Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT)
What is it?
Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is an evidence-based system of 20 standardized clinical techniques for sensorimotor training, speech and language training, and cognitive training. NMT differs from traditional Music Therapy as it views music not as a social science model for well being, but as a neuroscience model, where music is a hard-wired brain language and has a profound effect on the human brain.
These techniques are developed from scientific research studies on musical perception, production, and their effects on the non-musical brain and behavior.
NMT is the only music therapy practice that is acknowledge by the world psychiatric association international congress. Through a standardized assessment procedure called the Transformational Design Model (TDM), NMT selects and adapts specific techniques that focuses on non-musical goals.
These techniques are developed from scientific research studies on musical perception, production, and their effects on the non-musical brain and behavior.
NMT is the only music therapy practice that is acknowledge by the world psychiatric association international congress. Through a standardized assessment procedure called the Transformational Design Model (TDM), NMT selects and adapts specific techniques that focuses on non-musical goals.
Who can benefit?
Populations served by Neurologic Music Therapists include, but are not limited to:
- Speech disabilities
- Stroke
- Traumatic brain injury
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Huntington’s Disease
- Cerebral palsy
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Autism
- Others: Neurological diseases affecting cognition, movement, and communication
Techniques
Sensorimotor Training
Rhythm can be used as an external timekeeper to organize, coordinate and improve movement. Music therapists can use music to facilitate more functional, organized, and coordinated movements in fine motor and gross motor skills including motor planning, motor control, motor coordination, and gait training. Rhythm in music is used to cue and structure the initiation and fluency of movement. We use techniques such as: Patterned Sensory Enhancement (PSE), Therapeutic Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP), and Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS).
Patterned Sensory Enhancement (PSE) is a technique which uses the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and dynamic-acoustical elements of music to provide temporal, spatial, and force cues for movements which reflect functional exercises and activities of daily living. PSE is often applied to movements that are not rhythmic in nature:
Therapeutic Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP) is the playing of musical instruments in order to exercise and stimulate functional movement. During TIMP, instruments are not typically played in the traditional manner, but are placed in different locations to facilitate practice of the desired functional movements. Music therapists select appropriate instruments to emphasize on:
Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) facilitates rehabilitation of movements that are intrinsically rhythmic, most importantly gait. RAS uses the physiological effects of auditory rhythm on the motor system to improve the control of movement in rehabilitation of functional, stable and adaptive gait patterns in patients with significant gait deficits due to neurological impairment. Music therapists use RAS in two different ways:
Patterned Sensory Enhancement (PSE) is a technique which uses the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and dynamic-acoustical elements of music to provide temporal, spatial, and force cues for movements which reflect functional exercises and activities of daily living. PSE is often applied to movements that are not rhythmic in nature:
- Exercise PSE (eg. Marching, bicep curls, long arc quads etc.)
- Functional Sequence PSE (eg. Grasping an object and moving it, moving from sitting to standing, opening a door etc.)
Therapeutic Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP) is the playing of musical instruments in order to exercise and stimulate functional movement. During TIMP, instruments are not typically played in the traditional manner, but are placed in different locations to facilitate practice of the desired functional movements. Music therapists select appropriate instruments to emphasize on:
- Range of motion
- Endurance
- Strength
- Functional hand movements
- Finger dexterity
- Limb coordination
Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) facilitates rehabilitation of movements that are intrinsically rhythmic, most importantly gait. RAS uses the physiological effects of auditory rhythm on the motor system to improve the control of movement in rehabilitation of functional, stable and adaptive gait patterns in patients with significant gait deficits due to neurological impairment. Music therapists use RAS in two different ways:
- Immediate entrainment stimulus providing rhythmic cues during movement
- Facilitating stimulus for training in order to achieve more functional gait patterns
Speech & Language Training
Speech and singing are closely related in function and proximity in the brain. Speech naturally incorporates musical elements such as meter, rhythm, and the melodic contour of prosody; music enhances these speech/language functions.
NMT effectively helps rehabilitate the loss of communication, speech, and language skills. Music therapists can assist a person with dysfunction or delays in various speech/language disorders to learn how to speak through singing or to increase intelligibility. Additionally, NMT can enable those without language to communicate and express themselves non-verbally.
To rehabilitate speech and language, we use techniques such as: Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), Rhythmic Speech Cueing (RSC), and Vocal Intonation Therapy (VIT), Oral Motor and Respiratory Exercises (OMREX) etc.
Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) is a treatment technique developed for expressive aphasia rehabilitation which utilizes a patient’s unimpaired ability to sing, to facilitate spontaneous and voluntary speech through sung and chanted melodies which resemble natural speech intonation patterns.
