Home-based
On rehab unit
In schools
Online
Attention is the foundation for learning with all age groups.
Beat and rhythmic pattern copying exercises train attention, executive function, self-monitoring and error correction, starting with focused and sustained attention and progressing to selective, divided and alternating.
Cognitive training is essential to enable planning and organising used for tasks around the home such as cooking and cleaning, and for navigating the outside world. These exercises help lay the foundations for transitioning into language acquisition and rehabilitation for aphasia and dyspraxia of speech.
There is a musical instrument or device for every movement and sequence, which can be spatially arranged to meet existing movement range and degree of dexterity and be adjusted as they improve. The equipment provide auditory, visual and tactile feedback and music is used that optimises the priming, timing and smoothness of movement.
Core strength, sit-to-stand & pre-gait exercises are facilitated using a range of instruments and prepare for gait training using rhythmic auditory stimulation. These techniques use the pulse (the beat) of simple, musical compositions to cue movement and improve balance, velocity and stride length. They can be accessed by adults with neurological injury or disease and children with a range of conditions including cerebral palsy.
Specialist Music Therapist in Neurorehabilitation & Neurodevelopment
I am Dr Alex Street, a music therapist dedicated to personalized patient-centred care, with 20-years clinical and 10-years research experience in neurorehabilitation and education settings using music.
Have a billing or insurance query? Contact me for assistance.
I accept payment via cash, credit/debit cards, and bank transfers for your convenience.
I work with case managers and insurance companies, including Irwin Mitchell, NeuroHealth Case Management, Slater and Gordon and TJB Rehabilitation.
Doctor of philosophy awarded for Home-based neurologic music therapy for arm hemiparesis following stroke.
Read more: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0269215517717060
Read more: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08098131.2019.1606848
Health and Care Professions Council ensures competence and professionalism.
British Association of Music Therapy membership for excellence in practice.
qualified (Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness)
We can work together to create a weekly program of exercises, including breathing, vocal, cognitive, mobility and hand/arm exercises using tablet and touchscreen instruments
Using apps such as Garageband and Thumbjam on iPads, it is possible to improve finger dexterity and i can help with configuring these apps. See this article for some details on exercises:
Upper limb rehabilitation in chronic stroke using neurologic music therapy: Two contrasting case studies to inform on treatment delivery and patient suitability: https://doi.org/10.1080/08098131.2019.1606848
Tips and techniques: listening to preferred music and/or audiobooks improves mood and cognitive recovery. See:
'Measuring the effects of listening for leisure on outcome after stroke (MELLO)'
RESEARCH
At the 'Neurosciences and Music | VIII13-16 JUNE 2024, Helsinki, Finland' we presented 'Music listening for fatigue after acquired brain injury: results from a scoping review.' Our report includes data from brain injury survivors who have informed on use of music listening in post-acute rehab - how much and what kind of assistance will be required to compile and trial music and measure effects on fatigue levels. The literature from previous research suggests that a reduction from fatigue might result from 1-hour listening to preferred music daily for 6-8-weeks, and that the autonomic nervous system responds to musical emotional arousal, i.e. the right music (tempo, arrangement, etc) can relax, enliven, and everything inbetween.
First participant recruited into our study: 'The neural mechanisms of a music intervention for chronic arm hemiparesis following stroke: A single case series EEG study.' They will receive 15 X home-based upper limb training in three-weeks, with pre-/post-EEG and standard outcome measures. Once completed, this will be the first ever case of this intensity of music intervention being delivered in the home anywhere in the world (unless somebody has information I am unaware of)
We published results from the first biomedical music therapy feasibility study in the UK in 2017
Home-based neurologic music therapy for arm hemiparesis following stroke: results from a pilot, feasibility randomized controlled trial
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269215517717060
Protocol details are here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26441586/
CONFERENCES
At The Neurosciences and Music | VIII13-16 JUNE 2024, Helsinki, Finland & Online we discussed the role of machine learning to aid in delivery of music-based interventions in the community for arm rehabilitation post-stroke. This would be to address the challenges of intervention delivery - insufficient clinicians and time in community rehab - so that larger, multi-site trials can be facilitated, working towards development and implementation of app-based exercises.
Discussions with leading figures in neurorehab on the active ingredients of interventions, including music-based ones, at The Sociey for Research in Rehabilitation took place on 29 April 2024
PUBLICATIONS AND BROADCASTS
August 2024: Preferred music listening for people living with dementia: Two home-based case studies discussing compilation process, autobiographical and biophysical responses. In the journal 'Geriatric Nursing.'
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.07.022
BBC World Service: People Fixing the World featuring two participants & Dr Alex Street from the RadioMe for dementia study:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hm9q83 (listen from about 8-minutes)
The Art and Craft of Music Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation in a Remote North Indian Community: A Case Study
https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/3724
What might an interactive music therapy service bring to the adult intensive care unit? A suggested service based on data from a scoping review
Did music therapy help with anything else? Movements, mood, coordination
Emma
Inpatient, acute ward
This is an amazing service that needs extending. As the first tool to (name of husband) finding his voice we were thrilled, we continue to sing! Thank you Alex for your support, your fun, relaxed manner helped in difficult times
Anna
Spouse of patient
It made exercises less boring and more interesting. Exercise time passed quickly
Satvik
Inpatient
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