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Singing therapy helping Gabrielle Giffords

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Frank Albinder, pictured here with Eric Whitacre, pointed me to this story about how music and singing is helping Rep. Gabielle Giffords recover from the gunshot:
Since Giffords was transferred to TIRR Jan. 21, reports of her singing "Happy Birthday" for husband Mark Kelly and Don McLean's "American Pie" have signaled what some have called a miraculous recovery.

"The brain can heal itself if you do the right protocol," Morrow said. "It just needs lots of repetition, lots of consistency."

Protocols like music speech stimulation and melodic intonation therapy can help patients with damage to the brain's communication center, like Giffords, learn to speak again.

"It's creating new pathways in the brain," Morrow said. "Language isn't going to work anymore, so we have to go to another area and start singing and create a new pathway for speech."


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  1. Hi Philip!
     
    I am not surprized by this at all.  I know it must be boring when I bring this up yet again–but music is a wonderful tool, for those with challenges of every kind. I have used music to teach things, explain things and give instructions to my non-verbal son with autism since he was a baby.  Many folks, when they cannot understand ANYTHING, understand music. Music reaches us on a a different level and can create new pathways in the brain–I’ve seen it, personally.  The possibilities are endless in its use. We, in our high-faluting profession, sometimes forget that. I can’t forget because I love someone who needs music to function in any sort of “normal” fashion.  And that’s why it’s not a surprize to me.
     
    Sorry I missed you in Chicago–next time!
     
    Marie

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