Mama Bear Rachel

So I just had one of those gut-wrenching, butterfly-in-the-stomach, mama-bear-protecting-her-cub type of moments.  In this case, I was the mama bear and my cub was music therapy.

It started a few days ago when a local Austin reporter emailed me to see if they could set up a phone interview….

The woman told me she was “doing an interview on music therapy”, and would I “be interested in being an additional resource for information on what music therapy was, what music therapists did, where we worked, etc.”  I was absolutely honored she asked me and ultimately, incredibly excited that an article on music therapy would be displayed in a highly-circulated newspaper!  I jumped at the opportunity to talk with her.

Fast forward to today.

The reporter called and I began answering her questions about the field.  She was genuinely interested in knowing more about music therapy and I appreciated her honest and straightforward questions.  I felt as though everything went really well and I couldn’t help but think how this article would help spread the word about who we are and what we do as MTs.

At the end of our conversation, I asked her about her story, the focus, and where/who else would be interviewed (I think we’ve learned to be so protective of this field and I wanted to make sure music therapy was not going to be confused with anything else).  I’m so, so glad I asked. 

It turns out that she is doing an article about a nursing home that is implementing this program into the rooms of their residents: http://www.corohealth.com/ (additional articles can be found here and here).  I’m not dogging this program (in fact, the product description reads that a music therapist helped in the creation of it, along with neuroscientists, nurses, etc.); however, I am saying that it is not a representative of the field of music therapy and it is VERY different from what we do as board-certified music therapists. 

We as music therapists use live interventions, live music, & live communication.  We create goals and objectives.  We have evidence-based data, research articles, a national association (AMTA), and academic journals.  We adapt to what the client’s need is at that very moment and we work with them, personally, to address their cognitive, emotional, physical, and social needs.  A computer system CANNOT replicate what we do as therapists. 

(If you disagree or agree with any of the above, I’d love to have you say so in a comment below!)

Unfortunately, upon finding out this information, I had to ask her to not use any of my quotes, as I did not want people to get this program confused with music therapy.  I also asked her to not use the term “music therapy” or “music therapist” in the article.  I felt really bad at first….as though I had wasted the reporter’s time and/or ruined her article.  I was also literally sick to my stomach that I had almost had all of my music therapy quotes, anecdotes, and experiences associated with this program. 

THE BRIGHT SIDE….and there is a bright side 

I realized that this was a good experience for me, and that this will more than likely not be an isolated case.  I will encounter having to make this kind of distinction again and again throughout my career.  It also gave me a chance to tell her that I would be willing to work with her on an article about music therapy services that are happening in Austin and get her in contact with music therapists in the area that are working in nursing homes, hospitals, mental health facilities, pediatric clinics, etc.  Austin has some truly amazing therapists and I told her their stories and experiences would make a killer article!

It is by no means the fault of the reporter or the nursing home to assume this system would be synonymous with what we do as music therapists.  If anything, it just created another opportunity for me to advocate for the “real deal” and allowed me to see just how big of a difference one conversation about music therapy can make.   Additionally, I realized that while many more are discovering what music therapy is, there is still SUCH a need for music therapy advocacy! 

Speaking of…

I’m beyond excited about an upcoming opportunity to speak with my local congressman’s district director on the 22^nd of this month.  I hope to further spread the word about music therapy and the need for state recognition!  If any of you have spoken with the local government regarding music therapy, I’d love to hear any suggestions you may have for me!  Thank you in advance!

Blog Series on SLP and MT Collaboration: Part 3

The purpose of this blog series is to advocate for the collaboration of speech therapy and music therapy. 

(If you missed the list of the blog posts that will be included in this series, click here!)  

Part 3. Session Plans and Ideas!

(Don’t forget to take a look at all of the FREE downloads at the bottom of this post!!)

To bypass oodles of scrolling, I’ve put all of the ideas into one Powerpoint: Click here to view it:

 

(and don’t worry, you won’t be automatically downloading it…but the website will give you the option to do so, if you desire!)

Using songs that focus on enunciation and articulation can contribute to the patient’s phonological awareness and provide them with many opportunities to practice the phonemes on which they are focusing in their speech therapy sessions. For instance, if the patient is working on articulating the phoneme /b/, then the music therapist may choose a song such as, “Bubbles” (see link below) – a tune that focuses on /b/ in the initial position.  Embedded within the song are many repetitions and, therefore, opportunities for the patient to say and practice the letter /b/ (AND, you can use real bubbles!!) 

In addition to working on enunciation and articulation skills, music sessions can also support the patient’s learning of the sequencing of sounds, as well as listening and discriminating words within the songs (Zoller, 1991).  Auditory discrimination tasks, such as listening for when there is sound versus no sound, can be easily used in musical activities.  One such activity could involve the therapist playing musical instruments behind a barrier or screen while the patient is required to listen and focus their attention on when the sound is being played, or even, after practice, training, and time, be asked to identify which instrument is being played (see “The Instrument Game” below).

The patient’s AAC device, such as using signs or gestures, pointing to pictures in a communication book, or using a computer-based device with synthesized speech output, can all be utilized in the music intervention.  For example, the word “hello” can be recorded on the patient’s Big Mac button device, which can allow the patient to participate in the hello song, when cued.

It is important for the therapist to instill a sense of active listening in the patient, rather than just “looking”.  This shift in focus of attention can support the focused music listening.  Acoustic highlighting is another technique that should be considered when working with patients with communication disorders.  This consists of putting extra emphasis on the key words that the therapist wants the patient to hear.  By using visual clarifiers, the therapist can help the patient pair the sound and what word or object that sound represents – creating a clear, direct connection or relationship for the patient.

This information may have a better chance of being communicated to the patient through the use of slower speech, as a rapid rate of presenting acoustic information could be quite difficult for a patient with a receptive language disorder. However, while this is an important and appropriate communication technique, the speech should not be so slow that it becomes unnatural. Finally, the MT should give ample processing time for the patient to understand all of the complex speech skills that may be new to them (McConkey Robbins, 2000).

Other songs, ideas, and visuals:

The Instrument Game! - By Rachel Smith  (See slideshow for further explanation)

Brown Bear

Instrument visuals

Occupation visuals   (check out HOW I use them here)

Mary Wore a Red Dress visuals — I tweaked the original song a bit and added verses like, “Johnny wore a blue hat, blue hat, blue hat, Johnny wore a blue hat, all day long”.  THEN, you can have the kids look at another person in the group (encouraging eye contact, of course!) and leading the group in singing about what Suzy is wearing that day.  There are LOTS of things you can do with this song.

10 Little Speckled Frogs (this will always be one of my “back pocket” session ideas)

Bubbles

My Pinterest Pages:

Instruments

Session Ideas

Collaborative Resources

Rachel See Smith, MA, MT-BC, is a board-certified music therapist with a B.A. in communication disorders from Truman State University and a M.A. in music therapy from the University of Iowa.  She currently works as an independent music therapy contractor in Austin, Texas, and maintains an informational music therapy blog, exploremusictherapy.wordpress.com and the online paper, “The Collaborative Therapist”: http://paper.li/RachelSeeSmith/1311918262.  To read about Rachel’s private practice, visit: www.musictherapyservices.net.