At Sing to Say, our goal is to use music in order to help children to learn words and become capable of independent speech. Through our research, we’ve discovered that music is a very effective way of teaching language to children with autism. Let’s take a closer look at how music can lead to language.
Instead of using the spoken language centers in the brain, music works with different areas. Sometimes, for people with autism, there can be impairments in the language centers of the brain, but not the music centers. That’s why using music as a means to teach language is so effective.
The type of music we use is incredibly important as well. In creating the lyrics and melodies, we made sure to keep the songs clear, well-paced and easily recalled. We wanted to write songs that were short, and conveyed the word’s meaning clearly.
When choosing instruments to use in the songs, we researched to find out which instruments would be most popular with our audience. We learned that drums, piano and guitar were the ones that the children enjoyed most of all. As for the vocalists, we made sure to select performers who had the ability to make the songs come to life in an engaging and fun way.
You might have noticed that our songs are very short. That was a decision that we made on purpose, in order to keep our audience engaged and interested. Throughout each song, we make sure to repeat the keyword more than once.
Have you met the Minimops? They’re the adorable characters that act out the words, to really demonstrate each word’s meaning. The Minimops are friendly and fun, and they really connect with our audience.
We hope you and your child love Sing to Say. When you play with the app, listen to the music and sing the songs at home, you’re helping your child to learn language and grow their vocabulary!
