What about gifted students with a disability? As a Music Therapist and a Music Educator, I find myself drawn to articles written by music educators concerning students with disabilities in their classroom. Although music therapy is a related service under IDEA, many school districts do not employ music therapists to work with their special needs students. Often music educators are left to grapple with the how to teach these students with varying levels of training and experience. Recently, Joseph Michael Abramo shared his research on “Gifted Students with Disabilities: ‘Twice Exceptionality’ in the Music Classroom” in the June 2015 edition of the Music Educator’s Journal published by the National Association…
Autism Spectrum Disorder: Movement disorders go hand in hand with speech disorders Have you ever been able to tell something was wrong with someone just by watching his or her gait? Your gait is your stride, how long a step you take, plus whether you go from heel to toe and whether your toes stay straight or tend to go in or out. You also look at the tempo or speed at which they walk, and the rhythm created in their step. These characteristics are just what a group of researchers studied with two groups of older adolescents and young adults. One group, classified as “typically developing” and the other…
Effects of music therapy with patients on a post-surgical oncology unit Cancer affects many people and their families. Almost every =one knows, or has someone in their family, who has battled cancer. Ever wonder if music therapy can help ease oncology treatment? Previous studies indicated that music therapy (specifically live, patient preferred listening) may improve quality of life, decrease anxiety, and decrease blood pressure. Therapists involved in the studies also noticed that active participation (singing along or requesting/choosing songs) further decreased stress in oncology patients. Some music therapy studies focused on guided imagery and music to decrease anxiety and nausea in cancer patients. However, despite this research no one has…
Staff Perceptions and Benefits of Music Therapy Ever wondered what staff think about music therapy and other alternative therapies? Kennedy, Reed, Wamboldt chose to look into this in the article “Staff Perceptions of Complementary and Alternative Therapy Integration into a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Program.” With all the changes in healthcare and worries of healthcare costs, many professionals are looking to provide excellent care to their patients in the most cost efficient manner. Alternative therapies such as music therapy, art therapy, poetry therapy, dance/movement therapy, psychodrama, etc. can create healing environments, emotional recovery, and foster positive working conditions for staff. In this study, the authors focused on children/adolescents receiving psychiatric…
Music Therapy and Trauma While no one wants to recognize that any could hurt a child, there are many children who need help because of trauma they have experiences. Childhood trauma can interrupt typical development and can create post-traumatic stress responses including aggression, impulse control, anxiety, increased hyperawareness, social withdrawal etc. Trauma can happen over a period of time or once, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be a result of trauma and it is often treated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which can decrease symptoms of PTSD through understanding the behaviors and learning what to do when PTSD behaviors occur. Talk therapies are often the “go-to” for children/adolescents who…
Functional and Dysfunctional Brain Circuits Underlying Emotional Processing of Music in Autism Spectrum Disorders Study by Andrea Caria, Paola Venuti, and Simona de Falco Despite a wide range of abilities and disabilities among people on the Autism Spectrum, a few core features of the disability are dramatic impairments of interpersonal behavior, communication, and empathy. Behavioral studies on ASD have documented difficulties in the recognition of facial expressions of emotions and emotional prosody. More recently, neuroimaging studies have enabled researchers to explore what is happening in the brain, as well as the physical structure of the brain itself. However, most neuroimaging studies have observed atypical brain responses in individuals with…
Dementia, a group of symptoms that affects social skills and memory to the point of hindering daily functioning, affects millions of older adults throughout the world. In Taiwan, approximately 5% of the aging population is diagnosed with dementia. Symptoms may include problems with memory, agitated behaviors, and negative emotion. Caretakers have identified agitated behaviors as the most challenging in caring for older adults with dementia, and many have been admitted to residential facilities for this reason. Effective interventions that minimize agitated behaviors is needed for the safety and comfort of both older adults with dementia and their caregivers. Traditionally, agitated behaviors have been managed with physical restraints or antipsychotic drugs.…
We all need to communicate. For most of us, that includes talking, listening, and paying attention to body language to name a few. An individual with a communication disorder has difficulty in one or more of those areas. They may not be able to read body language or have difficulty in speaking or simply cannot hear due to a hearing loss. A study entitled “Do Communication Disorders Extend to Musical Messages? An Answer from Children with Hearing Loss or Autism Spectrum Disorders” was conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Iowa and published in February of 2015. They wanted to “[compare] recognition of symbolic representation of emotions…
Cognitive abilities, including language, are deeply affected by Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive neurological disease. Areas of language that are commonly affected include naming, fluency, comprehension, and spontaneous speech. Since communication is an important part of social interaction, these language problems often lead to isolation for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Something can be done to address these social and communication needs. The quality of life can be improved for people with Alzheimer’s disease through increased social interaction and enabling them to remain socially engaged. One way to do this is by engaging them in conversations that, with appropriate prompts, enable them to recall and describe personal stories. Using music…
The term “iso principle” is unique to the field of music therapy. It was first introduced in the late 1940’s by Altshuler as a method of mood management in which the music therapist provides music that matches their client’s mood, then gradually changes the music to help the client shift to a different mood. While Altshuler’ original “iso principle” method involved a system of programmed classical music, the term has a much broader scope now. In its most basic sense, the iso principle means meeting your clients wherever they are at that current moment. If a music therapist is working with a hospice patient who is in a depressive state,…