04/02/2025
Music ✨
Using music and rhythm within speech and language therapy sessions has been a powerful tool in encouraging participation, having fun, and following a child’s interests.
But there’s MORE:
- A 2022 study shows that preschoolers learned to use vocabulary more effectively when taught with images, songs and/or rhythms than without the sounds and rhythms.
- A 2023 study showed a group of Autistic children have demonstrated better emotional recognition through sound (think short, instrumental melodies) than with picture cues.
- A systematic review (2022) found statistically significant results for music therapy in language and communication skills in 4/5 studies.
Sources:
- Lawson-Adams, J., Dickinson, D. K., & Donner, J. K. (2022). Sing it or speak it?: the effects of sung and rhythmically spoken songs on preschool children’s word learning. Early Childhood Research Quarterly
- - Sivathasan, S., Dahary, H., Burack, J. A., & Quintin, E.-M. (2023). Basic emotion recognition of children on the autism spectrum is enhanced in music and typical for faces and voices. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279002 [open access]
- van Tellingen, M., Hurkmans, J., Terband, H., Jonkers, R., & Maassen, B. (2022). Music and musical elements in the treatment of childhood speech sound disorders: A systematic review of the literature. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(4), 549–565.
