The musical dimension of speech therapy

Abstract

Music is a therapeutic tool with multiple benefits, being increasingly integrated into speech therapy practice due to its intrinsic relationship with language. The study highlights the applicability of music both in the recovery of language acquisition and development delays in children, and in the rehabilitation of language disorders in adults, generated by brain damage. The analysis aims to compare the methods and activities used in both contexts, emphasizing the value of music as a complementary technique in speech therapy. The interventions are discussed on distinct levels of linguistic organization – phonological, morphosyntactic, lexical-semantic and pragmatic – for oral expression disorders, respectively for oral comprehension disorders and those associated with written language (reading and writing). In parallel, theoretical and empirical perspectives from the literature are presented, in order to substantiate and justify the results obtained. The general conclusion underlines the usefulness of integrating music in the speech therapy process, as it broadens the area of intervention and favors the efficiency of rehabilitation in both children and adults.