Many of you may follow the progress, or are aware, of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who suffered a brain injury when shot during an event in Tuscon on January 8th of this year. Frequent updates on her condition and progress are made available through a variety of media outlets, with some mentioning (however briefly) music therapy as one of the therapies Giffords is participating in. I have watched several videos as well as read articles, and thus far, I have enjoyed the video posted by ABC News online the most. You can watch it here (the timeframe 1:41 is when MT is mentioned : ). This documentation has done the best job as of yet (in my opinion) of any source reporting on this incident to articulate how MT is able to assist in neurorehabilitation. In another article I read, Gifford's mother stated that music therapy "really flipped the switch" for her daughter.
Considering the nature of her injury and placement in the rehabilitation unit (TIRR) of Memorial Hermann Hospital, Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) techniques seem a likely canditate to facilitate the (music) therapeutic process. Neurologic music therapists are trained in specific, researched techniques that apply music to cognitive, motor, and sensory areas of need, due to a disease or dysfunction of the nervous system. TBI (traumatic brain injury), such as that suffered by Rep. Giffords, fits in here. You can read a bit more about NMT here (click on the "Training Instutites" tab), as well as descriptions of therapeutic techniques used here (click on the "definitions" tab).
If you have other recommended sources that mention MT in this case, please do share!
