What value do music therapists provide to young families?

[Julie Palmieri]

What value do music therapists provide to young families?

[Sarah Braverman]

Music therapists can talk to young families about the music interventions being used in the sessions with their children. They can explain to the families what the child gains from these interventions and how to generalize them into their daily lives. Music therapists can also provide young families with music interventions that can be used in the home that will be useful in helping their children in other tasks associated with their day-to-day activities. Music therapists could even tell parents how they what they can do to use music as a way of interacting with their children and strengthening their family bond.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

This week’s questions really help us to understand the needs of where we work and the skills we have to support those needs.

[Talia Morales]

Music therapists offer enormous value to young families and my list could be very long lol! But some examples include the role of MT as educator for young families, education related to development, demo’ing strategies and coaching to assist with development via music, making music accessible for carry over at home and provide a successful experience across ages and development. Furthermore, the MT’s role and value in making music an interactive experience, broaden the range of how to engage in music beyond a solely receptive act of watching Youtube videos via social opportunities with peers, bonding opportunities between family members, provide a lens to witness each other’s’ strengths and share in the simple yet profound joy of making music together. Also, because MT’s work in diverse settings in collaboration with a variety of agencies and institutions, we provide the additional value of offering information on community resources young families can access to receive services and additional support and networking with others who provide valuable services ie. asking your child’s kindergarten teacher about how their child may qualify for MT via their IEP etc.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Thank you so much for your insights!

[Julie Palmieri]

Music therapists look at the whole child. They are not looking at a specific area of growth and development, and they can use music in such a way to help with that area of development.

The music therapist also knows how to change the intricacies of music to illicit a response (dynamics, tempo, timbre, style, etc.).

Music therapists are also incredibly responsive and observant and can communicate what they observe to caregivers.

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