music, therapy, and me

The 2016 AMTA National Conference is over and a memory now. It is time to look towards the next things happening. I'm going to be presenting at the 2017 Online Conference for Music Therapy and at the 2017 Super Regional Conference between the Western Region and the Midwestern Region of AMTA. I'm enjoying presenting to others again, and I am looking forward to a trip to Denver before my Spring Break officially starts in March! I haven't yet unpacked. I've been spending lots of time sleeping lately, getting re-accustomed to allergy medications (which should be no longer needed come Sunday and a hard freeze!!), trying to recover from travel last week, and due to exhaustion caused by a lack of oxygenated blood circulating around my body - gotta love my allergies! I am anticipating some fun rediscoveries when I finally do unpack my bag. Here's a picture of the loot I got while at conference. Some of them are things I received. Others are things that I bought. I didn...

I have a goal.  Here's the stuff I made for last year's conference... This upcoming school year (2016-2017), I am going to donate packages from musictherapyworks.com of visual aids and books to each of the regions and to the AMTA National Conference. I am currently in the middle of finishing up the next round of sing about songs - fun and games . This collection of therapeutic music experiences has been fun to put together, and it has some fun visuals as well, including board games! For some clients, a visual aid assists with attention to task, awareness of others in the environment, and comprehension. For others, a visual aid is just something more to deal with in the music therapy session. For me, as a therapist for people with diagnoses all over all types of spectra, I like having visual aids available to use with clients at any time. In the picture above, there are ants for The Ants Go Marching. There is an ant counting board, an ant line-up, and two large ...

Just returned from part of my regional conference. It was within driving distance (my major requirement for attending a regional conference is driving distance), and I passed through the towns where my dad's parents and grandparents lived. I enjoyed driving through those small towns. So, double bonus - trip to my past and time with music therapists. Regional conferences are VERY different from national conferences. They are smaller, so there are lots more opportunities to get to know people. They are also less hurried or rushed. We only had 4 concurrent sessions going on at a time, so it was easy to choose what to learn about. I could only stay for the afternoon and then the first morning of the conference, but it was a renewal of my music therapy spirit and motivation. The local committee did a wonderful job of finding a venue that functioned well, supported presenters, and had plenty of room. I didn't stay in the conference hotel, but I spent time in the space. My only co...