Final Project

While doing my project on the effects of music therapy on children with disabilities, I learned how music therapy works, what a typical music session is like and how it effects the child. I choose this topic because I have always wanted to help children with special needs. I also have a love for music so this was perfect for me to learn more about.
While doing my project, I read the book Rex by Cathleen Lewis. Cathleen is the mother of Rex, her young son that was diagnosed with autism and being blind at a very young age. Rex struggled to develop as a boy. His speech came late, he didn't begin walking until he was about 3 years old and he was unable to control his body movements. Rex was but in a school for blind children hoping to help him develop. All the teachers, counselor, and doctors doubted that Rex would become a normal boy. Rex started to play the piano when he was just a little boy. Not really playing it, but touching the keys and listening to ever sound that it made. When he grew older, he started to actually learnt to play it. He now plays all around the world. It was a very inspiring book!
I also got the chance to interview Karen Joly from VSA (Very Special Arts of Alabama) This organization is a place were children with special needs come and go through a fun session of music therapy. Mrs. Joly told me how a music session usually is and how it helps a child develop. She told me a typical music session is very fun and upbeat. They usually have to music therapist to be in charge of it. During the session a group of children sit in a circle and they listen to the music and try to learn the songs and sing along. They also have instruments that the children can play while doing the session. Sometimes they use hand puppets to communicate with the children. She also told me that there have been several studies on if music therapy really does work but nothing is for sure yet. She believes that music therapy really does work and helps the child to develop mental, physically emotional, and socially. The most interesting thing that I learned from Mrs. Joly is that they don't only do music therapy with children, but with elders also. It can help a person with Alzheimer's just like it can help a child with Cerebral Palsy.
Some of the things that I learned while doing this project is hoe effective music therapy really is. When a child hears a certain sound they pick up on it. Just like if we heard a happy song it would make us smile or if we heard a sad song we would frown. Certain sounds make the child react in a different way. There is a stimuli in the brain which helps the child to pick up signals. When the child hears a song they know what emotion to pick up on and how to react to it.
I believe that music therapy does work. You can tell a difference before and after a child goes through music therapy. They understand their emotions more and their surroundings. The reason I think this is because of the research I have done. I have heard and read about many case studies about children that have experienced music therapy. In one case study a parent said that before their child didn't know how to act when someone was crying or laughing, now they understand and know how to react when seeing such an emotion.
If I could do something differently I would have read a different book. The book I read was good but it didn't really explain how music therapy works. It talked about the struggles that they went through as a family. That made me appreciate so much what I have. You shouldn't take anything for granted. Such as your vision. Rex will never be able to see anything but yet he still goes on with life and loves every second of it. It was truly and inspiring book but I would have liked to read something a little more in depth of how music therapy works.
I am actually getting the opprutinty to go to a music therapy session this summer and get to experince it first hand!

I loved this video! It is about the young boy, Rex who I read my book about. It explains everything in the book that he went through and he actually get to see what he goes through everyday. It is heartbreaking but so encouraging at the same time! I am so proud that a child with a disability can find joy and peace in something that he loves to do!

A look into Music Therapy

This video shows how music therapy works. It explains how music therapy is geared toward reaching a goal for a certain child. In the video, you see some of the children actually in a music session. You can tell that the kids look happy and enjoy what they are doing. The music therapist have to have patients and special skills to be able to work with children with disabilities.
I think that from actually watching what a music session is actually like, it gives me a better understanding of how the sessions work. It looks like hard work but also a lot of fun and a rewarding experince!

Interview with Karen Joly

In my interview with Karen Joly, Music director at hand in hand, we discussed the what music therapy really is and how it helps children with disabilities. She explained what a typical music session is like and the techniques that are used. In my interview with Mrs. Joly, she expressed "Music therapy is not just singing to children, it is my goal when I provide music therapy, to be therapeutic first and foremost." She also explained to me what kind of issues can be addressed through music therapy. Through music therapy you can tell if a child is in pain, stressed, what their emotions are like and if they are having in physical changes in the body.I asked her how music therapy works. She told me that they work for the same goal as a physical therapist would, but they use musical instruments to get results. They try to increase communication and direction following by using music. When they try to increase communication skills they use puppets along with the music. She said that puppets are prop that the children love! She uses a song that goes along with the character of the puppet and has the child practice introducing themselves and pretend to feed the puppet a snack. "Silly i know, but once they say their name and give it a snack, they are immediately reinforced. I give the kids a kiss on the head from the puppet." I also asked her if there was evidence that music therapy was efficant. She said " We are still a growing feild, but we do believe in research." She told me that she actually assisted her college professor in conducting a research study. It was called "Effects of Music Therapy on Physiological Measuremnts of Older Adults with Alzhemier's Disease and Other Related Dementia: A Pilot Study." They studied how music therapy affected the cortisol level, which is stress hormone in saliva, of older adults with memory disorder. They are still getting data but in another year it will show up in Journal of Music Therapy.
My interview with Mrs. Joly was a lot of fun! She was very passionate about her job and gave me so much information that helped me understand music therapy a little bit more! She was very nice and very easy to talk with. I enjoyed my interview and it was very benifital. I am hoping to go to an actual music session with her at hand in hand!

