logo

Drop us a Line

info@themusictherapycenter.com

mobile logo

December 2015

Kristin Hurley is currently pursuing her Bachelors of Arts in Music Therapy from California State University, Northridge, where her primary instrument is flute. Kristin has been actively involved in the community by volunteering as a music companion at Rady Children’s Hospital, Seasons Hospice of Los Angeles, various geriatrics facilities and at various elementary schools working with children with specials needs. Starting in 2009, when Kristin successfully completed the Music Together Teaching Certification developed by the Center for Music and Young Children, Princeton, New Jersey, her principal focus has been in Early Childhood Music. However, through practicum, Kristin gained experience in working with various populations such as; adults with traumatic brain injury, children with special needs including; autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities

Moving onto college, Kristin initially began to study the prerequisites for Nursing while taking a few music classes here and there. After just one semester of college and discovering the field of Music Therapy, Kristin decided to combine her love of music and her desire to heal. Kristin was determined to transfer to California State University, Northridge and study Music Therapy. Kristin’s first experience with music and children with special needs was in the cancer unit of San Diego’s Rady Children’s hospital. Kristin was invited to volunteer her time and music at the department’s monthly birthday celebration. Kristin had no prior experience to working with children with special needs but Kristin was over taken by her natural tendency to nurture as she lovingly brought the joy of music to the children of Rady Children’s hospital. It was after this experience that Kristin knew that music is for everyone and that she had found where she was meant to be.

“My love of music began about seventeen years ago when my aunt gave me my first flute and I began playing in my middle school band. The role that music played in my life began to transform into shaping who I am today. It is in music where I find strength, joy and healing and it is music, love and education that drives my passion to promote well-being in the lives of others.”

This week, Kristin presented a TDM for one of her clients. She did a great job of designed an intervention that played to his strengths to address his needs. The most interesting part was the discussion afterward.

We spent a while analyzing what the real purpose of the intervention was to decide what NMT technique it fell under. This was really helpful because that is something that can be tricky, especially for someone like me who did not come into this internship with a lot of NMT knowledge. It was such a thoughtful and important discussion and helped give direction to our thought process when looking at our interventions. Many of our interventions can be adapted to serve so many purposes and address different goals in various domains, so it is important to remember to take the time to make sure every choice we make has a purpose directed at our goal.

 

  • Becca

Symposium this week wrapped up our three-week discussion on The Out-of-Sync Child. The previous weeks focused more on the information provided in the book to enhance our understanding of sensory processing disorders (SPD). This week, we discussed intervention ideas provided in the book for each area of SPD (i.e. visual, auditory, vestibular, etc.) and brainstormed ways to add music.

There are many ways music can be used to help children with SPD. One common technique we use in our music therapy sessions for children with SPD who are seeking stimulation, is to use a cabasa and roll it on their body while singing a song. The sensory input provided by the cabasa can help a child with SPD become more aware of their body and help them calm down when over-stimulated. Music also provides rhythmic structure, which can be beneficial for vestibular and proprioceptive areas of SPD. Rhythm is used to elicit certain movements and provide stability during interventions. The list goes on an on of ways music can promote the needs of children with SPD. Our series on The Out-of-Sync Child over the last several weeks has helped increase my knowledge of SPD and provided beneficial discussions on interventions we can use in our music therapy sessions.

-Tara

In symposium last week, we began a three-week series on “The Out-of-Sync Child” by Carol Stock Kranowitz. The first portion of the book we were required to read discussed Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD). Some children can only have SPD, while others may have also have similar diagnoses, such as ADHD or Autism. SPD can be defined in four categories; Sensory-modulation problems, sensory discrimination problems, sensory-based motor problems, and associated regulatory and behavior problems. Each category

Sensory-modulation problems are associated with frequency (several times a day), intensity (avoids or seeks sensory stimulation), or duration (unusual responses last for several minutes). A child may be over responsive to sensory stimuli, under responsive, or seeking more sensory stimulation. The second category, sensory-discrimination problems include difficulty in distinguishing one sensation from another. Third, when a child exhibits sensory-based motor problems, they often have problems using both sides of their body (bilateral coordination). Lastly, the fourth category, associated regulatory and behavior problems, includes inefficient sensory processing and other developmental problems. A child with similar diagnoses may not necessarily have SPD. Overall, this first week of our three-week series was an informative overview of SPD.

-Tara

Camp Jam (Joining Arts & Music) is our popular camp for youth with autism that provides an opportunities for social skills and developing new friends through fun and interactive music experiences.  Provided three times a year:  Holiday special needs camp (December), Spring break camp (March) and our week long summer camp for youth with autism and special needs (August).

