Communicating through musical play: combining speech and language therapy practices with those of early childhood music education – the SALTMusic approach

ABSTRACT

Young children’s speech and communication skills have been in the spotlight in recent years, often in association with parental socio-economic status and children’s ‘readiness’ for school. Finding innovative and open-ended ways to encourage children with communication difficulties to engage in interactive play was the premise for this action research project. By combining the theoretical knowledge and expertise of speech and language therapists with those of early childhood music-arts practitioners, the interdisciplinary research team expanded their understanding and practical approaches. Caregivers and children aged 24–48 months attended weekly SALTMusic¹ sessions. The team reflected together on their observations after every session, completing the ‘SALTMusic Scale’ for each child. Drawing together analyses from this tool, and other data collection methods, it was evident that children’s communication improved when the need to talk was removed and children and caregivers were encouraged to play with sound and make music together. This is an important study offering an evidence-informed approach to working with children and their caregivers that can relieve anxiety and build confidence. The quality of practice in the field is impacted by an increasingly reflective workforce who place theory and research as integral elements of their practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood music
• speech & language therapy
• pedagogy
• reflective practice
• parents
• two-year-olds
• interaction
• action research

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the children, caregivers and practitioners who participated in this project. The funding from Youth Music and the support of Great Yarmouth Community Trust and East Coast Community Health are also acknowledged with thanks.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes of Contributor

Jessica Pitt is part-time Lecturer in Music Education at The Royal College of Music and an early childhood music education consultant and researcher who leads the MA in Early Years Music at CREC (Centre for Research in Early Childhood).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Speech and language therapy-music.

2 Youth Music – an English charity that offers funding for out of school music activities for people aged 0–19 years.

3 * applied to the child’s pseudonym letter when a child attended for more than one programme of SALTMusic.

4 The gender-neutral pronouns of they/their have been applied to preserve the child’s anonymity.