Music Therapy

After my last blog there seemed to be quite a bit of interest in music therapy, so I wanted to share some information about that with you now. I don't pretend to be a music therapist or an expert on the subject in any way...if you want a definition of what music therapy is I would recommend visiting: www.musictherapy.org

We tried a music therapy group through our county hosted by a licensed music therapist back when Brady was only 19 months old...and it was a disaster for him! We didn't yet know he had autism, only speech delay and sensory processing disorder. The group consisted of 5-6 other children who were calm and timid and sat with the therapist as she played her guitar and smiled and played with the instruments..and then there was Brady. He wouldn't stay sitting at the circle, he had no interest in anything the therapist or group was doing, and he ran around the big empty room for the entire hour every time we went. After a month of this, I regretfully called and withdrew him from the group. He definitely wasn't getting anything from it and I feared he was taking away from the other kids' experience. I was saddened because music had played a big role in my life and I adored music and had hoped my baby boy would too.

We really didn't push music much again until Brady's 3rd birthday. He had just started doing speech therapy at Helping Hands and his speech therapist mentioned to me that he might really benefit from 1-on-1 music therapy. They had a music therapist who wanted to work with Brady...and so here we went again. Only this time...what different results!!!

Brady began 1-on-1 music therapy with Valerie the fall of 2008, and for the first few months he showed some interest, but not a lot. But as time went on he grew more and more to love his music therapy. There's nothing better than finding a therapy that can help your child that they love to do at the same time! Then fall of 2009 when Brady's words started to come, I finally realized just how much music therapy was doing for him. Some of his best speech comes during all the wonderful songs Valerie does with him..."hi" during the hello song, "Brady" during the hello song, "Vavavee" during the hello song for Valerie, he approximates "Peebut" and "jewy" for peanut butter and jelly during the PBJ song, and more. In music therapy and at preschool he now follows along with many motions that go along with familiar songs, he really cues into music more than ever before. Brady's music therapy has been INSTRUMENTAL in his language development and his imitation skills.

Knowing all of this, I didn't hesitate to put Ty in music therapy as well. He began 1-on-1 music therapy with Valerie at just 18 months old. It was a slow start, he was having "mommy separation" troubles when we began...but we pushed forward. Just 3 months later, Ty is taking Valerie to the piano and wanting her to play for him, he is showing some interest in her playing the guitar and even strumming it himself, and he is using the mallets to play his drum at home that Santa brought him. I am hopeful that music therapy will do the same amazing things for Ty that it has done for Brady.

Music therapy is available in several ways: 1-on-1, pairs, groups, at therapy centers, in a home setting. There is some funding that will pay for music therapy: autism scholarship (as long as you are working on IEP goals in the therapy), early intervention funding in many counties, and others. Consider trying music therapy with your child, music may speak to them in ways we can't even see. And if it doesn't go perfectly from day one...try again...I'm sure glad I did with Brady :-)