Fun Stuff!

  
I love making things for my clients to use during music therapy sessions. I enjoy being able to create something from paper, scrapbooking supplies, and a bit of imagination. This is one of my favorite ways to spend my free time.

Yesterday, I spent some time making a set of file folder activities that my clients seem to use more than any other at my facility. This picture is a scheduler - a way to organize what clients want to do during the session. This one has words, some do not since not all of my clients are readers. If needed (I use this most often with clients who do not complete ANY entire experience but who flit from place to place during their sessions), the client chooses 3-6 things to do during the session. We move through the schedule and move our choices from the first pocket to the "finished" pocket. If I need to, I limit the choices that are available so my client has to complete the tasks that I want them to address. The laminated pockets also have a place for me to write on them using a dry erase marker. So, we can choose the "Karaoke Machine" strip and write "Call Me Maybe" on the pocket so we can see which song we will sing while karaoke-ing.

The other folders pictured here are fill-in-the-blank, composition, and song-based folders - things that I use with clients in varying ways. The yellow ones (in this picture) are the fill-in-the-blank songs. Songs in the public domain lend themselves to these types of songs. The primary goals for these songs are review of parts of speech, creativity, and just plain old absurdity. 
The pink folder (again, in this picture) will eventually be joined by two others. This one is for rhythm reading. It comes with instrument pictures and rhythm cards. The other two folders are composition-based and rhythm identification matching. The last folders, the green ones (only one is pictured here), are songs, again from the public domain, that come along with original visual aids. One has monkeys, one has spaghetti, and the other is a structured movement board.

The last part of this packet includes five mini-folders. Here is a picture of one folder next to the big folders. The mini-folders include a schedule board (shown here), matching, and composition folders.

The entire packet has 15 folders - 10 large folders and 5 mini-folders. I have used all of these visuals with my clients in several different ways during my time at my facility. They are useful for my students. I think they'd by useful for others as well. So, I am going to give one of these sets away. In addition to these folders, I'm going to also throw in a copy of a book I've written about Therapeutic Music Experiences for adolescents.
Please check out the website home page at www.musictherapyworks.com for details on how to sign-up for this giveaway! I will draw the name of the winner on June 30, 2014.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more