A music therapy clinical case study of a girl with childhood apraxia of speech: Finding Lily's voice

This clinical case study describes a 3-year-old girl diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech and her progress in weekly music therapy. The child was seen for a total of 24 sessions over a period of 9 months. The music therapy treatment involved a mixture of behavioral, improvisational, and creative approaches in what has been termed a data-based music therapy approach. A variety of musical interventions, visual, and interactive aids were used, as well as an engaging, playful dialogue between child and the clinician. The child's communicative methods at the beginning of her treatment process were almost exclusively non-verbal. By the final session, she was pronouncing a number of syllables, combination sounds, and words. The treatment program is described as it unfolded in three phases, and significant events from each individual session are described in detail. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.