
For children with attention deficit disorder ( ADHD or ADD), music therapy bolsters attention and focus, reduces hyperactivity, and strengthens social skills. Music therapy is used to help victims of severe brain trauma, children on the autism spectrum, and seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. “Now the neuroscience community is saying, ‘Yes, the brain changes’ and ‘Yes, auditory stimulation can help those changes happen.'” Therapy That Plays Well “She was able to sing a word before she could speak a word, and the damaged areas of her brain were circumvented through music,” says Concetta Tomaino, executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. As part of her arduous recovery, she underwent music therapy, which trained her to engage the right side of her brain - pairing words with melody and rhythm - to bring back speech. Because language is controlled by the brain’s left hemisphere, Giffords was unable to speak.

In January 2011, the Arizona congresswoman survived a gunshot wound to her left temple. After his passing, his belief that music can heal the brain is still gaining favor - thanks, in part, to Gabrielle Giffords.


Sacks documented the power of music to arouse movement in paralyzed Parkinson’s patients, to calm the tics of Tourette syndrome, and to vault the neural breaches of autism. “Nothing activates the brain so extensively as music,” said the late Oliver Sacks, M.D., neurologist and author of Musicophilia.
