A multimodal intervention method provides instructional media that connects elements of music with non-phonemic components of spoken language to enhance receptive language acquisition and literacy learning in children with various disorders affecting language, particularly children with autism, developmental language disorders, and cochlear implant recipients. The intervention enables children with limited or no language to become meaningfully engaged in multimodal activities that encourage development of auditory cognition and cognition generally without the need for preexisting language. It uses music, to which children are naturally drawn, for exploration of connections between auditory and visual information to help them learn to differentiate and recognize objects by auditory information; compare and categorize this information; memorize and retrieve from memory; and form auditory objects. The method helps to engage both primary and higher order auditory processing simultaneously in the form of play and problem solving, and introduces children to basic reading.
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