It was gratifying to see a prominent article about music and the brain ("The mind on music," Jan. 25). Music therapists have long been employing this connection to make enormous strides with individuals with an array of challenges, including individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. Research is confirming that music succeeds where other interventions have failed, in creating neural pathways that ignite speech and language that did not exist or have been long dormant.
Singing engages an auditory-motor feedback loop in the brain. While singing alone is helpful, the act of singing together is particularly powerful. Isabelle Peretz and colleagues at the University of Montreal in Canada have shown that singing in a choir dramatically improves the ability to recall and pronounce words.
In the Triangle, Voices Together was developed to address the challenges faced by those with developmental disabilities within a natural social context: the chorus. Our choral therapy group combines unique communication songs, the motivational and validating nature of the choral structure and therapeutic techniques to make lasting, life-changing breakthroughs for individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.
