First Week - Jitters and Joys!

This was the first week of summer school and a radical change in my treatment strategy for my students. For eight months now, I have been on a crusade to provide my clients with more individualized therapy services. The crusade was interrupted by a personnel squabble. I have prevailed and have now been able to decrease the amount of time that students spend in music therapy groups. I had my first week of individual sessions.

The week started off with a whimper. Don't you love it when people don't bother to read their emails carefully? Teacher 1 frog-marched a kid down to the music room for a session and then had to march him back again. Lessons did not start this week, as shared in not one, not two, but THREE different emails! Now, teacher 1 tends to be very concerned about her own details, but not as interested in information from another. Most of the other sessions went off without a hitch.

I had an internship applicant who arrived on Tuesday for her audition. This applicant does not have any kind of professional clue - she stated that she was going to be my intern rather than expressing interest, called me by an incorrect name, asked for an application and then told me that she already had a copy. She overreached during her audition piece - messed up barre chords and got flustered - I'm not sure about her. She did come up with some insights into several of my students which is a plus in the audition category.

I saw 75 students in group treatment and 21 students in individual/dyad sessions this week. I learned more about my students in individual treatment sessions than I have during their group treatments. We played drums, guitars, and the pianos. We listened to music, sang all kinds of songs, played games, and talked about our preferences. Students started to indicate emotions through musical play. One student was spinning in a chair, fell over, and came over to the piano when cued. He started to bang on the piano. I echoed and expanded on his banging, and he started to change and shape his play to match mine. This is a student who does not communicate anywhere - he has started to communicate in music.

Today I made a mandala about my week - here it is.
 

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