Evaluation of Musical Skills in Persian Speaking Children: A Preliminary Study

Humans are born with the potential to both speak and make music. For the musically untrained majority، this fundamental human trait is expressed by avid listening and occasional dancing and singing. The present study investigated “Musical Skills in a Group of Persian Speaking Children” through a reliable battery test. In this survey، a cross-sectional study of the children hospitalized in the، Ali-Asher Children’s Hospital of the University of Medical Sciences in Tehran، Iran were selected. A speech & language pathologist visited the selected pediatric patients once a week from December 20، 2013/January 5، 2014 (12-week period). Screenings for speech and language disorders were performed and further data collected for this study was done by interviews with the parents and/or caregivers and the children who were admitted into the pediatric ward of the hospital. The mean score of each subgroup and total scores were 14. 6 (standard deviation=2. 47)، 14. 53 (standard deviation=3. 04)، 14. 13 (standard deviation=2. 52)، 15. 23 (standard deviation=2. 55)، 13. 36 (standard deviation=2. 29) (out of 20) and 71. 9) standard deviation=10. 43) (out of 100) respectively. Significant differences were found between scores of contour skill (p=0. 006)، rhythm skill (p=0. 002) and total scores (p=0. 004) in comparison of three age groups. By comparing the scores between sexes، significant differences in the memory subtests of the male subjects were demonstrated (p=0. 018). According to the criterion of two standard deviations below average total score، none of children were with music processing disorder. The advantage of this battery test is to determine music perception disorders of early ages and to do appropriate intervention at the time of occurrence of neural plasticity.