Healing through harmony

This summer, the Aphasia Communication Enhancement (ACE) Clinic and Music Therapy at Western Michigan University are collaborating in the ACE clinic to deliver an innovative, integrative approach that blends language therapy with music-based interventions. 

Allison Mezo, the clinical coordinator for ACE, established this partnership in the spring semester. This experience offers graduate students invaluable interprofessional experience, as they learn to coordinate goals, share expertise and design holistic care together. For individuals with aphasia, integrating music and language therapy enriches engagement and leverages preserved musical pathways to support speech recovery and build communication confidence. The ACE program sincerely thanks the Music Therapy Program for their collaboration and the opportunity to co-create sessions that harness melodic intonation techniques, rhythm exercises and structured language tasks.