Just Full Up
I am full up of the music therapy goodness that happens often for me - it is a refreshing change from the goblin-filled thoughts of a day ago...
Yesterday was a good therapy day.
I actually had a chance to run music therapy groups (with drums) during my day, and I spent some time with some great kids! It was the perfect way to banish that shoulda goblin from the forefront to the background (but he hasn't left entirely yet...).
We used a variety of drums yesterday in my two groups. With my students, I typically do not do anything really fancy with them until we can entrain to a steady and common beat. This is always an interesting exercise. Some of my students entrain quickly and easily - others do not. It seems that most of my nonentrainers are higher functioning, need less supports, and have diagnoses on the Autism Spectrum towards the Asperger's range. Sometimes they seem to be fighting the urge to entrain to a beat. If I change my pattern to match theirs, they change their tempo or rhythm pattern. It is fascinating!
One-to-one, that resistance to entrainment is not an issue. I can constantly change my musical response to match theirs. In a group, however, I cannot unless I want to keep others from being able to participate in their entrainment manner.
This leads me to an important topic - what kind of treatment is actually best for my clients?
I do not have a choice about whether I offer large classroom groups. I have to. "Teachers need to have planning time, and specials is when they get that time." My administrators are very firm on this, so I offer each client group music therapy sessions. If I had my choice, I would still do groups of clients, but I would pick and choose clients from different classrooms who had similar interests or goals/objectives/benchmarks. A group of my clients who were all nonentrainers would be an interesting challenge for myself and my interns. I would probably also spend time with each client in an individual setting getting to know more about their way to "music" before deciding about assigning them to a treatment group. Ah, sigh. If only I had full control over what I do...
One of the things that I am hoping will happen is a significant shift in when I work. I am hoping to be able to do some hours outside of the school day and in the residence where I can do different music therapy. A songwriting group for my adolescent girls... a drumming/anger group for my middle school boys... a video group for my older boys... sensory experiences for the little bits... social story training for kids who have specific needs at specific times of the day (dinner and bedtime, for example)... staff training on how to use music to make things happen... oh, the list goes on and on and on...
Today is a non-therapy day. We will host our second annual Holiday Dinner, and the music therapy department is helping with the set-up and will be leading some of our students in singing holiday songs after they are finished with their serving duties. I expect a day full of fun moments and enthusiastic bellowing - I am sure that I will be even more thoroughly sick of Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa Claus by the end of today than I am at this moment. That is the life of a school-based music therapist, I guess.
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Yesterday was a good therapy day.
I actually had a chance to run music therapy groups (with drums) during my day, and I spent some time with some great kids! It was the perfect way to banish that shoulda goblin from the forefront to the background (but he hasn't left entirely yet...).
We used a variety of drums yesterday in my two groups. With my students, I typically do not do anything really fancy with them until we can entrain to a steady and common beat. This is always an interesting exercise. Some of my students entrain quickly and easily - others do not. It seems that most of my nonentrainers are higher functioning, need less supports, and have diagnoses on the Autism Spectrum towards the Asperger's range. Sometimes they seem to be fighting the urge to entrain to a beat. If I change my pattern to match theirs, they change their tempo or rhythm pattern. It is fascinating!
One-to-one, that resistance to entrainment is not an issue. I can constantly change my musical response to match theirs. In a group, however, I cannot unless I want to keep others from being able to participate in their entrainment manner.
This leads me to an important topic - what kind of treatment is actually best for my clients?
I do not have a choice about whether I offer large classroom groups. I have to. "Teachers need to have planning time, and specials is when they get that time." My administrators are very firm on this, so I offer each client group music therapy sessions. If I had my choice, I would still do groups of clients, but I would pick and choose clients from different classrooms who had similar interests or goals/objectives/benchmarks. A group of my clients who were all nonentrainers would be an interesting challenge for myself and my interns. I would probably also spend time with each client in an individual setting getting to know more about their way to "music" before deciding about assigning them to a treatment group. Ah, sigh. If only I had full control over what I do...
One of the things that I am hoping will happen is a significant shift in when I work. I am hoping to be able to do some hours outside of the school day and in the residence where I can do different music therapy. A songwriting group for my adolescent girls... a drumming/anger group for my middle school boys... a video group for my older boys... sensory experiences for the little bits... social story training for kids who have specific needs at specific times of the day (dinner and bedtime, for example)... staff training on how to use music to make things happen... oh, the list goes on and on and on...
Today is a non-therapy day. We will host our second annual Holiday Dinner, and the music therapy department is helping with the set-up and will be leading some of our students in singing holiday songs after they are finished with their serving duties. I expect a day full of fun moments and enthusiastic bellowing - I am sure that I will be even more thoroughly sick of Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa Claus by the end of today than I am at this moment. That is the life of a school-based music therapist, I guess.
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