Karen Joly, MT-I
Hand in Hand, Birmingham Alabama
256-665-5483

Rex by Cathleen Lewis

Rex BY Cathleen Lewis is a book about a mother (Cathleen Lewis) and her young son who was diagnosed with Autism and being blind at a very young age. Cathleen talks about her struggles and journeys throughout her son's life. The book started off with Cathleen telling her story of her and her husband trying to have a baby. They had been trying for months and were so excited to find out that they were pregnant with a baby boy. When her and her husband found out that her son was blind and having major medical problems, it put a lot of stress on the couple. They ended up getting a divorce when Rex was only a year old. Cathleen had to be a single mom with a child with a disability. All the doctors and therapist doubted that Rex would make it far in life. They put him in a school for blind children. They didn’t believe that he was making any development. But Rex proved them all wrong when he started walking and talking like a normal child, Sure it took him longer to develop these things but he did it. And he did it with the help of Music Therapy. Music would always calm down Rex whenever he was having a fit.

The book was a very interesting story but it didn’t explain a lot about how music therapy worked in a child. The story talked about the struggles and how music helped Rex to overcome so many things, but not about how therapy helped him. It did educate you on what blind and autistic children have to go through everyday of their lives. I agree with how they said that something in music stimulates the brain to do certain functions.

I believe that music therapy can help children to develop. When a child with a disability hears a certain sound and picks up on it, their brain becomes stimulated and helps the brain grow and understand things. It can help in all sorts of ways. Not only metal, but social and emotional as well. Music that has certain emotions can give of what kind of emotion a person is supposed to have. Upbeat songs make you happy and mellow songs make you said. Children understand that and with music it is easier to understand. It also helps social because you may have to work with a group witch would cause the child to have to deal with people and become more social in an environment. Music therapy is a great things that help children with disabilities learn!

Lewis, Cathleen. Rex. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008. Print.

Feel the Music

In the article Effects of music therapy for children and adolescents with psychopathology: a meta-analysis by Christian Gold explains that not only does music therapy help with children with a physical disability, but it helps children that have a psychological problem. "The objectives of this review were to examine the overall efficacy of music therapy for children and adolescents with psychopathology, and to examine how the size of the effect of music therapy is influenced by the type of pathology, client’s age, music therapy approach, and type of outcome" (Gold 1054). In the study that they did for this article they took children that had mental disorders, emotional problems, cognitive and behaviour problems. They talked about how they used different types of music for the different types of problems. For example they used calm soothing music for children that had behaviour problems. They said that when the kids hear the music something clicks in their mind that sends a message to the brain telling them how to react to the song they are hearing.
I think that if it helps with children who have a mental disability also then it can help with any child that has something wrong with them. Many children need something that can help them get through the day. If different types of music can help them succeed and get better, then more power to them!

Gold , Christian. "Effects of music therapy for children and." Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 45.6 (2004): 1054–1063. Print.

How it helps

Wigram, Tony . Clinical Applications of Music Therapy in Developmental Disablities. London, England : Jessica Kingsley Ltd. , 1999. 7-10

In this article, the author is talking about how children with disablities respond to music when they hear it or even play it. "There is a intrinsic signal in the brain that tells the child how to respond" (Wigram7). Certain sounds trigger certain emotions. For example if a sad song comes on it causes the child to be sad or gloomy. If a happy song comes on the child will be excited and happy. In the article it says that it is best if the mother could teach the child. Because the child is so comfortable with the mother it is easier for the child to pick up on the singnals and they learn faster with their parents. They also think that learning in groups is better. When you mix a group of people and music it brings them together and joins them.
I think that learning with family or a group of people is better for a child with disablites. It is a good way to become social and learn how to work with other people. However I think some children would feel intimatded infront of a group. But working with families the children will be more likely to work better.