Brain Research and the Power of Music

Interestingly, brain research shows that there is one activity that engages the whole brain. What is it?

No, it's not sex, for those of you who have sex on the brain. It is music. Music triggers the synapses in the brain in powerful ways that other activities just can't touch. The brain seems to "come alive."

It is that "coming alive" element of music that we are most interested in when helping special needs children. If you have a special needs child, or work with special needs children, you are well aware that finding activities that truly engage them can be challenging. Sometimes you think, "How can I keep this kid's attention? Why is she so distracted? Why doesn't his brain focus? Why can't they connect normally?" The brain just isn't connecting.

Yet miraculously, there is a disconnected autistic child unable to put together sentences, keep eye contact or read social cues who can go on a public stage with a famous musician and belt out a country music song! That is the picture featured at the top of this blog. The musician claimes, "It is music that changed him and his family." Would you like to see a miracle through song? Click here  http://faithtap.com/570/josh-turner-sings-with-an-autistic-boy/

There is just something miraculous about music. And mothers of special needs children know it. For instance, the mother who adopted Emma, the autistic child in our last blog, reports that Emma loves to play worship music. This picture was sent to us by her mother. Emma is the one playing the keyboard...and smiling.

Here's a fun fact reported by a specialist and foster care mother who works to heal children with Reactive Attachment Disorder: If she plays Mozart music for a disturbed child when they are doing their homework, they can focus longer and think clearer. However, if she plays Beethoven in a disturbed child's room at night, she has found that that child is likely to have nightmares.

Seriously? Are various types of music that powerful to the brain?         You bet it is. 

Proverbs 23:7 says "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." What moves our heart like music?

Music is a powerful brain stimulator. This is vital information to understand if you work with special needs children. The brain selectively chooses which areas to utilize during certain activities. Brain scan research reveals a lot. Did you know that a picture of a person's brain who has suffered abuse looks different

than a brain that has not suffered abuse? Logic and puzzles stimulate a certain area of the brain that is completely different from physical movement and sports. When a child is angry, brain scans show that the back part of their brain is engaged. That is the part of the brain responsible for "fight or flight." But when a child is thinking creativity, the front part of their brain is engaged. When a child is engaged with music - their brain is firing all over. Wow. Connections are happening.

That is ground breaking news for those of us working to help these youngsters connect.

In our work in all types of orphanages in Central America - we have found that children love it when my wife sings and plays the guitar. They looooooooooove it. My teaching can be boring. The counseling may not connect. The prayers may put them to sleep. But the music, they crave the music. It connects with their brains. They come alive.

At the orphanage where we live, every morning I eat breakfast with the children. Almost every morning the children ask me this simple question, "Guitarra?" I must have heard that question a thousand times by now.

The word "guitarra" in Spanish means "guitar" in English - and their message is clear: When can they hear my wife play her red guitar again for them?

I don't blame them one bit. Everybody likes great music. It just connects us.

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