Rhythm and Music in Classroom to Help Portuguese Reading

Abstract

Both language and music are based on temporal patterns of auditory information, i.e. on rhythm. The rhythm of the speech, given by the acoustic structure of the amplitude modulation on delta and theta bands (2-8Hz), is one of the main cues used by children to perceive the syllables. Dyslexics present more difficulty to perceive tonic syllables and are more impaired on rhythmic training when using 2Hz beats. It has been proposed that music training, which requires very accurate timing skills, could help dyslexic children to remediating their temporal processing impairment. In this paper we justify and propose a musical intervention to help children in the first grade to learn how to read. The main proposition is that reading difficulties may be related to impairments on the phonological processing during natural speech and that this impairments may be remediated through musical rhythm. This musical intervention consists of a set of tasks designed to develop rhythmic, phonological and finally reading abilities by means of nursery rhymes.