Saturday Special: #MusicTherapyMaker - Refining An Idea...and Refining...and Refining Some More...

As you know, I am working on strengthening the communication options that my clients can access during music therapy sessions by reworking my binder system. I made some progress yesterday towards my goal, but found that the ideas that I had about putting together said binders just didn't work, so I am not finished, and I am back to the beginning. Let me tell you a bit more...

Yesterday, before I left for work, I printed out seven copies of my binder pages. I put together this project about a year ago when I was part of the Berklee Music Education and Special Needs course, but I haven't made the time to put those binders together.

In the past, I have used regular three-ring binders to store my initial communication pages. Each binder tends to last about three months before it is completely ruined by my clients. I have a couple of clients who will walk out of their way when they enter the music therapy room to walk on top of the binders. If the binders are not on the floor when these clients enter, then they will get up specifically to stomp on the binders. So, I end up with torn up binders every three months, and that gets expensive for me to replace.

I am trying some different ways of presenting the communication pages. The ideas that I had yesterday, going into the binder project, did not work out. At first, I thought that I could use some plastic prong folders. The problem with that? When you turn pages, the prongs pull out of the folder, opening up the storage and spilling the pages out of the folder itself. I might be able to score the pages to prevent this spillage, but I haven't tried that yet. The second idea was to use my comb binding machine to comb bind the pages. The problem with that is that my comb binder is not big enough to accommodate the 5mm laminating film that I used to laminate the communication pages. So, I either repurpose the pages that I have already laminated and redo the sets into other laminating film, or I figure out another way to present it to my clients.

All the way home from work, I thought about this project and what I want it to do. I want it to be available to my clients. I want it to be durable so it lasts more than three months. I want the project to be easily adaptable so I can change elements as necessary for our sessions. I want it to be interactive so my clients can use it to communicate their choices. I have not been able to figure out how to present the choices and information, but I do have all the pieces.

I am going to try another solution - file folder or cardboard covers. I am thinking that the cardboard cover will be the most efficient and least expensive, but it will take more time than file folders, but file folders are easily ripped. So, I am going to try making some cardboard covers - with liberal use of duct tape and binder clip thingies - you know, the rings that open up. I can use my old enemy, clear Contact paper, to make the covers more durable and less likely to rip. I wonder how long it takes to bend the binder rings (is that what they are called??) into complete destruction. I will be finding out. If I can find a solution to the destruction problem, I can just change the rings rather than having to buy new binders every three months. Those things are expensive!! I also have some foam board that I could try in addition to the cardboard that I have around me at all times. It is time to do some problem solving and experimentation!

Yesterday, I went to work and spent some of the day laminating the 175+ pages that I had prepared the day before. (I brought more laminating film to my workplace as well as my big laminating machines so I could do multiple pouches at a time. Need to take more to work on Monday.) Most of these pages are parts of sets of things. For example, I made three versions of my animal choice sets and two more versions of the food set that I already have in my clinic. We use food choices often, so having more sets will help us communicate and enrich our session work. Clients will no longer have only one page to choose from. They can choose from the entire book now!! I haven't used the animal sets yet, but I am looking forward to introducing them to my clients. I have many TMEs that can incorporate animals, so it is time to get those communication aids into the clinic!!

I got through most of my laminating stack but not all of it. There is always more to laminate. It never stops.

I laminated Morse Code sheets, winter word sheets for songwriting, the animal sets, the food sets, the binder pages, and both a Spring and a Summer tic-tac-toe board to add to my monthly boxes. I did all of this while listening to the software overview. My room was big and empty, so I volunteered for it to be the place where they all come in for training. It forced me to get my laminating done - something relatively quiet while still being productive. My office isn't clean, but the laminating pile is seriously diminished! Hooray!!

Before I go to play with cardboard and foam board, I wanted to show you the major project that I accomplished during the break. I have a chromatic set of Boomwhackers at home - two octaves. They have never had a home, a place to be, a set way to display these instruments. They have been in two buckets and have moved to two different houses. Now, in my new house, I have lots of open wall space, so I wanted to display the Boomwhackers on one of the walls of my summer bedroom and music room.

This was a good mental challenge for me. I like problems that I need to work on in order to solve. When a problem is easy, it gives me no challenge, and I like challenges. That's one of the reason that this current binder thing is something that I haven't given up on yet. It is challenging my thoughts about how I can do things.

The problems that I encountered during this project were the following:

• how can I put these Boomwhackers on the wall without damaging the instruments?
• how can I put these Boomwhackers on the wall without damaging the wall?
• how can I continue to use these Boomwhackers without having to take all the instruments off the wall every time I want to use them?

It was fun to think about this.

I finally constructed a system that worked really well. I took some of the aforementioned cardboard that I have all around my home and started to create! I made a long strip and then put it on the back of another long strip. I covered the entire thing with duct tape and used Command strips (the ones like Velcro) to put the strips on the wall. After that, I used clothespins to capture the Boomwhackers on the cardboard and duct tape strips. One pin for one Boomwhacker. I arranged them in color and size order and thought that was that.

It was, for about 12 hours.

I was in my office, outside the music room, when I heard the entire thing fall off the wall. Turns out that the duct tape wasn't affixed to the command strips as much as I would have liked. So, I adapted the system a bit by adding two nails into the cardboard. I then put the Boomwhackers back on the strips, and it has been up for several days now.

Here is the finished product. It makes me so happy to see this when I wake up in the morning.

It is nice to have projects work. It is a good challenge to have projects that need more and more experimentation in order to find that solution. I am a happier me when I have problems to solve and opportunities to experiment.

I will be thinking about how to solve my current binder dilemma during this, my first one-day weekend for the school year..

Happy Saturday.