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Dr Peregrine Horden – Musical solutions [in Music as Medicine]

… consider Sophie. At four months of age she was found to have difficulties with her fine and coarse motor control (she could not crawl or pull herself up to stand). Although her hearing was normal, she also failed to speak. She played alone seemingly immune to distraction. No organic causes could be traced for any of this.

In her first session with a music therapist she was very anxious and played a small bell and chime bar almost inaudibly. By the fifth session, however, she was playing a drum in rhythms loosely related to those of the therapist's improvisation. Her parents began to find her freer and more sociable in daily life: she spoke in a babble but could remember words and was keen to communicate. In the remaining therapy sessions her improvisational skills developed considerably. Concurrently, her awareness of her surroundings and her independence of action increased in proportion.