Bulletin

Issue: October 2004

Research in Action

Overcoming communication problems with the sound of music

Music and dancing have inherent appeal to young children. The reaction of even tiny toddlers to the music and movement of Australia's internationally famous Wiggles illustrates this.

Now a La Trobe University speech pathology researcher, Dr Beverly Joffe, has used this phenomenon as a tool to help kids with speech, language and communication problems.

She has shown that by using both music and movement as 'teaching' tools, she improved the speech performance of 19 children from three to seven years old undergoing treatment at La Trobe's Communication Clinic.

Dr Joffe presented evidence of her success at the recent 26th World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics in Brisbane at which about 30 countries were represented.

The research stems from Dr Joffe's doctoral thesis, A complementary form of speech language intervention: Can music and movement help children with communication disorders?

A lecturer in La Trobe' School of Human Communication Sciences, she says her research has demonstrated the value for children of treatment programs that combine traditional speech pathology treatment strategies with the structured use of music and movement.

Her doctoral research established support for what she describes as 'integrative, multi-modal treatment' that takes into account kinesics, proxemics and rhythm.

The research was conducted under the supervision of Professor Bridie Raban of the Department of Learning and Educational Development at the University of Melbourne, and Dr Karen Bond, Associate Professor in the Department of Dance at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Nineteen children, who had a variety of communication disorders each participated, on average, in 15 individual treatment sessions in which music and movement were combined with conventional treatment. Another four children participated as controls, being given only conventional treatment.
The research had two major phases. The first, in which four children participated, involved developing, applying and evaluating the program. In the second phase, a further 19 children participated, 15 of them in the combined music-movement plus traditional speech pathology treatment, and four children, given only traditional speech pathology treatment to provide perspective against which to view gains made by the other 15.

Measures of speech, language and related behaviours were taken before, during and after treatment, and obtained via standardised tests, formalised samples, probes, videotapes, written clinician reflections, parent questionnaires, and computer programs.

'We found that movement can be linked with speech sound features,' Dr Joffe said. For example, hopping whilst singing a fast song with particular words could highlight certain sounds.

'Similarly, vocabulary or grammatical concepts could be made more salient for the child through accompanying movements or gestures. In addition music and movement also helped children produce co-ordinated sequences like multisyllabic words.

'Music helped in other ways. Restless and particularly active children do not like being kept still for conventional treatment. Also, shy, uncommunicative and hesitant kids can be uncomfortable in small spaces, with a constant demand for verbal interaction. Other children with low boredom thresholds may not tolerate certain seated activities.

'Learning new speech motor and language behaviours needs considerable practice, and it is not straightforward to put repetition into practice in traditional treatment while maintaining a naturalistic non-demanding situation. Music helped considerably, and assisted in association and anticipation.'

The La Trobe Communication Clinic now provides this approach to treating children with communication disorders. •

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