Dr. Patsy Tan
In addition to the Heartbeat project, Dr. Patsy Tan has many music therapy projects at RAH. One project requiring funding is Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) for stroke patients.
MIT is a research-supported speech treatment for stroke patients with non-fluent (expressive) aphasia. MIT uses singing and rhythmic tapping to stimulate the undamaged right hemisphere of the brain, assisting the damaged left-hemisphere language centers to improve expressive language functions. This therapy helps patients transition from singing to speaking phrases, often improving conversational speech and verbal output. As you can imagine, going from non-verbal to verbal via singing is life changing for stroke patients who have already had their life altered in a vast way.
Currently stroke patients receive stage 1 of treatment at RAH. They are transferred to TQEH to participate in the stroke choir for stage 2 of treatment. This is where MIT takes place. MIT is one of the few accepted treatments for severe non-fluent aphasia. What is considered a positive outcome of MIT is defined as an improvement in conversational speech skills.
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Improving conversational speech skills can be achieved through the establishment of a choir. Patients will use the choir as part of their singing therapy, activating the right hemisphere of their brain, hence regaining verbal speech. The stroke choir set up at TQEH in affiliation with the RAH, is in the new stages of establishment and requires funding for speech therapists and trained singers to work with the stroke patients. The goal is to achieve conversational verbal speech through singing (MIT).
Regaining speech is a lengthy and complex process involving numerous qualified therapists in addition to our Music Therapists’ support. There are elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels and procedures in MIT that require different types of support.
With your generous help today, many stroke patients will regain their speech and be able to freely communicate with their loved ones again.
Please donate TODAY to Music Therapy Research!