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[Michaelangelica]

Music program at nursing home 'wakes up the brain' across generations
BLOOMINGTON -- A pilot program at a Bloomington nursing home is trying to build connections in the brain and among generations one note as a time.

"The combination of music and babies stimulates the seniors like nothing I've ever seen," said Katie Henderson, who runs the program.

"It's very good," said Mary Lou Swailes, a resident of Heritage Manor in Bloomington. "Music is good for all ages."

Called Kindermusik Village with Seniors, the weekly program brought infants and their moms or dads to Heritage for 45 minutes of waving, smiling, clapping, stomping and sometimes even singing with residents.
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The pilot was offered by Music Connections Foundation Inc., which offers early childhood music and movement programs to children through age 7 by using Kindermusik, said Henderson, Music Connection's founder and director. Kindermusik is an international curriculum that uses music to enhance the development of young children.

For example, using fine motor skills by grasping and shaking rattles, bells, egg shakers and other simple musical instruments helps to develop fine motor skills, said Henderson, who has done Kindermusik programs in Central Illinois since 1994.

Learning to keep a steady beat provides the foundation for future music and may help with balance, coordination and self-confidence, she said.

Music Connections wanted to reach older adults, figuring the music and movement would have the same advantages for them as for young children.

"I think it wakes up the brain," Henderson said of the program. "Music provides the stimulation and once you have the stimulation, you're more likely to move your limbs."

Moving your limbs gets blood circulating to all parts of your body - including your brain.

Henderson has a personal reason for developing the program.

"My grandmother (Ethna Hudson) gave me music as a child," Henderson recalled. "She sang to me, she paid for my piano lessons, she would sit with me as I played and she sang the songs of her ancestors. I saw how important those songs were to her in a nursing home and how I could connect with her through song.

"This (program) is a way for me to give back."
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Benefits
Ashley Wall, activity director at Heritage Manor in Bloomington and a certified therapeutic recreational specialist, believes the pilot program, Kindermusik Village with Seniors, has resulted in several benefits to the seniors who participated:

Memory stimulation
Listening to and singing old songs and playing with infants brings back memories of happy times.

Physical activity
Seniors who clapped their hands, stomped their feet or moved around were getting some exercise and circulating blood to all parts of the body, including the brain.

Social connection
Some nursing home residents tend to isolate themselves. Participating in the class resulted in social interaction with fellow residents, the children and their parents.
"It helps the seniors to feel more connected to the community," she said.

Improved mood
Feeling connected with other people improves seniors' spirits.

"It means a lot when people want to hang out with them" - especially young people, Wall said.
"They love when young people come in, especially infants. It makes them happy. I think it's their energy. The babies generally are smiling and giggling."

Improved health
"When you're happier, you're going to be healthier."

Music program at nursing home 'wakes up the brain' across generations

Singing does more than soothe the souls of Parkinson's patients
by Abby Wuellner, KY3 News
"It just organizes the brain and, with Parkinson's, everything is just out of whack. Rhythm puts everything in place, kind of like when you have your iPod and start walking to the beat without thinking about it,” said Losson.

She sees proof in the singers.

"I've seen some people make that instantaneous progress where they prove they can literally double their speaking volume or improve their intelligibility by 100 percent just like that!” the therapist said.

Singing does more than soothe the souls of Parkinson's patients | KY3 | Local News

How noise and nervous system get in way of reading skills
In a typical neural system there is a clear distinction in how "ba," "da" and "ga" are represented. The information is more accurately transcribed in good readers and children who are good at extracting speech presented in background noise.

"So if a poor reader is having difficulty making sound-to-meaning associations with the 'ba,' 'da' and 'ga' speech sounds, it will show up in the objective measure we used in our study," Kraus said.

Reflecting the interaction of cognitive and sensory processes, the brainstem response is not voluntary.

"The brainstem response is just what the brain does based on our auditory experience throughout our lives, but especially during development," Kraus said. "The way the brain responds to sound will reflect what language you speak, whether you've had musical experience and how you have used sounds."

The Auditory Neuroscience Lab has been a frontrunner in research that has helped establish the relationship between sound encoding in the brainstem, and how this process is affected by an individual's experience throughout the lifespan. In related research with significant implications, recent studies from the Kraus lab show that the process of hearing speech in noise is enhanced in musicians.

"The very transcription processes that are deficient in poor readers are enhanced in people with musical experience," Kraus said. "It makes sense for training programs for poor readers to involve music as well as speech sounds."

How noise and nervous system get in way of reading skills

What do people think of this crowd?
Advanced Brain Technologies

Thanks Tormond for this
http://hypography.com/forums/science...ndow-into.html