Effects of Music Therapy on Stuttering
Dr. T. Mythily Ph.D.
Music is considered to be language concerned with emotions and also a source of entertainment. Especially for humans it is to be viewed as a tool to reveal the emotions. Music has its own superiority over other way of letting out our feelings. Music works as a cathartic way of experiencing the feelings and also, serves as relaxant for individuals. Hence it can be construed that development of music perception can act as aid in improving the development of speech perception.
This present research is based on the contention that music can influence the fluency of speech among individuals with problems of stuttering . Basically stutterers try to speak fast. It is found to occur when they attempt to speak one word , the next word comes disturbing the sequence of their speech that is, before the completion of the previous one. Further they are also not aware of the nature of their problem to the extent that they can avoid the same. It is a known fact that stutterers has difficulty only in speaking and not in singing because of the neural path way for the activity is different. In the present research paper an attempt has been made to reduce the problem of stuttering and improve the speech fluency and enhance the confidence of the individuals in the midst of others.
Sample Selection , Description & Research Design:-
22 children 14 boys and 8 girls studying in various schools in the age group of 7 to 13 years have been selected for the study. According to their parents these children have been stuttering and it was also confirmed by the investigator.
The underlying causes for stuttering seems to be varied; such as emotional disturbance, lack of freedom in expression, inadequate vocabulary, bilingual parents, and contextual factors such as inadequate grasping of the situation, possessing insufficient information for a particular context, school atmosphere, peer dominations and relations etc.,
Basically the hesitation in speech may be related to a failure in coordination of certain muscles and their appropriate nerves. (XII Cranial Nerve- hypoglossal ) Greater number of units in this nerve implies finer control of the tongue shape for forming speech sounds. Hence tongue capacity is a must for singing, speaking, reading etc.,
Training in classical vocal music helps to coordinate and strengthen the vocal chords and regulation of speech apparatus. Among the many basic exercises in classical music a few of them were selected for the treatment of stutterers. These basic exercises constitute singing in pairs, triple syllables with twist and speed etc.,
The group is homogeneous in the sense, that all the participants has stuttering- impaired fluency of reading at the time of training. The socio economic status was equal in the group the children are normal with no other retardation.
Stuttering - Classical Music + Reading – free from stuttering. It is pre post design studying the impact of music therapy on reading fluency among children. Before starting of the sessions the fluency of reading was assessed. The training includes music therapy session, reading session for ten weeks with daily assessments.
Rationale for the Selection of Music:-
The particular pattern of music has been selected on the basis of
I Easy to recite,
II Does not require any intricate knowledge in music,
III Simple to follow,
IV Easy to train one self and so on.
Criteria of Assessment in Reading:-
Before the start of the training the fluency of reading was checked by instructing them to read a passage from their text to assess the level of stuttering in them. The problem of stuttering in children has been rated on a scale ranging from –5 to +5, negative level to positive level was used. Children’s problem of stuttering was judged on the basis of the factors like hesitation in reading, giving unwarranted pause between words, hesitation in longer word and to start a new word etc., which helped to rate children in the scale at point. This type of rating was implemented only to assess the improvement in children.
After each training session, a new passage from their text was given to children to avoid the familiarity in passage reading. The rating in the negative –5 to –1 denotes reduction in the problem of stuttering over the sessions and the rating in the positive +1 to +5 denotes the improvement in the reading ability of children.
The Process of Training
In the initial stage children are instructed to sing the swaras which will be repeated twice with no change either through octave or through placing. These swaras should be sung in such a way as a plain notes without changing the sthana. Singing of pair notes has been increased to three notes of the same sthana without changing the octave. In this level to ensure the differentiation and clarity the next octave level and speed has been implemented. This enabled children to gain confidence and joy in producing correctly in the midst of other participants.
In the next stage, all the notes in threes with little twist and alternate has been taught to sing and reproduce in three octave continuously. This brings a sense of unison in the group and a willingness to reproduce correctly in front of other participants, which is healthy sign of improvement in children to overcome the inability.
For each level two weeks of training has become necessary to pass on to the next stage. For certain individuals it has taken few more days of training required to learn the level and move to the next stage. Totally eight weeks of training in various level has been imparted to children.
After each session, every child has been asked to read for two minutes from their text and instructed to narrate the same in their own words to other participants .The reading time has been increased by two minutes for every other session with each stage of training. After the third stage of training children were given six minutes to read and narrate. This practice has been maintained after each stage of training. Reading in front of others developed confidence and influenced the ability in children. This particular session “Read & Speak” has earned attraction among participants and eagerly waited for this session. Over the weeks the reading ability also improved in children. The improvement in reading fluency motivated children to be more participative in the following sessions.
Findings and Conclusions:-
The effect of Music Therapy was most evident in the case of all participants. The problem of stuttering was found to be reduced gradually over the weeks on account of exposure to music therapy. There was a corresponding increase in the fluency of reading among children with speech fluency as the therapy progressed over the weeks.
To start with, four boys and seven girls showed improvement in reading fluency and speech fluency also increased. Stuttering has been started decreasing from the fourth week onwards. But for one girl stuttering disappeared on the tenth day of the sessions and reading fluency improved gradually. Except for two children the speech fluency increased from the seventh week for other participants. These two children also gained fluency in speech by ninth week needed further exposure to therapy sessions.
These findings suggests that there are individual differences with regard to the improvement gained as a result of music therapy. Children were also given a word of confidence and assured, having overcome the problem of stuttering, they need not feel inferior in their class anymore, with regular practice the speech fluency will also increase.
Further participation in the group developed group cohesiveness and involvement in training.
The present study yielded positive and fascinating results.