Exploring communicative responses to collaborative music therapy and speech and language therapy in young children with acquired communication impairments: A case series

Introduction: Acquired communication impairments (ACIs) in children can significantly hinder the development and functioning of speech, language, and communication skills, impacting their ability to interact and engage with others. Collaborative music therapy and speech and language therapy (MT-SLT) has gained increasing recognition for its potential to support communicative rehabilitation. Method: This study explores the therapeutic response of young children (ages 2–6 years) with ACIs to a joint MT-SLT programme through a multiple case study design. Four children receiving inpatient neurorehabilitation participated in twice-weekly collaborative sessions. Video data from these sessions was collected and analysed thematically. Results: Three shared themes were developed from the data: (a) leveraging familiar song to build vocal expression, (b) fostering social reciprocity and turn-taking through active musical play, and (c) supporting choice-making through immediate contextualisation. Findings indicate that collaborative MT-SLT can enhance engagement, strengthen foundational communicative skills, and promote greater communicative intent within this population. The interactive musical context provided children with structured yet flexible opportunities to initiate, sustain, and develop communicative exchanges, supporting both pre-verbal and verbal communication. Discussion: Collaborative interventions between music therapists and speech and language therapists demonstrate significant potential in fostering communicative development in children with ACIs. There remains a clear need for isolated evaluation of collaborative practices using objective outcome measures, a prospect that will remain unfeasible until appropriate observation tools are developed for this cohort. In the absence of such tools, this study advances the field by moving beyond intervention descriptions to closely examining therapeutic engagement and emerging communicative responses.