Tunes for Talk: Get with the Beat! Exploring the Integration of Beatboxing into SLP Practices

Guest: Heather Leavy Rusiewicz, PhD, CCC-SLP - While music is often integrated into many speech-language pathology (SLP) areas, the specific art of beatboxing remains a novel but potentially impactful tool to support communication goals and objectives. This session aims to introduce professionals to beatboxing through a clinical lens. By way of observation and guided practice with a professional beatboxer and SLP, participants will be familiarized with the history and fundamentals of beatboxing. The theoretical and empirical connections of beatboxing to SLP, including speech and voice production, will be discussed. The potential impact of beatboxing on engagement during the intervention, especially within a group setting, will be explored. Participants will reflect on ways to integrate beatboxing into practice for individuals of different ages and communication needs.