Melodic Intonation Therapy for Aphasia

This was written up in 1973. Singing has a different center than speech.
http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/29/2/130

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Abstract

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A new form of language therapy has been used successfully with aphasic patients who had severe, long-term, stable defects and for whom other forms of therapy had failed. One explanation for these results suggests that latent language capacities of the nondominant hemisphere may be stimulated.


This one has 6 pages and explains it much better. At least this even lists a protocol.
http://www.musicianbrain.com/papers/Norton_MelodicIntonationTherapy_nyas_04859.pdf
THE NEUROSCIENCES AND MUSIC III: DISORDERS AND PLASTICITY
Melodic Intonation Therapy
Shared Insights onHow It Is Done andWhy
It Might Help
Andrea Norton, Lauryn Zipse, Sarah Marchina,
and Gottfried Schlaug
Music, Stroke Recovery, and Neuroimaging Laboratory, Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
For more than 100 years, clinicians have noted that patients with nonfluent aphasia are
capable of singing words that they cannot speak. Thus, the use of melody and rhythm
has long been recommended for improving aphasic patients’ fluency, but itwas not until
1973 that a music-based treatment [Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT)] was developed.
Our ongoing investigation of MIT’s efficacy has provided valuable insight into this
therapy’s effect on language recovery. Here we share those observations, our additions
to the protocol that aim to enhanceMIT’s benefit, and the rationale that supports them.
Key words: Melodic Intonation Therapy; nonfluent aphasia; language recovery; brain
plasticity; music therapy