Music Therapy with a Nonverbal Adult in Boise

Sometimes it is interesting the things that excite me during a music therapy session.  One of the great things about music therapy is that it is personal to each individual.  Everybody has different things that we are working on through music therapy.  I got really excited about a seemingly small thing because it was a huge step with the person I was working with.

I have been working with a nonverbal young adult woman for a while, and she has a real difficulty connecting with people and especially with playing an instrument by herself.  This week I kept encouraging her to play my keyboard.  I held it out to her, and she started reaching her hand out.  That was a big step in and of itself for her.  But I kept the keyboard there and she reached her hand closer and closer to the keys until she played a note.

After she played the note she got the biggest smile on her face.  She got out of her chair and gave me a big hug. Who knew that one note on the keyboard could bring that much excitement and connection.

Music Therapy dealing with intense emotions in Boise

I am working with a young man in Boise who is working on a dealing with some intense emotions.  One of the beautiful things about music therapy is that we can address things without the client realizing that is what we are addressing.  So during our music therapy sessions, I am teaching him different things on the guitar and we are playing and singing different music and generally "jamming out" as he likes to call it.  In between we talk about using music as a positive outlet, and he discusses his feelings.  We have written songs talking about what is going on with him.

During the session he looked up at me and he said, "You don't know how much I look forward to this every week.  This is really the only thing that I look forward to."  So, I am able to help him work through his difficult and intense emotions without ever having to ask him, "how are you feeling?" or say "let's talk about your emotions."

Unexpected music therapy outcome in Meridian

Music therapy can address specific needs, and sometimes it can have positive effects without having specifically addressed them.  There is a young man that I am working with in Meridian who is nonverbal and also has a lot of difficulty swallowing.  One of the goals that I am doing with him is working on using his voice more.  He is doing singing (though he doesn't form words) and he is beginning to verbalize when I ask him questions.  That in and of itself is great.  We want to see him using his voice as much as we can, and his verbalizations are getting more clear so that family is saying that they are understanding him more.

There is another effect that has occurred because he is using his voice more.  The family has noticed that his incident of choking has gone down most likely because he is using his voice more and strengthening the muscles.  One of the things I love about music therapy is that like anything there is side effects.  However, music therapy's side effects are positive rather than negative.

An Experience with a Music Therapy Group in Boise

Doing music therapy in groups has a different dimension than individual music therapy.  Sometimes it is the peers that they are interacting with that bring things out of them.  Recently while doing a music therapy group I saw an amazing interaction.

One of the participants is very withdrawn and one of the participants is very outgoing.  It is really fun to see the outgoing person really draw something special out of the withdrawn person.  This was really evident when we started to do some dancing to the music.  I have not seen the withdrawn person dance, but when her peer came over and asked her to dance she stood up, had the biggest smile on her face and danced with him for the whole song.