How’s your summer been going?

So far, my kiddos have done tennis camp and music camp. We’ve sprinkled in lots of pool time, play dates, and even some blueberry picking, (followed by blueberry pancakes for dinner, which I highly recommend!)

In addition to these fun summer outings, I’ve also been busy here on the blog.

This summer, I started a Session Sneak Peek Series, where I give you a sneak peek into some of my sessions with tweens and teens with autism and related disabilities.

I always love to see what other music therapists are up to, and I thought you might too!

In the first blog, I gave you a peek into a session where I led a movement experience to a popular Imagine Dragons song, did The Affirmations Rap by Snoop Dogg (with some add ons), and led an auditory perception experience with pop music (“Levitating” on clarinet anyone?)

The following week, it was all about Taylor Swift, and how to incorporate her music into your sessions in a therapeutic way.

Believe it or not, it is possible to target therapeutic goals with the song “Bad Blood.”

Today, I’m giving you a sneak peek into my group music therapy sessions with middle and high schoolers this week.

Pop Singer Movement Combos – We started off our session as we always do…with MOVEMENT to wake up our bodies and brains. We set a rap track created on Garage Band, and students shouted out their favorite singer or band. They then created a movement to go along with the singer or band’s name. We went around the room, performing each name and movement to the beat, until we had created a sequence.

This is a fantastic way to work on attention and memory skills (it stretched my memory skills too!)

More details on this musical experience, plus TONS of others, are included in this Elevate Email Idea Package (+10 continuing ed credits).

Guess Who 2024 – After moving and grooving, we played a game of Guess Who (instructions here), customized with my students’ favorite singers and bands.

This is a way for students and clients to work on social communication skills, auditory perception and listening skills, and executive function skills in an inviting way.

I had a group of middle school boys completely hooked!

Dancing – We took a vote and ended by dancing, freestyle, to “The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson, since he is a crowd favorite across the board. Students were invited to dance with a partner or group.

Work on gross motor skills? Check. Work on social skills? Check check.

I hope this gives you a few more creative ideas for your summer sessions. Stay tuned as I continue to share more Session Sneak Peeks this summer!

If you’d like more creative ideas for your sessions, check out the Summer Session Planning Pack. The E-Book is packed with creative, summer-themed session ideas for your school-age and teen clients.

Nell Miller, MT-BC called the Session Planning E-Book  “creative and wonderful” and says “I appreciate your ideas. You’ve helped me think of more varied things to try.”