The Vivo Older Adult Program was developed in order to bring about positive changes in functioning through music strategies resulting in healthier, happier living. Music therapy sessions, whether individual or group based, are provided at one of MTCCA’s clinics, in the home or at an on-site location in San Diego County (including day programs, hospice facilities, health care centers, assisted living facilities, skilled nursing centers, independent living retirement communities, and in medical settings/hospitals).

This is a new monthly group launched May 2011 and is hosted by Angela Neve & Julie Guy, Owners of the Music Therapy of California, where kids learn to interact, communicate and play through experimenting with music making. This program is a life-line for newly diagnosed families who have just entered the world of autism and an incredible tool for parents to get more language from their child. To RSVP Contact Lisa@autsimtreeproject.org or 619-222-4465

This week in symposium we worked together to develop a TDM for a client that we all work or have worked with in the past. We discussed his various strengths, making sure to emphasize the way he is motivated by and responds to music. We talked about different approaches we have taken to connect with him and build a strong therapeutic relationship. We then moved onto his needs and areas in which he can improve. From there, we came up with a goal to address, which happened to be centered around speech and language. At this point, Angela asked us all to spend a few moments researching different ways that other therapists (such as a Speech Language Pathologist or Respiratory Therapist) would address this goal. This search yielded many new resources for us to try with him. Next, we discussed the ways we could adapt those resources and intentionally use music to enhance their effectiveness. Last, we talked about ways to generalize these skills so that he could apply them in real life.

It was great to work on this in a group because our ideas fueled each other, and we were able to come up with so many ways to address his needs, and hearing all of our different perspectives helped me expand the way I think about therapy. It is a constant learning experience and that makes it so exciting!

-Becca

Symposium this week was a little different than the past symposiums. Julie led Becca and I in a discussion over a book entitled “The Dream Giver”. The book follows the journey of the character “ordinary” and his big dreams, yet he faces “border bullies” and “Wasteland”, while also receiving support from “border buddies” and “border busters” to end up in “the Land of Promise”. Each of these analogies refer to various obstacles and types of people we may encounter on our own journey to pursue our dreams. This topic was quite appropriate for both Becca and I at this point in our lives. Having both had the dream to be in California and making the giant leap to move out here for this internship, we are familiar with the ups and downs of having big dreams and the many obstacles we may encounter. The book mentions “border bullies”, which refer to people in your life that may not be supportive of your dreams and can demonstrate their issues in various ways. Whether they feel threatened, they find problems in everything, or they fear losing control, it is important to understand your “border bullies” and why they may be feeling the way they do. However, it is equally important to recognize your “border buddies” and “border busters”, which are your champions; they support you, encourage you, and do what they can to help you pursue your dream.

While discussing this book, reflecting and applying it to my own life, it helped me realize how far I have already come in my journey of dreams. The step to come out to California alone was a risk, but with the support of my “border buddies” and “border busters”, I made it. The path that directed me this far in life has not been without trials and complications, but I am proud of where it has led me. I am happy at this point in my life, things are looking up, and I am excited for the next adventure that lies ahead. Not to say the journey is over, because as we learned in the discussion, the bigger your dreams, the longer the preparation and tougher the journey may be. And I am a big dreamer!

-Tara

Symposium this week was all about the affects of improvisation on the brain and the various styles of improvisation music therapists can use with clients. We watched a TED talk with Charles Limb about improvisation and the brain. Limb presents information found in a study he conducted about neuroimages of the brain during improvisation. Using an adapted keyboard that fit on a person’s lap, they were able to examine musician brains while they were improvising melodies on the keyboard. It was interesting to see the areas of the brain that light up when someone is improvising and how those parts of the brain affect other developmental areas.

One of my biggest take-aways from this topic however was the discussion regarding therapeutic methods in improvisation. We learned more ideas of how to incorporate improvisation in music therapy sessions. Some of the various methods of improvisation include mirroring, matching, dialouging, and accompanying. Mirroring is when you do exactly what the client does at the same time. Matching is where you improvise music that matches the client’s style of playing, while maintaining the same tempo, dynamic, and other musical elements. Dialouging is the unique experience where the client and therapist communicate thorugh their playing, while accompanying is providing rhythmic, harmonic, or melodic accompaniment but remaining dynamically underneath the client’s music. This provides a role as a soloist.

There are many other ways to implement improvisation with clients; these are just a few that stood out to me. I look forward to the opportunity to try out some of these methods with clients in my upcoming sessions. With the knowledge of how improvisation affects the brain, based on the TED talk we watched, and now the information of therapeutic methods for improvisation, I feel more equipped to experiment with this for some of my clients.