It’s springtime! Here in north Texas we have been getting a lot of rain and with that everything is blooming… and our allergies are in full force as well! I thought to acknowledge the season I would incorporate the classic song, “Singin’ In The Rain” into my sessions. One way that I specifically used it was to address slowing down a client’s speech and annunciating. To do so, I wanted to highlight each syllable by having the client play an instrument at the same time. In the visual aid, I marked every syllable with a music note. Before starting the intervention, I discussed the target behavior with the client in that they will play their instrument whenever they see a music note at the same time as saying the word below the music note. That may be a little confusing to the client, so I always demonstrate the first line with them, and they usually quickly see what I mean. There are so many ways to modify this intervention and many different ways to go. If you’re working in a group, try having one client play/sing one line then taking turns as the song goes on. You could also use instruments that sound like rain or sounds you would hear in a rainstorm. Then have all the instruments play together at the end. This is such a great song and so versatile. I hope you’re able to give this a try in your session and if so, we’d love to hear how it goes!

Sara Chigani, MA, MT-BC