Give someone a voice again who is unable or difficult to express his or her words. That is the goal of Treant Zorggroep’s new Speech-Music Therapy (SMTA) treatment. After six months of practice, Mrs. Foss from Bilderdijk in Hoogeveen can order coffee again, pronounce the name of her daughters and greet and thank people. An astonishing result.
Mrs. Foss has developed a language disorder (aphasia) due to a cerebral infarction. ‘She could only say’ yes ‘,’ no ‘and one sentence that had no meaning,’ says speech therapist and clinical linguist Marith Guichelaar. During the combination treatment of speech therapy and music therapy, important words, sentences and names were put on a melody so that she could learn to sing these utterances. ‘Mrs. Foss is very fond of music, but we expected little progress in speaking because she has had aphasia for seven years,’ explains music therapist Martijn Bergstra from. “She surprised us, because after six months she can already pronounce eight different utterances.”
Unique melody
The treatment helps to regain or restart fluency in speaking as much as possible. The speech therapist worked with Ms. Foss to come up with important sentences or words that she wanted to learn to pronounce. Those were the words ‘thank you’, ‘good morning’, the names of her daughters and a few practical phrases that she can use every day such as: ‘coffee with milk’ and ‘bread with liver paste,’ Marith explains. These expressions were linked to a unique melody. This melody helps to form words and sentences more easily and to pronounce them more smoothly.
Growing self-confidence
During the treatment, you will first sing together and then the exercise turns into rhythmic speaking. In the end, the melody and rhythm disappear and only talk is done. Ms Foss also practiced speaking herself: ‘we made videos of the exercises that Ms herself can play on her iPad to practice as much as possible,’ says Martijn. The therapists saw Ms. Foss’s confidence grow. ‘We heard from family and care workers that the trained words and sentences are clearly audible in everyday situations. The care workers at Bilderdijk were perplexed when Ms ordered her own coffee for the first time. ‘Normally they guessed exactly what she wanted to drink, but now she ordered her coffee with milk. It is wonderful to see that she can now express herself even better. That’s what we do it for, ‘says Marith proudly.
Over SMTA
Marith and Martijn have followed an SMTA course to learn the method of the treatment. Mrs. Foss was the first resident they started working with. SMTA is suitable for people with aphasia (problems with speaking and / or understanding language) and / or apraxia (problems with the formation of sounds and words). Each treatment has a fixed structure, takes place once or twice a week and residents / clients can also get started with the practiced sentences themselves. Thanks to SMTA, Martijn and Marith can help people with aphasia or apraxia as well as possible. For more information, go to www.treant.nl/smta.
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