Services
are offered exclusively to special needs children. Sessions are scheduled once or (if needed) twice per week and take place in clients’ homes. Services include music therapy, adapted music lessons, and therapeutic songwriting.
Music Therapy
is the use of music to achieve non-musical goals.
Goals to address in sessions can be borrowed from a child’s IEP (or IFSP) or can be determined collaboratively by the parents and the music therapist. Goals may fall under the domains of speech, language, social skills, behavior, academics, or motor skills. Example links…
Speech:
oral motor exercises – Oral Motor Exercises
vowel sounds – These Are The Vowels
consonant sounds – Voice Or Breath
consonant blends – Consonant Blends (initial)
1-syllable words – Mouth Sounds
2-syllable words & phrases – 2 Syllables
multisyllabic phrases – I Gotta Go To The Bathroom
Language:
receptive identification – Point To
following verbal directions – Action Words
requesting – I Want
yes/no questions – This Is Yes Or No
who questions – Who Do You Know?
where questions – Where Do You Go?
positional prepositions – Where Is The Ball?
what questions –Â What Do You Use?
what doing questions – What Doing Is An Action
nouns – Person, Place, or Thing?
I & you pronouns – I Have, You Have
he & she pronouns – He Is, She Is
verbs – Yesterday, Now, & Tomorrow
Social Skills:
greetings – Jazzy Hello
farewells – Yellow Goodbye
waving – Wave Your Hand
high-fiving – High Five
names – Who Are You?
requesting help – I Need Help With That
asking questions – What, Who, Where, When Is It?
taking turns – Taking Turns
manners – Please, Thank You
Behavior:
emotions – These Are Emotions
calming strategy – Deep Breaths
conflict resolution – Use Your Words
perseveration – Once Then Stop
following rules – Devin’s Rules
practicing patience – Learn To Wait
responding to bullies – You Can Be Better
social story – Camp Lakewood
Academics:
letters – 3 Letters
phonics – Word Families
environmental print – Community Signs
reading –Â Letters Go Together
reading comprehension – People Share with People (Sung Book)
numbers – Number Identification
one-to-one correspondence – How Many Monkeys?
skip counting – We Can Count By Tens
addition – Adding Means Jump To The Right
subtraction – Subtracting Means Jump To The Left
money (coins) – Different Coins
money (bills) – Dollar Bills
telling time – I Can Tell The Time
Adapted Music Lessons
are music lessons for special needs children. Lessons are offered for piano or guitar. Various percussion instruments may also be utilized to teach concepts of meter and rhythm. Lessons meet each student at their level of functioning and build upon each child’s strengths. For visual learners this may mean alterations to standard music notation using letters, numbers, shapes, or colors. Auditory learners may require more repetition during lessons and recordings to practice along with outside of lesson time. All students are more motivated when their song choices are recognized and welcomed. The ancillary benefits of learning to play an instrument are numerous:
- Teaches discipline and patience
- Results in a sense of achievement
- Provides an outlet for self-expression
- Boosts self-esteem
- Promotes creative thinking skills
- Improves auditory discrimination
- Increases hand-eye coordination
- Builds fine and gross motor skills
- Develops brain areas involved in language and reasoning
Not to mention the primary benefit… making music is fun!
Therapeutic Songwriting
provides children with a unique method to formulate thoughts and express feelings. With just a guitar, laptop, and microphone, a music therapist is able to establish a non-threatening environment leading to a greater degree of sharing than in a “typical” therapy setting. Brainstorming rhymes, composing melodies, and selecting instrumentation leads to an atmosphere of creation rather than confession. Therapeutic songwriting does not necessarily need to deal with a traumatic life event. For children with a communication disorder, songwriting can assist in generating thoughts, organizing ideas, and clearly expressing a message.
