Music has been described as the universal language of mankind. It is a medium that people use to connect with others, express their emotions, and it makes a fun and enjoyable way of learning how to communicate. SPD speech therapist Caryl Tan shares how parents can use music to support their children’s language and communication skills.

Music exists in every human culture – from the throat singing of Mongolia, to the elaborate Concerto for Orchestra in Italy, and the droning of Australian digeridoos. It is something that accompanies us from infancy in the form of soothing lullabies, to the dirges sung or chanted by our loved ones when sending us off on our last journey. Music can regulate our moods, eliciting emotions such as happiness and nostalgia (Juslin et al., 2008). It can also impact our behaviour subconsciously in various domains, such as where we are physically drawn towards in a public space (Meng, Zhao and Kang, 2018), or even which items we purchase (North, Hargreaves, and McKendrick, 1999). Given music’s importance and impact in the various aspects of our lives, it is not surprising that it can also influence the development of language and communication in our children.  

How does music support Language and Communication development in children?

Music has a robust relationship with language. Various studies have shown how music positively impacts children’s language abilities. For example, 6-month-old babies whose parents reported higher amounts of singing to them have been found to have a greater understanding of words a year later, as compared to babies whose parents are reported to sing less (Franco et al., 2021). This study found that babies paid more attention to sung music compared to instrumentals, and to speech. This increased attention and focus to songs may have provided these babies with more  opportunities to learn language when the songs are sung to instead of spoken to them.

Additionally, music has been found to improve the interactions and bond between parents and children, and the quality of parent’s verbalisations to the children.  This, in turn, has a positive impact on children’s language development (Smith et al., 2023). Similar findings have been found for vocabulary learning in older children such as preschoolers where vocabulary improvement occurred when language intervention was provided with song, as opposed to language intervention alone. (Lawson-Adams, Dickinson, and Donner, 2022).

Another study also found that preschoolers were more adept at acquiring grammar knowledge when target grammar sequences were sung alongside adults during interventions, as opposed to being solely spoken. (Tan & Shoemark, 2015). The authors suggest that the melodic and rhythmic aspect of music play a crucial role in supporting learning by providing information about the sequence of information and allows for chunking or putting together of relevant information. This enables the child to learn in more manageable groups of information. Music also helps to reduce the cognitive demands on the child for processing the heard information, which allows them to focus more on the language learning itself (Hazelett, 2002).

Strategies for engaging your child in music

1. Exposing children to songs from an early age

Start singing to your child as soon as possible to reap all the benefits. 6-month-olds who were exposed to songs showed more preference for songs over instrumental tunes a year later and had significant advantages for language development (Franco et al., 2021). This is not to say that you would not have any advantages if you start singing with your child when they are older, but early intervention and support is always key and important for language development. There is no earlier time than now!

2. Active engagement

There may be an inclination when people hear that music is beneficial for children, to put on a television show in the background for the child to engage on their own. However, actively engaging your child in songs rather than relying on a video or a show is optimal. Children learn language best through social engagement and back and forth interaction. Whenever possible, it is always best to be the one singing to your child instead of using a device.

3. Incorporate motor activities

Introduce gestures and actions to accompany the songs when singing with your child. Accompanying songs with gestures helps provide children with more cues on where to focus their attention.   This helps alleviate cognitive demand, allowing them to focus more on language learning because they have additional supportive cues. The gestures and actions help them to better understand the words that they are singing.

An example song and accompanying gestures could be ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’:

Lyrics	Accompanying gestures
Twinkle twinkle little star	Fingers of each hand coming together to meet at a point, and opening and closing to the lyrics and music
How I wonder what you are	Both palms facing upwards
Up above the world so high	Index finger pointing upwards
Like a diamond in the sky	Form diamond shape with both hands
Twinkle twinkle little star	Fingers of each hand coming together to meet at a point, and opening and closing to the music
How I wonder what you are	Both palms facing upwards

While this is a suggested template of actions to use to accompany the song, there are no incorrect or correct gestures. Just make sure that the actions or gestures make sense according to the lyrics, are used consistently, and that they are simple enough for your child to imitate.

4. Pausing to provide them the opportunity to fill in the blanks

Songs are also a good opportunity for children to produce language. You can pause at opportune moments when singing with your child and then look at them expectantly as a cue for them to complete the sentence. It is quite a natural social instinct to fill in the gap in moments of silence, and likewise, a child would also feel the same in these situations.

An example of this would be as in the song ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’:

Lyrics and (pauses)

Old MacDonald had a farm

E I E I _____ (The adult pauses, looks expectantly, and the child is expected to say ‘O’)

And on his farm he had a cow

E I E I O

And a ________ (The adult pauses, looks expectantly, and the child is expected to say ‘moo moo’)

And a moo, moo there. Here moo, there moo, everywhere moo moo

Old MacDonald had a ____ (The adult pauses, and the child is expected to say ‘farm’)

E I E I O

If your child does not fill in the gap despite the pause and expectant look after one to two seconds, do not worry. Just fill it in yourself and continue. Keep in mind that all of these are supposed to be for fun and enjoyment, and without overt pressure on the child to participate. However, continue to provide opportunities when available. When your child has not heard of the song before, he or she may need more repetition to understand the flow of the song and the implicit expectations.

5. Repetition

Repetition is another important aspect of using music with children. Even if your child is unresponsive and confused when you first start singing with them, continue to persist and provide more chances for them to engage. Repetition helps to reinforce language learning and gives them more opportunities to practice.

Ideas on how to incorporate songs into daily life

Now that we have an idea of how to engage your children through music, the next question would be when you can do so in a day. Here are some ideas:

1. Sing songs that describe or accompany the activities that you are engaging in; this could be when washing the dishes, brushing teeth, sweeping the floor, eating food, bathing etc.

For example, whilst brushing teeth, the adult can sing –

This is the way we brush our teeth

Brush our teeth, brush our teeth

This is the way we brush our teeth

Early in the morning

Some tunes are versatile, where you can modify any of the lyrics to match the actions that are currently being carried out. So instead of ‘brush our teeth’, it could be replaced with ‘wash our hands’, or any other different body parts during bath time.

2. Have a mini singing session during moments of waiting. This could be in the car whilst waiting for traffic, or if a parent is busy attending to another sibling, the other parent can engage the child in song.

3. Use songs to help your child to transit from one activity to another. For example, you can sing the ‘clean up song’ when packing up all the toys at the end of the day. Or sing some lullabies before the child goes to sleep at night, or a wake up song in the morning.

Ultimately, music and songs are meant to be enjoyable and engaging ways for you to interact with your child and for them to learn language. Be creative with the songs that you pick, and when you use them. You can even make your own songs and lyrics, and your child can join in the fun!