Changing the tune: how melodic intonation therapy disrupted speech therapy and revolutionized conceptions of language and the brain
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
I think we can all agree that there is something very special about music, something relaxing, something magical, something therapeutic. Indeed, music has long been valued as a therapy for brain damage and disease. Still, it took until the 1970s for music to be formally incorporated into speech therapy. Developed in a Boston Veteran’s Administration Hospital in 1973 by Martin Albert, Robert Sparks, and Nancy Helm, Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) is a type of speech therapy that incorporates musical elements to rehabilitate patients with “non-fluent” aphasia (patients who have lost the ability to express, but not comprehend, speech – usually due to stroke). Developed from observations that singing is intact in patients with non-fluent aphasias, MIT uses the natural prosodic/melodic nature of speech to rehabilitate patients with Broca’s Aphasia. Patients intone (sing) at two different pitches, singing a higher pitch for naturally stressed syllables and a lower pitch for unstressed syllables in simple sentences. Simultaneously, they tap a rhythmic pulse with their left hand to activate the motor system in rehabilitation. The therapy has three levels, progressing from simple phrases like “thank you” enunciated at one syllable per second (or slower) to complete sentences spoken more fluently and rapidly. Eventually, the melodic aspect is removed and patients are challenged to engage in simple conversations.