Anticipation and Echoes: A Framework for Using Singing for Speech and Language Development

So much of the time we read or discuss the theory behind Music Therapy, and the success of programs and research trials, but we rarely get into the details of what actually happened in the sessions. Which songs and instruments are we using? How are we prompting and scaffolding for our clients’ increased participation and learning?

This framework is intended to help RMTs develop an in-depth, systematic approach to singing with clients with speech and language delays. It lays out a system of prompting, establishing goals and useful repertoire, as well as the various ways speech and language delays can present in our clients. This framework highlights and expands upon techniques, such as anticipation and echoes (or call and response), that RMTs might already be using, perhaps in some cases intuitively rather than knowingly. It is not an entirely new technique, but the intentional use of existing techniques in a specific order that has proven consistently successful in my own work.