Imagine. You’re 24 years old, vibrant, happy, healthy, a recent college graduate gainfully employed at a vibrant office with your entire life in front of you. Suddenly, you suffer a stroke, resulting in long-term physical disabilities and left 100% unable to speak.
Last week I had the great pleasure of meeting Juli, who experienced exactly this scenario in 2017.
Immediately following her stroke, she underwent intense speech and physical therapy to regain her ability to communicate and move independently. Through the staff and her brother, who actively helped during her rigorous therapy, Juli learned of an approach called NMT (Neurologic Music Therapy) offered by local company, MedRhythms.
NMT focuses on the intersection between music, neuroscience and technology.
In layman’s terms, speech therapy is focused on narrow brain activation whereas NMT activates functions touched by speech, rhythm, tempo, melody, attention, emotion, arousal and more.
Juli and her family decided to begin a course of NMT with the practitioners at MedRhythms. Using songs, played in real time on guitar by her therapist, Juli began with simple call and response lyrics using songs she was familiar with.
Quickly, she made strides. Her brother reported such great improvement that he and Juli were able to engage in phone conversations, where previously they were limited to communicating using a variety of hand and facial gestures, through video chat.
Despite the positive trajectory, Juli and her family were faced with the real possibility of stopping her therapy, due to financial constraints. In most cases, NMT it is not covered by insurance.
After learning about Juli’s circumstances, Rawkstars began covering the cost of Juli’s weekly therapy and remain committed to ensuring she has continued access to these treatments.
We aim to deliver creative programming to ensure those without access to music have the opportunity they deserve.
We believe access to music, in all forms, is a fundamental human right.
For 14+ years, our supporters have tirelessly helped Rawkstars ensure folks like Juli have opportunity where it may otherwise not exist.
