Música, lateralidade e aprendizagem

Abstract

Associations between external (motor) and internal (hemispheric functional asymmetries) laterality reveal indications that atypical laterality profiles may constitute risk factors for learning processes related to literacy. Therefore, we aim to investigate the relationship between music, laterality and learning emphasizing the significant relevance of this dialogue for the educational context. From the study of music therapy principles, its history in special education and neurological music therapy principles the survey also aimed to develop and test a pedagogical protocol with exercises created specifically for this research. The methodology combined the systematic use of exercises with music to pedagogical resources to estimulate the acquisition of alphabetic skills, what resulted in the elaboration of the Bilateral Musical Pedagogical Intervention (IPMB) protocol. These musical exercises were combined to a pedagogical intervention to aid the development of laterality in parallel with the development of alphabetic skills of a child with atypical external laterality and learning difficulties. The performance of the child with crossed laterality and reading learning difficulties in different tasks before and after the intervention was calculated in percentages of correct answers. The comparison between the initial and final performance revealed that there was a significant increase in the percentages of correct answers in the activities of reading lowercase letters (> 23.07%), phonetic reading (> 42.3%), reading syllables (> 59.55 %), reading of sentences (> 61%), writing (> 40%) and reading and interpretation of simple sentences (> 100%). In the intervention, four avaliative items were evaluated in degrees unity throughout the sessions. The degree avarege was calculated in the 6 first and 6 last sessions. The difference between the final and initial average was 1.6 degrees for the item "focus, gaze and attention", 1 for "laterality, motricity and directionality", 1.2 for "laterality and music" and 1.4 for the item “voice and gesture”. The relevance of the dialogue between music, laterality and learning for the educational field is discussed based on the observation of the possible impacts of the use of music on the processes of acquisition of language skills, as well as its preventive impacts on learning difficulties associated, or not, with atypical laterality profiles. We conclude that the IPMB protocol can be an initial step for the development of specific methodologies for the Early Childhood Education and first grades of Elementary School, with a view on enhancing cognitive skills and preventing deficits linked to laterality issues.