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Developing social and language skills

Baselines  |  Developing music activities  |  Structuring sessions  |  Tapping innate musicality  | Developing social and language skills |  Learning movement  |  Resources

Interaction skills | Speech and language skills

Reciprocal interaction and social skills

Children who have developmental difficulties might need help in timing their interactions with you and their classmates. They might not develop skills of reciprocity in the same natural way as other children. They may be unaware of other people's communication needs, and might not know when or how to start and/or stop or to 'read' an interaction.

Using musical cues

They are, however, likely to attend more readily during a musical experience, to be able to start and stop with musical cues, and to learn to wait and take their turn when they have a particular part to play. They can do this more readily and naturally in a music context because they are responding to musical signals as well as verbal/physical cues or instructions.

Attending, waiting, controlling an impulse to play or move, and coming in at the correct time/place in the music, are skills that we rehearse during all singing, instrumental, and dance/movement activities.

Allow the structure of the music to naturally provide these cues to the children. From the most basic cues, like starting when the music starts and stopping when it stops, we can build a hierarchical programme that leads to participation in sophisticated vocal and/or instrumental ensembles and dance routines.

Improving social skills

The rehearsal of particular communication and social skills in a musical setting can help the child to learn specific strategies to improve their interactions elsewhere with others.

We have already mentioned the use of greeting songs – these often have a space for a child to respond with their name, to greet another person, and/or to shake hands with a peer (depending on their level of skill). They may acknowledge the greeting with eye contact, a gesture or nod, or a musical or verbal response.

Individual sessions

We would caution that, while social 'rules' can be learnt with practice, these are adaptive strategies that children employ to negotiate their way in the 'normal' world. Many children who have special needs will also need help in developing empathy for others, so they can make real friends and develop meaningful relationships. Hence, they may need to have individual sessions with a music therapist or another skilled person before they are ready for group music.

For any group activity that involves playing or moving together to be successful, each person must be:

  • aware of the other group members and their needs
  • able to take turns
  • able to support, and co-operate with, others

Speech and language skills

While the music activities we have already mentioned involve many aspects of non-verbal communication, music is also a powerful medium to assist in the development of specific speech and language. The importance of using meaningful lyrics for language development has been touched on in the section on greeting songs and will be reinforced in this section.

Exploring vocalising

Children can be encouraged to use their voices freely and creatively to explore vocal sounds. This can be done through reproducing specific sounds, such as animal noises, sirens and ghosts.

The children can engage in singing sounds and syllables that are purely musical and not 'message carriers', as happens in 'scat' and 'bebop' in jazz. The children can echo phrases, and learn the lyrics of songs by rote. Such singing is fun, and can be extremely valuable for developing the physical skills of speech.

Meaningful lyrics

However, when you are working on developing language, it is essential to ensure that the words of songs are both meaningful and understood.

Children who have special needs do enjoy singing familiar songs, such as 'The Alphabet Song', 'Old McDonald', and 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes', but may have no idea of the significance of the lyrics. Even when they can imitate your actions, do they understand that they are touching their 'head', 'shoulders', 'knees' or 'toes'? Is the tempo slow enough for them to assimilate the language with the action?

You can use the music itself to reinforce language concepts. For example, if you are learning the words 'up' and 'down', make sure that the melody line goes in the same direction as the movement. Words related to music, such as 'loud' and 'soft', and 'fast' and slow', can be illustrated well through the music.

Using visuals and actions

Whenever possible, include visuals in your music programme to reinforce the meaning of the language you are working on. Use real objects, toys, pictures, and symbols that explain the words.

Include movement and gestures that go with lyrics – action songs are a good example, but you can make up your own using words and actions that are significant to the children.

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