Martin Boulet was a child of few words. Born just 11 months
after his brother, Eric, Martin could not yet speak at the age
of 2 1/2. His mother, Julie Lizotte, recalls, "even if
he wanted to have a juice instead of asking you he would grab
your hand and kind of try to carry you to where he wanted."
Julie took Martin to see their family physician. He could not
find anything physically wrong with the child, but he referred
the family to a speech therapist and to a psychologist for assessment.
The psychological assessment revealed that Martin has what is
called a global delay. This broad term encompasses several areas
of a child’s physical, mental, and social growth. Julie
decided to take Martin to specialists in the field. She discovered
that even Martin’s eating habits could have an effect on
his language skills. She says, "Martin didn’t want
to eat anything that was hard like a carrot. Everything that
he liked was a soft texture. He had low tone for speech because
he wasn’t chewing on something hard enough for him to exercise
his tongue." In addition, Julie registered Martin in a
preschool for children with learning disabilities. In this environment,
he was able to work with speech therapists and socialize with
others.
Martin didn’t make incredible gains in preschool. He did,
however, become attracted by the music room next door. The director
of his preschool suggested to Julie that Martin might benefit
from music therapy. Martin’s psychologist referred him
to music therapist Doug Ramsay. Martin’s initial visit
was chaotic. Doug recalls, "in the first session when he
came in he was everywhere. He had zero attention span."
Doug worked with Martin to develop his attention span and his
language skills by focusing on music. Doug used sounds, musical
instruments and other props to help Martin vocalize. When Martin
was uncooperative, Doug encouraged him to run or bounce until
he was ready to sit down and learn.
As Martin worked
with Doug and his colleague Carolyn McKay, he showed improvement
in his language skills. Slowly, his vocabulary increased along
with his verbal skills. Carolyn explains, "he’s
able to imitate words or spontaneously say words that I’ve
never heard him say before in order to label things like the
ball or the drum or the bubbles."Eric now attends sessions
with him. Julie explains, "it’s kind of made them
best friends because they’re sharing this and they’re
both enjoying it. Eric knows it’s for Martin to learn
how to talk and he’s happy to be a part of this."
Best of all, Martin and Eric have learned the joy of making
music. Doug Ramsay says, "they get such joy out of the
music. You see it in their eyes.
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"In
the first session when he came in . . .he was everywhere. He had
zero attention span."
– Doug Ramsay
"Martin
didn’t want to eat anything that was hard like a carrot . .
. he had low tone for speech because he wasn’t chewing on something
hard enough for him to exercise his tongue."
– Julie Lizotte
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