[Andrea U]

I am currently working with adults but would love to get around to doing more music therapy with children. I live in Toronto, the biggest city in Toronto. Unfortunately, music therapy is still a relatively unknown profession, and those that do know of it think we only work with autistic kids and seniors. It does not help that music therapy programs in this city only pop up in long-term care! I believe there is room here through a program like Sprouting Melodies that expands the stereotypical population to support the development of children into well-rounded adults and from somebody who understands the developmental stages of children like a music therapist. Kindermusik and other early childhood music classes are very popular, but Sprouting Melodies is not only child-centered, but also family-centered which is something my community desperately needs.

[Andrea U]

I have a story that is similar to Petras Downs Syndrome client. This particular client was living in a rehabilitation hospital and definitely had a sense of stubborness from Down`s. I believe, from the readings and lectures, this child was in the independence stage. Thankfully, she was just beginning to walk and would love to be on the mats in her hospital room so she could stomp around. I was given the goal of getting to wear glasses by using music as a motivator. Initially, when I put on the glasses for her she would rip it off her face. Therefore, I guided her in putting on the glasses, rather than I forcibly putting them on for her. At the end of three weeks, she created a sign to ask for her glasses or she would just put them on herself. Six weeks later, she was comfortably putting them on for ten minutes as a time. I believe we let her be independent and to let herself get comfortable with the glasses which was later generalized to the other professionals.

[Andrea U]

I thought this week’s lecture provided a great theoretical background into the developmental stages. When I was at a pediatric hospital, I had the opportunity to provide the staff’s children with early childhood music classes. I would think about what each child did on that day but never really thought much further than that. When I was watching the lecture, it provided me with a theoretical framework that I wish I had in that clinical experience, so it was nice to see some practical work combined with theory.

[Andrea U]

I really enjoyed Elizabeth’s emphasis on FUN this week. As a relatively inexperienced music therapist, I like to create fun environments for any client and find it as one of the greatest motivating factors in any therapy session. Similar to Keeley, I like to feel like I am a kid when I am around kids (that’s also another thing I enjoyed about this week’s lecture, acting like a kid again!) We are taught to be empathetic to our clients’ experiences as part of our training and I often find I forget that I was once a kid too! Going forwards in any future work, I would like to be more aware of this.

[Andrea U]

Hi everybody!

My name is Andrea and I am from Toronto, Canada. I graduated from the Master of Music Therapy degree at Wilfred Laurier University last year and have just completed my internship. Throughout my internships and placements, I worked at a pediatric rehab hospital, a women’s and children’s shelter, and the pediatric unit of an acute care hospital. I am also currently doing a ABA course. I am interested in learning as much as I can from the Sprouting Melodies course as I begin what will surely be an exciting career!

[Author]

Posts