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Communicating with the uncommunicative: music therapy with pre‐verbal adults
Author(s) -
Graham Janet
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3156.2004.00247.x
Subject(s) - screaming , nonverbal communication , psychology , crying , parallels , music therapy , isolation (microbiology) , anger , instinct , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , social psychology , mechanical engineering , philosophy , linguistics , microbiology and biotechnology , evolutionary biology , engineering , biology
Summary This paper is based on a qualitative research project on clinical work carried out at a residential unit for adults with learning disability. Most pre‐verbal and nonverbal adults appear able to express emotions such as pain and anger with sounds such as crying, screaming or shouting. These sounds, however, are not always received as communication by care staff and can sometimes lead to further isolation. In addition, some clients make sounds, which seem intended to be self‐reassuring or comforting and have become habitual and used as a barrier against others. This study centres on two examples of music therapy with pre‐verbal clients where vocalization is used to establish an interactive relationship. In both examples, parallels are drawn with the spontaneous and instinctive strategies used in early parent–infant communication.