Thank You for the Music - Speech and Language Therapy and Music Therapy join forces in MISA!

Since 2020, we have been delighted to have access to our two music therapists, Marina and Roisin, with whom we regularly complete joint SLT and music therapy sessions. Our music therapy colleagues also regularly engage patients in individual sessions where they use elements of music therapy towards further achieving their speech, language and communication goals.

A collaborative approach including music therapy has been shown to be effective when working with patients with a variety of communication impairments as a result of acquired brain injury and progressive neurological illnesses. These include aphasia, apraxia of speech, dysarthria, dysphonia and cognitive communication difficulties (Tamplin et al 2017, Magee et al 2017, Magee 2019). There are numerous evidence-based approaches both in the music therapy and SLT literature that highlight the direct therapeutic benefits of utilising music, song, pitch, rhythm and intonation to aid verbal fluency, word finding, expression and intelligibility. Melodic Intonation Therapy, where musical elements of pitch, rhythm and intonation are used to facilitate language production is one commonly used neurologic approach (Jacob et al 2023).

Alongside music therapy’s ability to activate and enhance brain recovery, the research also highlights that it leads to improvements in engagement, mood, well-being and social inclusion (Daykin et al., 2018; Tamplin et al., 2013; Fogg-Rogers et al., 2016).  Engaging with music is linked to social interaction, our personal identity, memories and emotions for all of us. The use of music groups can be a really powerful tool for patients with communication challenges allowing a safe and supportive space for therapy interventions, trialling communication strategies and re-engaging socially.

Perhaps the best measure of its success is told by our patient and family members ….

St James’s Hospital Speech and Language Therapy and Music Therapy services are continuing to work together with individual patients. We are also working on an innovative project to grow and develop the collaborative approach to communication therapy for patients at all stages of their journey post stroke. Part of this includes the establishment of a proof-of-concept Communication Music Group to support patients with communication difficulties as they leave hospital and move into the initial stages of living with stroke. We’re excited about this prospective development, which will augment the rehabilitation supports available for our patients. We also look forward to adding to the knowledge base on the effectiveness of this rehabilitation service for the living with stage of the patient journey.