From Singing to Speaking: Suggestions For Using Music With People With Aphasia

The following is excerpted from the article “From Singing to speaking,” Stroke Connection Magazine, September/October 2005

Singing familiar songs is psychologically and emotionally uplifting. Provide opportunities for individuals with aphasia to sing their favorite songs. In addition to purchasing albums, put together tapes or CDs of their “all-time” favorites.

It is now possible to legally purchase and download songs from the Internet to record them on CDs or digital MP3 players that store many songs.

Make singing a part of social events that might otherwise be difficult for a person with aphasia.

Good candidates for melodic intonation therapy have:

severely restricted speech that may be limited to nonsense words or syllables except when singing
along to popular songs;
poor ability to repeat words spoken by others;
relatively good ability to understand the speech of others;
good motivation, cooperation and attentiveness; and
a single, left hemisphere lesion that spares Wernicke’s area (the speech comprehension center of the brain).
If this seems like a match, survivors should ask a speech-language pathologist to determine whether an individual with severely restricted speech output might be a good candidate for melodic intonation therapy. The program, including a manual, videotape and stimulus cards, can be implemented by family members. For more information on how to obtain it, call 1-888-488-7653 (1-888-4STROKE).