Music Therapy by Larissa Woitulewicz MT-BC

Music therapy is not music lessons.  It is not just listening to music.   It is not just the introduction of a variety of musical forms to a student.

Music therapy IS an established health care profession along the same spectrum as speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapies and other creative arts therapies.  It uses music to address physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs of ALL ages.  Music therapy improves the quality of life for persons who are well and meets the needs of children and adults with disabilities  or illness...    American Music Therapy Association, 2009

In music therapy sessions, music is the primary tool used by a qualified practitioner to hep students achieve individualized non-musical goals and objectives.  At our school, the music therapist primarily addresses the unique cognitive, physical, communicative, daily functioning and social needs of the students to help them achieve and maintain maximum levels of functioning.  

Music therapy sessions are designed to create fun, successful, process-oriented experiences that can motivate students, while offering a unique and interactive medium for the students to develop skills that may be more difficult for the student to achieve using other approaches.

Finding cheap therapeutic items around the house

One of the amazing helpful items I use with my students is the stretchy shelf liner that can be found at a Dollar Store for $1.00 per roll.   This can be cut to size and placed under items on a table, desk or wheelchair tray in order that toys, dishes, bowls, etc. do not move around when someone is trying to utilize them.

Another helpful feeding item for an older child or adult with poor motor skills is a corning ware baking dish.  This dish has sides so food does not escape.   It also has enough weight that it does not move around when a person with poor coordination pushes at it too much.   This tip was given to me by my mother-in-law who is caring for her husband who has had strokes and parkinsons disease.