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MARCS INFANT RESEARCH UNIT
University of Western Sydney
WHY PARENTESE IS
IMPORTANT
Babies don't understand the words being said, but scientific evidence shows
that parentese:
- Gets infant attention
- Communicates and regulates emotion
- Teaches the customs of social
and emotional interchange
- Exposes infants to the building
blocks of language before they learn word meanings.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC - it's not
just entertainment
Music has been shown to involve left, right, front and back portions of
the brain. It has also been demonstrated to strengthen the auditory cortex of
the brain, the area of the brain where sounds are processed and where most learning
difficulties originate.
| Benefits of exposing your child
to music: |
- It aids in the acquisition
of early language and motor skills.
- It strengthens the emotional
bond between the two of you.
- It can increase listening
skills, memory and concentration
- It can accelerate learning
in math and reading.
- It develops imagination,
invention, creative thinking and communication skills
- It teaches such values
as self-discipline, perserverance and responsibility.
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The Healing Powers of Music: How
Parents Can Use it Help Preterm Infants and Themselves - by Tama Weis
Dr. Schwartz's studies, as well as those of Dr. Jayne Standley,
show that with the use of specific music (generally lullabies sung in a female
voice and uterine sounds of a pregnant woman's voice mixed with female singing),
oxygen saturation levels, healthy sleep patterns and weigh gain increased; irritability
(causing stress which forces the infant to expend much-needed calories) went
down; sucking ability was improved; hospital stay was shortened and head circumference
-- shown to indicate brain size -- increased. Low birth-weight babies, whose
head circumference does not grow at a fast enough rate, have been noted to display
decreased cognitive abilities later in life. Studies have shown decreased developmental
delays in premature infants who were exposed to recordings of their own mothers'
voices in the hospital.
SCIENCE DAILY - University of Delaware
"Parents do make a difference," says Roberta Michnick
Golinkoff, U.D's H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education. "The stimulation
parents and other caregivers provide in the first three years sets the stage
for effective, productive communication skills that will last a lifetime."
To make their mark, says
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University, " parents
must remember that silence is not golden!" Babies are pre-programmed to
acquire language, but "baby-talk" - the strange, sing-song lingo adults
murmur around infants - seems to help foster language learning, says Hirsh-Pasek,
a member of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study
of Early Child Care.
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Oliver Sacks, M.D.
"I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in
many neurological disorders - Parkinson's and Alzheimer's - because of its unique
capacity to organize or reorganize cerebral function when it has been damaged." |
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Sen. Harry Reid:
"Music therapy is much more complicated than playing
records in nursing homes. Therapists are trained in psychology, group interaction,
and the special needs of the elderly." |
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Michael Greene, President & CEO of NARAS - 1997
Grammy Awards:
"When we look at the body of evidence that the arts
contribute to our society, it's absolutely astounding. Music Therapists are breaking
down the walls of silence and affliction of autism, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
disease." |
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Matthew Lee(Acting Director, Rusk Institute, New
York)
"Music therapy has been an invaluable tool with many
of our rehabilitation patients. There is no question that the relationship of
music and medicine will blossom because of the advent of previously unavailable
techniques that can now show the effects of music." |
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Sen. Harry Reid:
"Simply put, music can heal people." |
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Dr. Oliver Sacks ("Awakenings"):
Dr. Sacks reports that patients with neurological disorders
who cannot talk or move are often able to sing, and sometimes even dance, to
music. Its advocates say music therapy also can help ease the trauma of grieving,
lessen depression and provide an outlet for people who are otherwise withdrawn.
(St. Louis Post Dispatch)
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Ida Goldman90 year-old testifying at Senate Hearing)
"Before I had surgery, they told me I could never walk
again. But when I sat and listened to music, I forgot all about the pain,"
said Goldman, who walked in with assistance during the hearing. (REUTERS, Aug
1, 1991) |
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Dr. Clive Robbins (Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy
Clinic)
"Almost all children respond to music. Music is an open-sesame, and if you
can use it carefully and appropriately, you can reach into that child's potential
for development." Nordoff-Robbins uses music therapy to help 100 handicapped
children learn and to relate and communicate with others.
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Sen. Harry Reid:
"Music helps all types of people to remain forever
young." He noted that Congress had never before "directly addressed
the question of music" as preventive medicine and as "a therapeutic
tool for those suffering from Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, strokes
and depression." (SUPERIOR, WI TELEGRAM, Aug. 14, 1991 |
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Barbara Crowe (past president of the National Association
for Music Therapy):
"Music therapy can make the difference between withdrawal
and awareness, between isolation and interaction, between chronic pain and comfort
--between demoralization and dignity." |
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