How piano lessons can improve your child's language skills
New York, June 26: If your kid is slow in language skills, then sending him or her for piano lessons can improve word discrimination as well as language proficiency, says a study.
The findings suggested that piano lessons may have specific effect on the children's ability to distinguish different pitches, which helped them to better distinguish different words.
However it did not appear to confer any benefit for overall cognitive ability, as measured by IQ, attention span, and working memory, the researchers said.
"The children didn't differ in the more broad cognitive measures, but they did show some improvements in word discrimination, particularly for consonants. The piano group showed the best improvement there," said Robert Desimone from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, included data from nearly 100 children aged four or five years, who were divided into three groups -- one that received 45-minute piano lessons three times a week; one that received extra reading instruction for the same period of time; and one that received neither intervention.
After six months, the researchers tested the children on their ability to discriminate words based on differences in vowels, consonants, or tone.
The results showed that, children who had piano lessons showed a significant advantage over children in the extra reading group in discriminating between words that differ by one consonant.
Children in both the piano group and extra reading group performed better than children who received neither intervention when it came to discriminating words based on vowel differences.
"That's a big thing for kids in learning language: being able to hear the differences between words. They really did benefit from that," Desimone added.
The researchers hope their findings could encourage other schools to keep or enhance their music offerings.
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RSS man's defamation case against Rahul: Key witness unavailable, hearing adjourned to Dec 20
Thane (PTI): A court in Bhiwandi in Thane district on Saturday adjourned the hearing in the criminal defamation case filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker to December 20 due to non-availability of a crucial prosecution witness.
Advocate Narayan Iyer, counsel for Rahul Gandhi, confirmed the adjournment, stating that the witness, Ashok Saykar, currently Deputy Superintendent of Police in Barshi in Solapur, could not remain present due to personal reasons.
Saykar's evidence is now likely to be recorded on December 29.
His testimony is considered key because he, as police sub inspector in 2014, conducted the preliminary inquiry into the private defamation matter under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
It was on the basis of Saykar's submitted report that the court subsequently issued process (summons) against Rahul Gandhi under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The criminal defamation case was filed by local RSS worker Rajesh Kunte following a speech given by Rahul Gandhi at an election rally near Bhiwandi on March 6, 2014.
The case stems from the Congress leader's alleged statement that "the RSS people killed (Mahatma) Gandhi."
The matter is being heard by Bhiwandi Joint Civil Judge, Junior Division, P M Kolse.
The hearing had previously been adjourned on November 15 after the complainant's counsel, Advocate Prabodh Jaywant, moved an application seeking permission to examine Saykar, who had submitted the probe report to the court.
The matter was originally scheduled for November 29 but was deferred to December 6 after Rahul Gandhi's legal team sought an adjournment citing their non-availability. The proceedings will now resume on December 20.
