Neurologic Music Therapy

What Is Neurologic Music Therapy?

Neurologic Music Therapy at Craig Hospital is a donor-sponsored Culture of Care program that uses the clinical neuroscience of music to help individuals achieve functional outcomes in their neurorehabilitation recovery. Scientific and clinical research demonstrates that music affects human cognition, language, motor function, and psychosocial well-being. At Craig Hospital, board-certified music therapists trained in Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) work alongside primary disciplines to provide live therapeutic music experiences to help individuals work on non-musical goals in the cognitive, sensorimotor and communication domains. The NMT program further provides musicians an avenue to return to music performance. While neurologically focused on clinical goals, the NMT program maintains a holistic paradigm delicately balancing music’s effect on neurologic function and whole-person well-being.

How the Craig Neurologic Music Therapy Program Works

Craig’s Neurologic Music Therapy program works closely alongside our medical teams to identify and treat individuals in need of NMT. When NMT treatment is deemed necessary, a physician will order and approve NMT treatment. Along with individual sessions, you will see music therapists co-treating with speech-language pathologists, physical therapists and occupational therapists to help individuals reach their neurorehabilitation goals. The Neurologic Music Therapist is an active member of the treatment team and provides treatment in our brain and spinal-cord injury inpatient and outpatient programs.

• Rehabilitation Treatment: Neurologic Music Therapy applies music-based interventions to target non-musical goals using evidence-based techniques. This could include therapeutic singing to support language function after a stroke, re-learning to walk with rhythmic auditory stimulus after a traumatic brain injury, or using instruments to improve breath support after a spinal cord injury. Because research supports the effects of music therapy treatment across functional domains, NMT treatment at Craig Hospital commonly supports primary disciplines in treating expressive aphasia, voice dysfunction, impaired breath support, decreased engagement, disorders of consciousness, attention deficits, executive function impairment, left neglect, and movement disorders.
• Adaptive Music Lab: A unique feature of Craig’s Neurologic Music Therapy program is the Adaptive Music Lab. Our AM Lab helps musicians with brain and spinal cord injuries return to music performance or composition using necessary adaptations and rehabilitation. The AM Lab collaborates with Craig professionals in rehabilitation engineering, assistive technology and therapeutic disciplines to find solutions for our patients.

Qualifications of the Craig Neurologic Music Therapy Program

Music Therapy is an established allied health profession built on decades of practice and research. Craig Hospital employs Board-Certified Music Therapists (MTBC) who received a bachelor’s or master’s degree in music therapy and achieved board certification through the Certification Board for Music Therapy (CMBT). At Craig, music therapists are further trained as Neurologic Music Therapists (NMT) specializing in the application of music to neurologic injury and disease and certified through the Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy. All music therapists are members of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and are highly trained and skilled professionals.