This week I am on vacation from my job as a music therapist at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy. Yay! But, I'm not off from my work at Wholesome Harmonies! So, I decided this would be a great opportunity to share some new songs with you! Each day this week I will share a new song, [...]
When I come up with new activities for my sessions at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy, I often consult the teacher's lesson plans. Not only do they give me lots of great ideas for new song topics, but it ensures that my sessions are directly lining up with and supporting the classroom curriculum. This week, some [...]
I was recently contacted by the editor of Specialneeds.com, an online resource for parents of children with special needs. The editor asked if I would take part in Autism Awareness Month by writing an article about music therapy and autism. I was more than happy to do this! This topic is near and dear to [...]
Auditory Stimulation In honor of the beginning of Spring (although it always feels like Spring in Miami!) I'm continuing my series on Sense-ational Activities. Sense-ational activities are those that target the five senses. I've shared activities that provide olfactory stimulation, tactile stimulation, and multisensory stimulation. Today's post will focus on an activity I use to provide auditory stimulation. [...]
I love my job. I'll just say it. I have been employed full-time as a music therapist at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy since 2006. I remember when I first started the job thinking "This feeling will pass. It will become mundane." But it never did. I still wake up in the morning and am excited [...]
Today I'd like to share one of my most popular songs, and it's about...BODY PARTS! I use this song frequently with the children I work with who have special needs and it's always a hit. For older children, you can make the song more complex by using body parts such as: neck, shoulder, back, and [...]
"Every week had 7 days, every week has 7 days!" The 'Days of the Week' Song is often heard being sung through the hallways of UCP's Early Beginnings Academy. For my preschool and Kindergarten children, this song teaches some very important concepts: - Every week has 7 days - The names of the days of the week [...]
What do you do? The idea for this song came about when I was working with a child with autism, providing individual music therapy. I found that it was easy for her to learn academic skills (numbers, colors, lettters) because of the rote memorization involved to learn the information. However, when it came to questions about how [...]
One of the places where I provide music therapy is the Chabad Center of Kendall's Friendship Circle. Friendship Circle is a place where children and teens with disabilities can come to take part in a variety of activities: karate, yoga, gymnastics, dance, art, music therapy, and more. Each child [...]
In my group and individual music therapy sessions at UCP I have the opportunity to co-treat with amazing occupational therapists. We discuss often how their occupational therapy (OT) goals and objectives can be addressed during my sessions. Because of the increasing number of children we see on the autism spectrum, sensory integration and sensory processing disorder [...]
