Back in March, I was given the opportunity to assist the MTCCA booth at the NFAR race. Families and professionals were approaching our booth and asking questions and this provided me with the opportunity to really learn about our company. Not only did I want to be able to thoroughly answer the questions of those who approached me but I also wanted to approach them and give them information. I was able to pick out the most important and useful information to share in a short amount of time in a language that families and professionals could understand.
What You Should Know About Your Internship Site
The companies mission and philosophy
The services that are offered
The location of clinics
The offered schedule
The pricing and if covered by insurance
At The Music Therapy Center of California we believe that every person is capable of leading a happy, engaging and rewarding life. We offer individual and group music therapy sessions and we also offer adaptive lessons. We have two locations, one in Mission Valley and the second in Encinitas. We offer sessions Monday-Saturday. If you are interested in finding out if music therapy is the right fit for your child or loved one, we offer free 30 minute screenings.
Ever since myfirst semester of music therapy coursework, I did not find the autoharp very useful. I figured, I can play the guitar, I prefer the guitar, therefore i have no use for the autoharp. However now that I am in an internship in Neurologic Music Therapy. I see a the the autoharp in a whole new light.
If I have learned anything about Sensorimotor Movement in my internship it is that you want the music to do the work in driving the movement.The music should tell the body what to do. For the music to reflect a movement like shoulder rotations (such as swinging the arms above the head) the music should simulate a rolling motion, such as the sound that you would hear if you were to strum every string of the autoharp. The autoharp having 36-48 strings, which allows for large rolling movements such as hip flexion’s (swinging your leg as sing in the following video) and shoulder rotations (mentioned above). (*Disclosure, I am not belittling the guitar with it’s 6 strings. The guitar can still be played with the intention of inspiring movement)
Below you will find definitions of the two Sensorimotor NMT techniques that I have become familiar with over the last 5 months of internship.
Patterned Sensory Enhancement (PSE) is a technique which uses the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and dynamic-acoustical elements of music to provide temporal, spatial, and force cues for movements which reflect functional exercises and activities of daily living. PSE is (a) applied to movements that are not rhythmical by nature (e.g., most arm and hand movements, functional movement sequences such as dressing or sit-to-stand transfers) and (b) it provides more than just temporal cues. PSE uses musical patterns to assemble single, discrete motions (e.g., arm and hand movements during reaching and grasping), into functional movement patterns and sequences. PSE cues movements temporally, spatially, and dynamically during training exercises (Thaut et al. 1991).
Therapeutic Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP) is the playing of musical instruments in order to exercise and stimulate functional movement patterns. Appropriate musical instruments are selected in a therapeutically meaningful way in order to emphasize range of motion, endurance, strength, functional hand movements, finger dexterity, and limb coordination (Elliot 1982, Clark and Chadwick, 1980). During TIMP, instruments are not typically played in the traditional manner, but are placed in different locations to facilitate practice of the desired functional movements (Thaut 2005). Speech and Language Rehabilitation
Alright, alright… Parks and Recreation aside, never underestimate the power of self care! Which was (conveniently enough) the topic of our symposium last week. Although our discussion of self-care didn’t exactly include cupcakes and new clothes, we did discuss some very practical and helpful tips on taking care of your body for the long-run.
Whether it be exercising 3 times a week, taking a full day to relax and do no work, or catching a sunset at the beach, everybody has their own routine for decompressing and maintaining some balance (and sanity!) in their lives. As music therapists, it is so important for us to take care of our bodies in order to be at our best with our clients every day, as well as preserve our health and well-being so we will still be as able at 50 (and up) as we were at 25.
In Kate Montgomery’s book, “End your Carpal Tunnel Pain without Surgery” she has coined a 12 step method of stretches and self-care exercises to maintain healthy joints and muscles.
Here are a few tips from her method to maintain health and function in important areas like the wrists, back, and fingers!
Posture – It’s all about those 90 degree angles when it comes to posture. Bad habits in posture can cause recurrent minor injuries to the neck joints, so it’s so important to be aware of how you carry yourself throughout the day, whether it’s working at a desk or bending down to be on a client’s level, be mindful of keeping 90 degree angles in your back, neck, and legs.
Wrists – There are 3 exercises for the muscles, tendons and joints in the wrist. Wrist presses, wrist pulls, and wrist squeezes. Practicing these daily will help keep your wrists in alignment and free of pain.
Fingers – What an important part of the body for music therapists! Finger exercises are done one at a time, practicing dexterity and isolation of each finger. Finger pulls, circles, bends (at each of the three joints) are a few ways to help open and restore energy within the finger joints as well as maintain strength in each individual finger (which can be really helpful for guitar).
You can practice these exercises on your lunch break, at a stop light, or any time between clients in the office. Make them a part of your self-care practices after exercising or while relaxing in order to maintain dexterity and full function of these important parts of our bodies!
Tuesday’s in the life of an MTCCA Intern are busy, busy days. But Tuesday’s are also one of the best days of the week because the junior and senior interns co-treat together. We have the opportunity to co-treat in individual and group sessions. Let me tell you, it is incredibly helpful in group sessions to have 2 sets of hands and 2 strong voices to help lead interventions. In a perfect world, music therapists would always be able to co-treat large group sessions, but in a the real world we aren’t always so lucky.
In my three months of internship thus far, I have learned that things are not always going to go as expected. Have it be an intervention that you thought was going to be great, but really wasn’t or that you thought you were going to always co-treat in large groups, but you occasionally have to fly solo. With facing both of the above situations, I have learned to always be prepared with a plan A, B and C, don’t be afraid to work out of your norm and utilize your resources. And with this, I have a few learning’s to share.
Tips for Treating Large Groups Solo
Breathe, you can do this.
Keep the music going and if it stops, talk – Sing a cappella if you need your hands for something else besides playing guitar (ie. modeling a movement, passing out and collecting instruments) If the music can’t keep going, use the silence as a teaching opportunity, drop a few informational blurbs on the benefits of what you are doing.
Recruit the staff! – When co-treating, one intern is facilitating the music while the other is assisting the clients in movement and interacting 1:1. Since you’re on your own, ask the staff to assist with playing instruments or assist in a movement, they are there to help.
Bring a speaker– If you have the opportunity to use a speaker, do it! Recruiting the staff is incredibly helpful but sometimes you might need more. In this case, have your music cued up and let the music happen while you free up your hands to interact with the clients.
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.
Symposium this week wrapped up our three-week discussion on The Out-of-SyncChild. 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.
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.
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!
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!
