The Benefits of Music Therapy for Dementia Residents

Remembering music or singing a song may use parts of the brain that aren’t impacted by neurodegenerative illnesses like Alzheimer’s and dementia. As a result, musical perception, emotion, and memory can survive long after other forms of memory and cognitive function have disappeared.

Music therapy can help people learn to express themselves through song. With this, over time, as residents utilize neural pathways more heavily engaged during singing, they can ultimately improve their ordinary speech.

Music may help with behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia, which can include agitation, physical or verbal aggression, restlessness, yelling, delusions, and hallucinations. A bonus benefit is that when these conditions improve for the resident, the quality of life improves not just for the resident, but also for their caretakers, who find their own stress levels significantly alleviated when behavioral symptoms are eased.

Music Therapy Session Information: Sessions typically follow a plan or schedule. Length of time for a sessions is usually 60 minutes long.   They start with a greeting song and then a topic of the day (season, holiday, sporting event, current events, the holidays, etc.) where interventions could include songwriting, instrument playing, singalong and music games such as music bingo or name that tune. Music preferences are based on the group and their interests.

Usual Music Therapy Costs:  Music therapists charge between $100-$150 per hour depending upon location.

The Search for a Music Therapist: When searching for a music therapist, conduct due diligence in finding a professional.  A professional music therapist holds a bachelor’s degree or higher in music therapy from one of over 80 AMTA-Approved college and university programs. The curriculum for the bachelor’s degree is designed to impart entry level competencies in three main areas: musical foundations, clinical foundations, and music therapy foundations and principles as specified in the AMTA Professional Competencies. In addition to the academic coursework, the bachelor’s degree requires 1200 hours of clinical training, including a supervised internship. Graduate degrees in Music Therapy focus on advanced clinical practice and research.

The Budget Process: This time of year, most communities are starting the budget process for next year.  Consider adding a music therapist to your programming next year.  Start your research now for a local music therapist, interview them, ask them to send you a proposal of their services (what they promise to deliver), how many sessions they will have, the cost of each session and the outcomes they wish to achieve with these interventions.   Also ensure you research their credentials.  Add all this information to your budget proposal that you present to your Executive Director and other financial executives for your community.  Now is the time to prepare your proposals for next year’s budget!

You may be thinking, my budget can’t afford this and I can play music and sing for my residents.  Sure, we can all deliver a music “program” to our residents, but nothing we do will beat the benefits of an intentionally designed music therapy program by an educated and licensed music therapist to deliver the best outcomes for our residents.

[i] https://www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/blog/dementia/the-unexpected-benefits-of-music-therapy-for-dementia-patients-according-to-a-geriatrician/

[ii] https://www.musictherapy.org/about/requirements/

Kim Mead, NAAP Leadership Team 

AAS, ADC, CDP, CMDCP