I am so glad to be a part of The Frenzied SLPs! I can definitely say that I am frenzied most of the time. I am a mother to two beautiful little girls, wife to an amazing husband, I work full time in the public school system, I have a TpT store, and our family is involved in many after school activities. Here's just a little about me:
What I want to share with you is something you probably learned in grad school or undergrad. But I want to share what I have found to be true on this subject.
Music in speech therapy.
ASHA states in this article the similarities between music and language.
5 similarities between music and
language*:
1.
Music and Language are
universal and specific to humans
2.
Both have pitch, timbre,
rhythm, and durational features
3.
Spontaneous speech and
spontaneous singing typically develop within infants at approximately the same
time.
4.
Music and language have
auditory, vocal, and visual uses (both use written systems) and are built on
structure and rules.
5.
Distinct forms of music and
language exist and vary across culture.
I have always been fascinated by
the effects of music on language development. In my own life, I listened
to classical music in college when studying and found it to be helpful in my
memory retention. Both of my children have been involved in music lessons
since birth to stimulate their language development (they are typically
developing, but so much language development came from the time that they
participated in music in my opinion).
ASHA also states in this article that
Musical activities stress
nonverbal forms of communication and often surpass physical, cultural,
intellectual, and emotional limitations. Actively using music in learning
experiences involves the whole child through incorporation of rhythm, movement,
and speech. Within the public school setting, traditional communication
training methods can be supplemented with musical activities.
If music can do these
things for typically developing children, what can it do for children with
language disorders? The answer is: amazing things. I have two websites
with abundant resources that I'd like to share with you on this topic. Innovative Speech and Music Helps
Autism. These two sites offer much advice and evidence of the
benefits of music for language development.
So, what is my tip for
you? Try music during your speech therapy sessions. Just try it. And, I'm
not talking about blasting The Wiggles or Dora from your iPad haha! I'm talking
about using soothing, instrumental music without words. Play it at
a low level so it is just barely detectable. In my therapy room, I do
this every single day with every single session. Since I have been doing
it, I have noticed a calming effect for my more active students and more focus
for my distracted students. I can't say that it is 100% because of
the music, but I can say that we all enjoy this in therapy sessions. If
you try it, let me know how it goes!
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