Publication |Sophia Linguistica

A Study on the Effect of the Japanese Version of Melodic Intonation Therapy on Speech of Patients with Non-fluent Aphasia

AUTHOR

Mamiko Miura

ABSTRACTS

The Japanese version of melodic intonation therapy (MIT-J) is effective in promoting
speech in patients with non-fluent aphasia (Seki et al., 1983). This study aimed to
establish evidence for the effectiveness of the MIT-J In a single-case experimental design,
the MIT-J was administered to two patients with chronic mild-to-moderate Broca’s
aphasia for 10 days (40 min/sesstion), and the effects were examined during the baseline
phase, training phase, and one and four weeks after the end of training, when the patients
repeated and reading trained and untrained sentences. In this phase compared to the
baseline phase, both participants showed improvement in their speech of both trained
and untrained sentences at the end of the training period. One week after the end of the
training, the participants maintained training effectiveness in both trained and untrained
sentences. Four weeks later, one participant showed decline in the improvement of
untrained sentences. The results showed that the effect of the MIT-J was generalizable
to untrained sentences. Individual differences were observed in the maintenance of the
effects four weeks after the end of training. In the future, increasing the number of cases
and examining generalizability and maintenance of this effect are necessary.