How to Benefit from Music Therapy

Male: So what kind of conditions you can do with music therapy with again? Dr.: Autism, developmentally disabled, Cerebral Palsy, Alzheimer’s, usually any condition. Male: It is common. Dr.: It is common and you… Male: Listening to the drums for me but it is common to the person. Dr.: Yes. Male: If people can express themselves through the language of music, is that true? Dr.: Yes, through rhythm patterns. For the kids you can use a parachute, you can use rhythm scores, you can use drums, you can give him a box if parents cannot afford a drum. Male: Some of these kids get very calm by using the music therapy? Dr.: Yes. Male: Do you find some kids who are autistic and they seem to be better? Dr.: Yes. Male: Do you see the function? Dr.: They are calmed down considerably and some of them I have seen, develop a spoken work when they could not speak. Male: One of the hallmarks of some kids with autism is they are very sensitive to sound. Dr.: They are. Male: Sometimes a little sound, they over react to. Dr.: It depends on the child and it depends… Male: We are not saying, I was saying some… So in other words, they could take that little gyration and make it positive? Dr.: Yes. Male: So maybe, music has a common effect because of that. Dr.: I found out that autistic kids respond best to a piano. Male: Of all the instruments? Anybody know why? Dr.: I think it is because there are different set of tones on a piano I suppose to a drum’s harsh sounding. Male: Drums don’t work as well? Dr.: No because they are harsh sounding. Some kids can take them but some of them cannot. Male: So if we are going to look at kids eight or nine years old, that is a lot of repetitive action labeled potentially autistic. It is something you could try, it is not going to cure the kid but could increase the quality of life for that particular individual. Dr.: Right, especially if have a lot of repetitive motion to it and depending how they are feeling you could have them be out with a slow song, a simple song or if they are really, really loud they can do something fast. Male: So music therapy is also as good as a therapist… Dr.: Yes. Male: You have to know what to do if we set the ties and observe. This type of music, this type of sound, this type of instrument works better with this kid, and maybe in another kid it looks similar. Dr.: Right, and that is one of the reasons our Helping Hands also exist because all the services are customized. There is no set for them, there are no sets of program for each person. A lot of agencies, they have a set format that they go by. Usually you have one problem but that one problem underlies something else and then we try to solve the whole problem not just one piece of the puzzle. Male: So you are trying to improve the educational location. You are trying to increase the quality of life and trying to get various services for them. Offer some therapy in terms of music therapy and if the parents see the kid is better, their quality of life is better, and marriage which avoid frail in these situations sometimes get a little bit stronger, is that true? Dr. : That is true and I found a lot of parents when they order for workshops they call me and say when are you doing the next one? Because I do a lot of educational workshops and I do a lot of handouts and they find an information that they didn’t even know existed. One of the biggest workshops we had going last year was helping emergencies. They did not know that they were in low in income and they can call Homeline Security and get free evacuation kits and stuff. These are stuffs that is hidden.