Rhythmic Speech Cueing (RSC) is the use of rhythmic cuing to control the initiation and rate of speech through cuing and pacing.
Vocal Intonation Therapy (VIT) is the use of intoned phrases simulating the prosody, inflection, and pacing of normal speech. This is done through vocal exercises which train all aspects of voice control including:
Oral Motor and Respiratory Exercises (OMREX) is the use of musical materials and exercises, mainly through sound vocalization and wind instrument playing, to enhance articulatory control and respiratory strength and function of the speech apparatus.
NMT effectively helps rehabilitate the loss of communication, speech, and language skills. Music therapists can assist a person with dysfunction or delays in various speech/language disorders to learn how to speak through singing or to increase intelligibility. Additionally, NMT can enable those without language to communicate and express themselves non-verbally.
To rehabilitate speech and language, we use techniques such as: Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), Rhythmic Speech Cueing (RSC), and Vocal Intonation Therapy (VIT), Oral Motor and Respiratory Exercises (OMREX) etc.
Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) is a treatment technique developed for expressive aphasia rehabilitation which utilizes a patient’s unimpaired ability to sing, to facilitate spontaneous and voluntary speech through sung and chanted melodies which resemble natural speech intonation patterns.
Rhythmic Speech Cueing (RSC) is the use of rhythmic cuing to control the initiation and rate of speech through cuing and pacing.
Vocal Intonation Therapy (VIT) is the use of intoned phrases simulating the prosody, inflection, and pacing of normal speech. This is done through vocal exercises which train all aspects of voice control including:
- Inflection
- Pitch
- Breath control
- Timbre
- Dynamics
Oral Motor and Respiratory Exercises (OMREX) is the use of musical materials and exercises, mainly through sound vocalization and wind instrument playing, to enhance articulatory control and respiratory strength and function of the speech apparatus.
Cognitive Training
The brain is highly responsive to all elements of music including rhythm, tempo, melody, harmony, etc. These auditory neurons travel towards the cognitive processing areas of the brain and optimize and enhance performance of cognitive skills.
Music provides an exceptional learning environment that assists in organizing, learning, and retaining information. Music is able to improve cognitive skills such as attention, memory, mood, and executive functioning (higher level thought processing) including academic skills.
Music provides structure to develop focused and sustained attention, and stimulates hemispheric brain arousal to facilitate meaningful responsiveness and orientation to time, place and person. We use techniques such as: Musical Neglect Training (MNT), Musical Attention Control Training (MACT), Associative Mood and Memory Training (AMMT), Musical Sensory Orientation Training (MSOT) etc.
Musical Neglect Training (MNT) involves active performance exercises on musical instruments, which are structured in time, tempo, and rhythm, with an appropriate spatial configuration of instruments to focus attention to neglected or unattended visual field.
Musical Attention Control Training (MACT) involves structured active or receptive musical exercises, using pre-composed performance or improvisation, in which musical elements cue different musical responses in order to practice sustained, selective, divided, and alternating attention functions.
Associative Mood and Memory Training (AMMT) involves musical mood induction techniques to instate:
Musical Sensory Orientation Training (MSOT) is the use of music to stimulate arousal and recovery of wake states and facilitate meaningful responsiveness and orientation to time, place, and person.
Music provides an exceptional learning environment that assists in organizing, learning, and retaining information. Music is able to improve cognitive skills such as attention, memory, mood, and executive functioning (higher level thought processing) including academic skills.
Music provides structure to develop focused and sustained attention, and stimulates hemispheric brain arousal to facilitate meaningful responsiveness and orientation to time, place and person. We use techniques such as: Musical Neglect Training (MNT), Musical Attention Control Training (MACT), Associative Mood and Memory Training (AMMT), Musical Sensory Orientation Training (MSOT) etc.
Musical Neglect Training (MNT) involves active performance exercises on musical instruments, which are structured in time, tempo, and rhythm, with an appropriate spatial configuration of instruments to focus attention to neglected or unattended visual field.
Musical Attention Control Training (MACT) involves structured active or receptive musical exercises, using pre-composed performance or improvisation, in which musical elements cue different musical responses in order to practice sustained, selective, divided, and alternating attention functions.
Associative Mood and Memory Training (AMMT) involves musical mood induction techniques to instate:
- A mood congruent mood state to facilitate memory recall
- To access associative mood and memory function through inducing a positive emotional state in the learning and recall process
Musical Sensory Orientation Training (MSOT) is the use of music to stimulate arousal and recovery of wake states and facilitate meaningful responsiveness and orientation to time, place, and person.