Sing a Sentence, or At Least a Phrase
It’s been noted that some autistic children can sing before they can talk. My son Charlie was taught to say sounds and then words starting from when he was three and, while he’s always hummed and responded to music, it was a few more years before he started to sing short melodies and bits of tunes. Today, he tends to speak in phrases of a two to five words, often without verbs and other connecting words. He does add these in if we prompt him.
In the past year, we’ve noted that Charlie can sing longer phrases and sentences than he speaks with. He can sings back a song minutes after hearing it on the radio, and sometimes keeps singing it for the rest of the day. (And Charlie has learned to read music with more ease than words.) An article in the April 22nd New York Times about melodic intonation therapy suggests why singing might lead to talking. In melodic intonation therapy, patients with aphasia are taught to speak again through singing and hand-tapping:
In a study completed in 2006, Dr. Schlaug and colleagues at Harvard tracked the progress of eight patients with Broca’s aphasia [in which a person can usually understand what is said, but is not able to perform the motor aspects of speech] as they underwent 75 sessions of melodic intonation therapy. M.R.I. scans taken when the patients were speaking simple words and phrases showed that activity in the right hemisphere had changed significantly over the course of treatment.
“The combination of melodic intonation and hand-tapping activates a system of the right side of the brain that is always there, but is not typically used for speech,” Dr. [Gottfried] Schlaug said.
He recommends melodic intonation therapy for patients who have no meaningful form of speech, but can understand language and have the patience for therapy sessions.
I’ve long noted that Charlie tends to say phrases with the pitch, tone ,and rhythm that he’s heard a word said by us or by a therapist or on a video. When Charlie’s talking to himself, I’ve been realizing that he is sometimes scripting scenes from Barney, Teletubbies, or Wiggles videos, or his beloved Goodnight Moon DVD. The words are often not articulated (especially the consonants) and it’s the certain lilt in his voice that tells me what he’s saying. (And depending on the moment, I intercede and ask him to say some words with the consonants and vowels.)
Maybe I should try to sing.
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POSTED IN: Language, Music, Neuroscience
10 opinions for Sing a Sentence, or At Least a Phrase
Daisy
Apr 25, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I’ve always sung to my babies and those I’ve cared for, but it was more because I enjoy singing than for any reaction to research. I’m glad to know in hindsight that I was doing a good thing for their speech development!
Niksmom
Apr 25, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Kristina, the timing of this post is uncanny! I was just talking to Nik’s SLP this morning about using songs consistently to help Nik make associations with certain activities/states of being. Like Charlie, Nik seems to pick up on music shortly after he’s heard it a time or two. While Nik doesn’t yet have words, he certainly uses the tunes that I sing (e.g., “This is the way we wash our hands…” or “Brush, brush, brush your teeth” —the latter to the tune of Row, row, row your boat) to indicate his desire to do something. I am now working on helping him make the connection between certain songs and being able to communicate things to me such as “I’m hungy; it’s time to eat!”
Nik, like Charlie, will also mimic the intonation he has heard. No consonants at all but the clearest intonation!
Michelle Z
Apr 25, 2008 at 4:52 pm
That’s really interesting. Our daughter (now 13) can not stand music - I think because of the timing. It’s as if by the time she’s put the words together, the music has gone on. And background music is just too overstimulating.
laurentius-rex
Apr 25, 2008 at 5:17 pm
It is a well known fact that people can sing words in languages that they do not understand, opera singers do this all the time.
Melody
Apr 25, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I notice it too that sometimes when I find myself unable to speak, I can still sing (though, it’d have to be from a song I’ve seen the lyrics to already, or I wouldn’t have a clue what the words being sung are). I think this is mainly because I have a hard time with coming up with the words to say, and in what order, and to repeat something is much easier. And while I can read music, I am very slow at it, so it’s much more practical (and much easier!) for me to learn the shapes of what my hands do on the guitar or piano, the two instruments I’m familiar with. I noticed in my guitar class that while I had significantly more difficulty with the motor requirements for playing, that I could remember the shapes very well, and figure out how many steps up or down I was going, things that tripped up many other people in the class.
B
Apr 25, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Lexi the girl in Autism the Musical has an amazing voice– worth it just to watch her sing! (and if you haven’t seen it, she’s echolalic when speaking)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 25, 2008 at 10:24 pm
And singing in Latin without knowing what the words mean (to follow laurentius-rex’s point)……
Laura
Apr 26, 2008 at 7:56 am
My daughter did this too with the singing and the intonation. She did it when using words too - mimicking our words, tone, inflection, etc. She started when she was 9 months old with the music and imitating our tone. She lost all her words at a year and didn’t talk again until she was almost 2 or even 2.5 but she hummed (and still does) a lot to songs she knows. She hates noise but whenever we’re in the car, she asks me to turn up the radio/music.
I don’t know if this is related or not, but when I was growing up and had things I had to memorize for school, my mom taught me to make a song out of it. It was much easier to remember the words days and even years later when it was put to a melody. I often wonder how much my daughter does this on her own.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 26, 2008 at 8:54 am
@Laura,
I’ve taught my students declensions of Latin words by having them sing to the tune of “Three Blind Mice”! Always sang to Charlie (and I am not a good singer) and Jim’s been whistling songs to him since the beginning. I’m suspecting that Charlie might be putting things to music to help him learn/memorize them too.
S.L.
Apr 26, 2008 at 6:37 pm
This is interesting. My daughter can practically sing an entire song now, but you won’t catch her speaking for that amount of time, nor with the clarity. Her ST has always encouraged music & singing, saying it is very helpful. We have had success, like Niksmom talks about, with singing to help teach (self skills, etc.). A whole lotta music going on here!!
I started using a lot more singing & music with my daughter when she was a little over a year old and they thought she had Rett Syndrome. A “Rett mom” had told me that her daughter responded so much to singing, that she sung to her throughout the day. Since then, I’ve noticed my daughter’s interest in anything musical. Lately, it’s High School Musical, Dave Matthews and even Amy Winehouse (I like her too, but, she’s not exactly a good choice for children to listen to! But she loves the rhythm–I try to change it when it comes on, and she throws a fit.). Can we say eclectic???
What you say about Charlie, getting the pitch & tone…same here! She will say something, and it’s like her big sister is standing there (most often, that’s been her greatest peer model!), or she’ll say what a teacher has said, etc. A few things she says, makes me also wonder if she spent some time in London (her accent!). :)
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