Description
A lot of research conducted indicates that children with special needs comprise of challenges which include delayed language, difficulty making eye contact, disturbed social interaction, problems with pragmatic language and poor comprehension leading to poor communication skills which include both receptive and expressive skills. Impairment of ability and skill in communication can affect negatively the quality and quantity of social interactions with adults and peers. Likewise, improvement in communication abilities and skills may have a correlation, or relational effect on social skills and quality of life. This therefore calls for a lot of intervention/ therapy strategies being put in place for teaching communication skills to children with special needs without forgetting the emerging therapy approaches which include Music therapy. Music therapy adapts elements of music (e.g tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony and texture) to promote effective expressive and receptive communication skills. Both Music and Language are universal and specific to humans, both have pitch, timbre, rhythm and durational features, spontaneous speech and spontaneous singing typically develop within infants at approximately the same time, both have auditory, vocal and visual uses and are built on structure and rules, distinct forms of music and language exist and vary across cultures. Speech therapy helps individuals with communication disorders to develop language whereas Music therapy specifically promotes development and strengthens language, communication and social skills through engaging music intervention.
| Keywords | Music, Music therapy, Speech therapy, music elements, communication and language skills |
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