Abstract
The publication summarizes the results of the project Music as a Significant Mean for Speech Cultivation in Pre-School Children that was supported by the GAUK No. 934213. The theoretical part of the publication gives an insight into the musical factors of speech, neurophysiology of both musical and speech manifestations.
The following chapters describe the relationship between the hearing attention, speech and musical disorders and discuss all the issues related to the adoption of the Czech language as a secondary language. The author discusses several methods that systematically use music education and music therapy to support children's speech.
The research project describes the organization, the course and the main findings of the field study that took place in several nursery schools, in an elementary art school and in Grade 1 of an elementary school. The publication also introduces the key principles of the methodology, created by the author for the purposes of the experimental part of the research.
The diagnostic material that was used to assess speech and musical abilities of pre-school children is presented in detail. Research findings were presented in the final part of the publication.
The aim of the research was to identify common behavioral characteristics of children with atypical speech and language development during musical activities in a nursery school and to asses the frequency of simultaneous incidence of amusia and speech disorders. The experiment that monitored the effects of the methodology on the development of speech and musical abilities of pre-school children proved that there was a positive impact of the methodology on these variables.
The author specifically focused on the development of phonemic hearing with the use of specific vocal activities. Implications of the research project for the educational practices are also discussed.