Category: Speech Therapy

Does Music Help With Aphasia?

We experimented with music and singing to see if it helped with Lidia’s aphasia.

Aphasia is a language disorder commonly caused by a stroke or other brain injury which impacts a person’s ability to communicate. The type and severity of aphasia are different for every person. Those with Broca’s aphasia – or non-fluent aphasia – typically have restricted verbal output, relatively good auditory comprehension, and speech that is often slow & halting.

Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a motor speech disorder that results in difficulty coordinating the muscles used to form speech. Both are commonly seen after damage to the left hemisphere of the brain.

Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) is an evidence-based treatment method that uses intoning (singing) to improve expressive language in people with aphasia. The approach takes advantage of the undamaged right hemisphere by engaging areas that are capable of language. It is thought that the melodic & rhythmic prosody, slower rate of articulation, and continuous voicing that result from MIT may reduce the dependence on the left hemisphere.

If you watch the video, you’ll see Lidia singing using music from her iPad. It is a fun activity that we do together to unwind for the week.

We may have advanced beyond Melodic Intonation Therapy, but it doesn’t stop us from using music. Every Friday night and every time we drive in the car, we work on our speech therapy through music.

Lidia – Day 72 – Friday, February 7, 2020

Reading

We’ve been told by our speech therapist to get Lidia reading.  The point of this is to connect words in her mind with words coming out of her mouth.  And one work opens up links to a number of additional words and so on.  For example, the work kite is linked to fly or flying, string and wind.  Fly or flying is linked to an airplane, superman, or the insect, fly.  An airplane is linked to the airport, travel, suitcases, etc.  You get the point.  The more words she knows, the more links she can make to other words.

Physical Therapy

Today was momentous at physical therapy.  This was our first time doing physical therapy outside the home, not including the hospital.  It was an evaluation day since it was our first visit, but we were also able to walk.  Today Lidia, with some coaching, was able to move her leg and walk with the brace all on her own.  Our therapist said that even though she can walk with the brace, it also limits her movement and muscle control in her leg.  It is our goal to walk without the upper thigh portion of the brace by the end of the month.