The Impact of Music Therapy

It's hard to explain, but there's something special about creating music with others. It's a type of experience that helps create a kinship that is quite unique. As a music therapist, I am trained to create success-based musical activities for the children I work with. Part of my job is to raise their self-esteem by making them feel successful and accomplished. By following a child's lead during a musical activity, I'm able to connect with them and reflect their creative expressions.

This in turn leads to a deeper connection. For example, if my client is playing a drum, I'm going to play my guitar in a way that matches their tempo and reflects the dynamics of their playing. If they play loud, I'll play loud, if they play soft, I'll play soft and if they suddenly stop, I suddenly stop. As you can see from this example, the bond between therapist and child is developed without speaking the language. As Hans Christian Anderson once said, "Where words fail, music speaks!"

Once this bond is established, the work begins. As a treatment for autism, music therapists address many different goals. Here are a few examples of how music therapy approaches, some of these goal areas.

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Music therapy effectively addresses these goals through research-based interventions, but it also builds up a child's self-esteem and feeds their spirit. With all of the struggles that children with autism face, I believe that it's my responsibility to support them in this way. I'm always striving to make sessions so fun and musical, that my clients don't realize how hard they're working. It's amazing what a child can accomplish when their work feels like play!