title: Singing therapy can be effective for a patient with severe nonfluent aphasia.
abstract: Patients with severe aphasia are rarely treated using speech therapy. We used music therapy to continue to treat a 79-year-old patient with chronic severe aphasia. Interventions 1, 2, and 3 were to practice singing a song that the patient knew, to practice singing a song with a therapist, and to practice saying a greeting using a song with lyrics, respectively. In addition, practice of uttering names of body parts was initiated using touch and rhythm. After intervention 1, the patient could sing spontaneously and repeat lyrics. After intervention 2, she could sing with the therapist, and sing spontaneously and repeat lyrics. After intervention 3, she could memorize words with meaning, say the words in context, and use them. The patient could utter the names of two body parts after therapy with touch and rhythm. These suggest that rehabilitation therapy can still be used in patients with severe cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akanuma
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hatayama
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otera
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Meguro
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001039:Aphasia, Broca / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009147:Music Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D013070:Speech Therapy