Music Therapy
What is Music Therapy?
Our Music Therapy program is designed to use music as a therapeutic tool, rather than instruction. Our Board Certified Music Therapist will give your student a detailed assessment and then write a personalized Treatment Plan based on that assessment. This will be in addition to any lessons they are taking.
At Minds on Music we believe that music has a positive effect on the brain and development. Research shows that music affects the brain differently than any other stimulus. We are excited to utilize this new avenue to help those in our community who need it most. The American Music Therapy Association defines music therapy as, “the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.”
Music therapy is a well-established allied health profession, similar to occupational therapy and physical therapy. It consists of using music therapeutically to address physical, psychological, cognitive, behavioral and/or social functioning. Because music therapy is a powerful and non-threatening medium, unique outcomes are possible. With young children, music therapy provides a variety of music experiences in an intentional and developmentally appropriate manner to effect changes in a child’s behavior and facilitate development of his/her communication, social/emotional, sensory-motor, and/or cognitive skills.
What is the main goal in Music Therapy Sessions?
The main goal of Music Therapy Sessions is to work towards goals, outside of music, that the client and their family want to reach. These goals include all domains and areas of life skills: gross and fine motor, expressive and receptive communication, cognitive, social, emotional, and sensory. Music therapy is effective especially when music is motivating to an individual. When someone feels like they’re having fun, they don’t realize the work that they’re doing and much more progress can be made.
So what is music therapy? A fun way to reach life goals.
Minds On Music is now an approved Gardiner Scholarship Provider.
Contact us today for more info and to set up a time to come in for an assessment with Miss Kat!
How can your child benefit from Music Therapy?
Areas for Assessments: Examples of Benefits and Outcomes
Gross Motor:
❖ Increased muscle tone and improved muscle elasticity and flexibility
❖ Balanced and even walking gait
❖ Improved balance and bilateral motor coordination
❖ Increased multi-limb coordination and improved movement timing
❖ Increased range of motion
Fine Motor:
❖ Increased response speed and visuomotor control
❖ Improved dexterity with grasping/holding objects
❖ Better finger isolation/finger individuation skills
Receptive and Expressive Communication:
❖ Increased verbal memory, verbal fluency and non-verbal reasoning (Receptive)
❖ Advancements in auditory perception of speech(Receptive)
❖ Development of spelling, reading, vocabulary, and phonological processing skills (Receptive)
❖ Improved verbal communication and conversational skills(Expressive)
❖ Increase in non-verbal communication including signing and gesturing (Expressive)
Cognitive:
❖ Enhanced language-based reasoning, short-term memory, planning and inhibition
❖ Increase in motivation towards learning new skills
❖ Long term memory and recall
❖ Comprehension, problem solving skills, critical thinking
Social/Emotional:
❖ Opportunities for learning social skills such as cooperation, imitation, turn taking/social reciprocity, joint attention, shared affect, and empathy (Social)
❖ Development of understanding of others’ intentions and emotions (Social)
❖ Increased eye contact, engagement and spontaneous initiation of social interactions (Social)
❖ Promotion of emotional understanding and expression(Emotional)
❖ Improved self-regulation and decreased of negative behaviors including self-injurious, aggressive and self-stimulating behaviors (Emotional)