Use music to stimulate language through singing familiar songs

• Video Description

  Music is strongly connected to language in the brain, and so can be used to preserve communication skills even when speech is difficult or impossible.

  This video was filmed at Cinnamon Group care homes: Rectory Court and Leah Lodge, Blackheath, London, and Earlsfield Court, Bexhill.

• Strategies

  • Use familiar songs in regular group sessions to stimulate language

  • Nurture engagement with other residents, staff, visitors, family members and friends through singing together and listening

  • Take into account residents’ ‘critical periods’ when choosing songs. Think carefully about the ideas and events that were prevalent in their teenage years and the language that was used then

  • Encourage staff to use these familiar songs in one-to-one situations and follow up with targeted conversations