Rhythm and Melody in Speech Therapy for the Neurologically Impaired

Abstract

Presents a 5-step therapeutic music program for the neurologically impaired and illustrates its use in a particular case. The technique begins with tongue exercises performed to music, followed by the use of a simple carrier melody to introduce new words and then phrases into the patient's vocabulary. The final step involves reducing and eliminating the carrier melody and substituting more complex musical and verbal phrases. The technique can be used in a group and/or private sessions, and it lends itself to family participation. In the combined speech and music therapy treatment of a 53-yr-old male who had suffered a left-cerebral vascular accident, improvements over 4 mo culminated in appropriate verbal responses to confrontation questions. In each stage of treatment improvements appeared first in music therapy. The technique capitalizes on residually intact melody and rhythm at some neurophysiological level wherein correlates of speech/language share neural paths with those elements of music salient to verbal communication. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)