Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is a therapeutic use of music applied to sensory, speech and language, cognitive and motor dysfunctions after a neurologic event or diagnosis.
The populations that NMT treat include:
- traumatic brain injury
- stroke
- Parkinson's Disease
- Cerebral Palsy
- head and neck cancer
- other dementias and neurologic conditions
NMT cognitive treatment areas include attention, arousal, auditory perception, spatial neglect, executive functioning and memory. Within these interventions, music provides stimulation and structure to the brain, introduces timing, grouping and synchronisation for better organisation and recruits parallel brain systems.
NMT motor treatment areas include rehabilitation of gait as well as fine and gross motor movements including strength, endurance, balance, range of motion, coordination, and dexterity. By using auditory rhythm to facilitate entrainment, we see an improvement in motor control! We use the therapeutic application and spatial placement of musical instruments to accomplish these goals.