH THERAPIIST…

I ALSO USE A METRONOME A LOT. I BREATH BETWEEN 40-56 NORMALLY, SO I FIND RELAXING MUSIC IN THAT SLOW RHYTHYM, & TRY TO INHALE & EXHALE FOR 2 COUNTS–USUALLY, I INHALE FOR 1 COUNT, TRY TO HOLD 1 COUNT, & TRY TO EXHALE 2 COUNTS (I OFTEN EXHALE 1 1/2 COUNTS!) THIS EXERCISE ALSO CALMS MY PBA, WITH OR W/O MUSIC!

BUT OONE OF MY MOST BENEFICIAL YET: I SET THE METRONOME BETWEEN 52-54 BEATS (FOR ME), &7 EVERY 3RD BEAT, I INHALE, & EVERY 4TH BEAT I BLOW ON A RECORDER OR WHISTLE. IT GETS TRICKY SOMETIMES, BUT THE BLOW OFTEN STARTS AS A QUIET SOUND, & GETS LOUDER. MY NEW GOAL IS TO HOLD OUT THAT SOUND…

I ALSO DO MANY COMPENSATORY STRATEGIES TO MAKE MY SPEECH CLEARER I SLOW MY SPEECH & EMPHASIZE THE SYLLABLES WHEN MY WORDS ARE NOT RECOGNIZED, A FRIEND OF MINE WILL ASK ME 2 USE MY SIGN LANGUAGE 2 SIGN HER THE 1ST LETTER OF THE WORD, IF SHE DOESN’T GET THE WORD, & I DO A LOT OF GESTURES/VISUALS–PEOPLE CAN ALMOST GUESS A SENTENCE BY IT–4 EX., I ASKED MY “HELPER” 2 PUT THE SILVER THUMBDRIVE IN MY COMPUTER, POINTING AT THE THUMBDRIVES, THEN POINTING AT THE COMPUTER, & WHEN I SAID THE SENTENCE AGAIN, EACH WORD HAD IT’S OWN BREATH, & ONCE I GOT TO THE WORD “SILVER,” SHE PRETTY MUCH FIGURED IT OUT FROM MY GESTURES.