Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender-Nonconforming People
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health. (2012).
East Dundee, Illinois: The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, (7th Version), 1-112.
This guideline provides recommendations for the care, assessment, and treatment of transsexual, transgender, and gender non-conforming children, adolescents, and adults. The intended audience of these guidelines includes health professionals involved in psychological treatment, medical treatment, and voice and communication therapy.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health
<div>"It is recommended that individuals undergoing voice feminization surgery also consult a voice and communication specialist to maximize the surgical outcome, help protect vocal health, and learn non-pitch related aspects of communication. Voice surgery procedures should include follow-up sessions with a voice and communication specialist who is licensed and/ or credentialed by the board responsible for speech therapists/speech-language pathologists in that country" (p. 54).</div>
<p>It is recommended that communication specialists working with transsexual, transgender and gender nonconforming clients demonstrate:</p>
<ul>
<li>competence in assessment and treatment of communication skills with this specific population obtained through specialized training,</li>
<li>a basic understanding of transgender health including hormonal and surgical treatments for feminization/masculinization and trans-specific psychosocial issues,</li>
<li>basic sensitivity protocols such as the use of preferred pronoun and name.</li>
</ul>
<div>"Feminizing or masculinizing the voice involves non-habitual use of the voice production mechanism. Prevention measures are necessary to avoid the possibility of vocal misuse and long-term vocal damage. All voice and communication therapy services should therefore include a vocal health component" (p. 54).</div>
<div>Providers must be sensitive to individual communication preferences of transgender individuals when providing voice and communication services. </div>
