Thoughts About Product Development

I have nine days of break ahead of me and a return of my creative sparks happening right now. This is a good thing because I think it means I am starting to feel better. I have some ideas for things to make and release in my TPT store. I also have some supervision things that I need to work up for a fellow music therapist. I actually feel like doing some of these things for the first time in a long time.

One of the things that I really enjoy making for my clinical area and for other music therapists is tools. Now, when I use this word to describe what I mean, I have the thought that I want my visual aids to be things that can be used for more than one clinical interaction. I want a collection of pictures to use every time we sing about food. So, a tool for communication will offer as many options as possible for as many songs and opportunities to express our thoughts in as many ways as possible. There should never be a time when you have a visual aid that only works for one song or one therapeutic goal. There are ALWAYS more things that you can do with the materials that you collect.

I am currently working on a musical instrument communication book. It is over 30 pages right now and does not have the sorting pages done yet. I think I will have to split it up into smaller collections to help me with selling the products. I will not have use for all of the instruments that I have in this visual aid, but I will have my clinical instruments in one collection so my clients can select instruments that they want to use during sessions.

In my dream music therapy clinic (does anyone else have a dream clinic??), communication options are present at all times. With my current clientele, that accessibility is not practical, but I continue to strive towards that goal. I have binders that include emotion icons (I got mine for free from EducateAutism.com which seems to be gone now - that is very disappointing). The binders are color-coded to help me with organization - all the red pieces go into the red binder. The dream is to have all sorts of words ready for all sorts of therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) so my clients can always indicate choices, preferences, wants, and needs at any time in any session situation. I can't figure out how to accomplish this task, but my binders are a first step.

One of the best tools that I have made is a large collection of food pictures. We use it all the time. I am working on the music instrument collection, and I recently released an animal collection. They are all in my TPT store - it is a free membership, and there are TONS of free resources in the bigger collection of materials. I highly recommend getting a TPT membership for all music therapists - why not? It's free! So, collections of pictures are the tools that I like to make because I like having all those choices available for communication purposes.

Making the visuals, though, is only the first part of any sort of creative impulse for me. I have to be able to visualize using the tool or the visual or the prop or the material in six different ways before I can justify the storage space. I call it my "six things" rule. It is a completely arbitrary rule that I made up when I realized that I come from packrats and am a packrat by nature and nurture. So, the "six things" rule came about. If I cannot think of six different TMEs, goals, uses, purposes for any thing, I can't purchase it. I have to give it away or sell it or put it in the trash. This rule works really well for my professional space but not as effectively in my personal space. I'm constantly working on the personal space.

I brought my ideas book home to work on some projects during this week. My big goal is to set up the music guest room so I have a laminating space for the projects that I want to get updated. I have several laminators here, so I can make the binder updates that I want to make - if I get motivated to do so. We will see. For now, though, my instrument collection project is calling. I hope I can find that motivation to get things updated and ready for my clients when we go back to school in a week.

Leave a comment below about what types of tools do you use in your music therapy space most often. Are there any tools that you wish you had available? I always like knowing what other people use.

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