Will playing the drums help with processing speed or working memory?

[bradhollymc]

I have read a few things about the Interactive Metronome on this forum, but that got me to thinking about playing the drums.  My ds11 had expressed an interest in playing, but I wonder what some side benefits might be. Would playing the drums help with processing speed or working memory? 

[Mom22ns]

Hmm... I never thought of playing drums as therapy. Dd plays drums. There is hand and foot coordination, timing, and even crossing the midline. It has all the earmarks of a good therapeutic activity! 

[Heathermomster]

DS completed IM therapy with an OT.  He practiced with a metronome 20 minutes per day, 5 days per week.  He had 6 visits with OT and practiced about 7 weeks.   IM absolutely helped with his sustained focus.  I  could see where practicing and playing drums would be beneficial.  Can't say definitively that WM or PS improved.

[PeterPan]

You might try doing some metronome work first to see if he can even keep time.  Might be less painful on the ears.  When he can keep time as Heather described, then give him the drums.  And yes, bilaterality, working on EF (all that keeping time), attention, etc.,

[geodob]

Learning to play drums, is a great way to develop Sequential thinking.

 

Though you can get high quality Digital drum kits, which are much cheaper, and also can be used with head phones.

They are also much more compact, and don't need a van to transport them.

[Dmmetler]

I would see if you can find a music teacher who is trained in music therapy, or who works with an OT, and see if you can combine IM with drum lessons. I've used drumming (world-type drumming rather than drum kit, but same idea) with kids who were working with an OT, and I think it can often provide the extra incentive to do work that is quite hard.

 

Phyllis Weikart has several books on developing beat competence (Moving to a steady beat) that have audio CDs that are great for this purpose. I like Remo drums-either the "kids' drum" line (which are good, solid drums, just at a smaller size/scale) or the World percussion line. If you want to go with a kit, LP (Latin Percussion), CP (Cosmic Percussion) or Remo are all good manufacturers, as is Yamaha. In general, avoid anything sold in a toy section or a big-box store-cheap drums don't hold up well and sound worse.

 

A practice pad and sticks are often a good place to start, and you can get practice pad set ups that work as a drum kit as well.

 

 

 

 

[bradhollymc]

Thank you for your responses on this.  The drum idea has come from him, and so I thought if there were some benefits and he is motivated personally that it is something I should pursue.

 

He does have a good sense of rhythm and can keep time pretty well.  Dmmelter, our praise team at church uses a Cajon.  Do you have any experience with one of these?

[SadieMarie]

I think learning any musical instrument is beneficial in multiple ways, especially for SN kids, and if he is asking to learn I would definitely go for it. I hope he loves it!

[PeterPan]

I found this cheaper but similar version of IM for iPhones and iPads:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/measuring-metronome/id676748179?mt=8

 

It is not as fancy but does the same thing

 

Ok, since all your posts say the same thing, are you the developer of the app?  If you are, might be more in your interest to just give us the app for free on the boards here for a day and let people try it.  Then you'd have some reviews.   :)

[zenjenn]

This is interesting to me. I tried my daughter on piano, and viola, before finally settling on percussion.This is a child with dyslexia and dyscalculia. 

 

She had asked to take percussion lessons for years. Not just drums, percussion. She wanted to learn the xylophone, marimba, timpani, the orchestral works. I kept saying "no" because that sounded like a logistical nightmare to me and I thought she was just asking on a whim after seeing some musicals, but after piano and viola efforts were nothing but nag, nag, nag to get her to practice, I finally relented and looked into the percussion lessons. It turned out to be not quite as nightmarish or expensive as I thought. I found a music education student/percussionist at the local university who was willing to give her lessons. I bought her a student bell kit and a practice drum pad and some mallets/sticks.

 

Percussion, she can practice daily without any need for me to nag - even though it's twice the practice of the other instruments she tried. She practices both rhythms (drum pad) and melodies (bells, and when I say "bells" what I really mean is like a 2-octave student xylophone.) At the university during lessons, she gets an opportunity to play on the big orchestra instruments.

 

I later read that percussion is great for dyslexic students. Now, my daughter has made great progress this past year, but who is to say whether the introduction of percussion played a role, or not? For us, it was just about music education. But for whatever reason, she gravitates towards percussion and enjoys it.