Oh, Dear. It's Been Some Time...

I haven't written since Wednesday this week. I seem to be falling into a pattern of not writing as much, but I want to write more. I'm just not doing it. I have no reason other than just not feeling like writing in the mornings lately. There's not much going on that is different from other seasons in my life, but writing still just feels like too much right now.

I am trying really hard to figure some things out. I am tired. My body is doing strange things - gotta love perimenopause. I feel like I am stagnating yet again. I have lots of ideas, but absolutely no impetus to follow through on those ideas.

Does anyone else have this existence?

Okay. That's enough self-pity. Time to get started with something more productive.

I spent some time on Tuesday laminating things for music therapy. I have been spending lots of time at work making things for other people, so it was nice to have some time to just sit and laminate things for my use rather than giving things away. I have some files to print off and laminate for a new binder of communication choices. I also want to make a new file of leisure options to keep in my music therapy room so I can ask my students what they like to do and what they don't like to do.

My students have used my I Want to Eat file to the point where it is disintegrating with every touch at the moment. (By the way, these files are my own work - if you choose to purchase this digital file, I get some of the money. Once you have downloaded the file, it is yours to use as many times as you want. There are LOTS of free visuals on TPT [what used to be Teachers Pay Teachers] and membership is free.) I am getting ready to introduce them to my Animal Choice Board file. I keep them in a binder so I can pull out communication themes when I need them. The nice thing about all of this is that I can also use bits and pieces of the file for specific songs. I can isolate all baked goods if we are singing about going to the bakery - or veggies if we are singing about going to the produce department. You get the idea!

So, I would like the next communication binder project to include places to go and leisure options for my clients. I have some of those choices in my Summer Tic-Tac-Toe file, so I will be able to cull some of those pictures for a new collection of communication choice cards.

The problem with using icons for communication is that there is no way that I will EVER have all the pictures that my clients need to communicate every thought that they have to express. EVER! So, I go from feeling proud of my options to frustration that I still don't have every option available for my clients. The only thing to do, though, is to keep going. So, I keep making things to help my clients tell me about their preferences and choices.

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