Music therapy can assist following a traumatic brain injury

I just came across an article in USA Today on the use of music therapy in brain injury rehabilitation.

The most famous recent music therapy patient is U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona who sustained a brain injury after being shot through the left side of her brain 10 months ago. Music therapy has assisted in helping her learn to walk and speak again.  This form of brain injury therapy also has the added bonus of providing psychological benefits.

According to the article, using an approach called Melodic Intonation Therapy, therapists can retrain an injured brain like Giffords' to circumvent the damage. Take the word "hello." A therapist might teach a patient to sing the two syllables, first a high note, then a lower one. With practice, the patient could slowly phase out the musical notes, first saying the word in a sing-song fashion and then speaking it directly.

You can read the full article by clicking here.

For legal assistance following a traumatic brain injury, contact the brain injury attorneys at De Caro & Kaplen, LLP

Comments

[Carol Ann Blank, LCAT, MMT, MT-BC]

Thank you for posting this on your website. There are many music therapists in NY who do the kind of work referenced in the article. Find us on Facebook: The MidAtlantic Association for Music Therapy Association. We'd love to have your follow the work that we do so that you can better advocate for your clients.

[Brain music therapy]

Institute for Advanced Psychiatry is a leading depression center in central Texasproviding NeuroStar Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation TMS Therapy