Albert, Sparks, and Helm (1973)
ALBERT, M.L., R.W. Sparks, and N.A. Helm. “Melodic Intonation Therapy for Aphasia.” Archives for Neurology 29 (1973): 130-131.
Briefly presents the development of a new form of language therapy—dubbed melodic intonation therapy—for use with aphasic patients. The basis for the therapy was the common observation that even severely speech-impaired aphasics can often sing the melody and lyrics to popular songs. The idea was to attempt to reactivate speech processing, by exploiting the alternate, assumedly right-hemisphere, pathways involved in such singing. Therapy begins with unison singing of sentences by patient and therapist, eventually leading to more normal speech. Three cases, of patients with severe productive deficits who had not previously responded to standard therapies, are reported, with dramatic and rapid results. However, two other cases, with comprehension deficits did not improve by such therapy.
