Singing 'rewires' damaged brain

This a cross post from the science forum :

Teaching stroke patients to sing "rewires" their brains, helping them recover their speech, say scientists.

By singing, patients use a different area of the brain from the area involved in speech.

If a person's "speech centre" is damaged by a stroke, they can learn to use their "singing centre" instead.

Researchers presented these findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8526699.stm

My wife died 20 years ago - aggressive tumour over the speech centre. The symptom was that she lost all nouns - adjectives etc were just fine. However she only lost them in english - she still had the whole lot in Spanish which she learned as a second language. So I assume foreign languages are also processed by another part of the brain.

last summer I believe, and I remember being struck by this finding being discussed. It was so cool to see the delight in the stroke victim's face as she found she could sing what she was struggling to say just a moment ago-and her daughter was in tears that they could communicate again. Through song made it all the more beautiful.

My grandmother has some difficulties talking from a stroke years ago, but is too self-conscious to sing and just laughed...but now being reminded again I think I will try harder to encourage her. Maybe it will feel more natural with practice, and if both she and my grandfather can keep from laughing it may help.

She also has an easier time with her native language, German. Interesting, thank you for sharing the article and your experience.