Music Therapy

Music Therapy & Presentations

MUSIC THERAPY CAN INDEED MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

By Dr. Johanne Brodeur, Ph.D., MTA

There are many avenues a parent may choose for their children. There are a wide variety of therapies and programs. Music therapy is one of the options available to parents. This short paper will explain briefly Music Therapy and how it could help a child with autism spectrum disorder.

Music Therapy is a method of treatment used by a Music Therapist Accredited (MTA). Music therapy is not a music class nor is it a concert. Through music and musical activities, the non-verbal, creative, and affective nature of music facilitates contact, learning, self-expression and growth. Children coming to Music Therapy do not need prior musical training or musical affinity.

Sessions are most often on a one-to-one basis. Small groups may be arranged according to needs. As common sense dictates, the earlier the therapy is offered, the best chance the child has to make progress. Most children come once a week, some children come up to four times per week.

The sessions are designed to meet the child where he or she is at the moment. Sessions can be a succession of structured or improvisational activities or a mixture of both.

Music Therapy helps children in different ways. Goals include, but are not limited to: increasing communication, transition, and social skills, learning flexibility, creativity and symbolic play, expressing feelings, finding a safe place to be who they are, being playful, expanding on an interest (musical or not), increasing awareness, focus, attention, and inter/intra-personal relationships, taking on challenges, desensitizing to sounds, discovering more about oneself and the environment, and encouraging increase in cognitive and motor skills.

The children are encouraged to try as many musical mediums as possible. These include singing, composing, playing instruments, playing games (e.g. parachute, balls, ribbons), dancing, participating in movement activities and computer music games, using the recording studio, or listening to sound and music.

There are hundreds of musical instruments in the Music Therapy Studio at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Once the door opens, the child has the opportunity to use any of the following: melodic and non-melodic percussion instruments from xylophones and metallophones to hand bells and drums of all shape and size, piano, electronic keyboard, wood instruments, metal instruments, computer, whistles, and the recording studio just to name a few.

Favorites include a large gong, a computer, an electronic keyboard, a karaoke machine and microphone, a parachute, and a large drum the little ones can climb on or roll in.

Expectations are clearly stated and following the model of communication chosen for the child, frustration and anxiety are kept to the minimum.

Amy has been coming to music therapy for over one year. Most people think of communication as “speaking”, but in fact, communication is much more complex. We communicate in so many ways besides speech: through our facial expressions, our gestures, our body language, our cries and laughter. Amy loves using the karaoke machine and making sounds with the microphone while learning about feelings and emotions.

Peter has a difficult time with transition, keeping on task and completing a task. The sessions are designed to offer Peter help to increase these specific skills. Three or four structured activities (drums, sound game, chimes, singing) are chosen from a board and upon completion, Peter can choose to take on a two-minute break before continuing with the session.

Joshua loves the paddle drums. Using the “racket drums” Joshua learns how to improve his coordination and his turn-taking.

Joni has echolalia and loves telling stories. Sitting at the computer, the therapist and Joni write out a story which will be transform into a song and accompany at the piano or other instruments of Joni’s choice.

Steve is very tentative and tactile defensive. At first, Steve would only listen to the instruments. After three months of music therapy, Steve now plays over fifty instruments and is certainly very proud of his accomplishments.

Music therapy has endless possibilities. It would take a whole book to tell you about all the games and achievements taking place in the music therapy studio. The children are eager to come in the room and each session caters specifically to the needs of that child. Some sessions are very peaceful while others are full of energy. You can always count on hearing laughter and seeing lots of smiles in the music therapy studio. There is constant learning and growing.

Henry Thoreau puts it clearly when he states “If man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

For more information about Music Therapy, please contact the Music Therapy Department at the Victoria Conservatory of Music at 386-5311 ext. 234. Also you can find information on our Music Therapy website.