One thing I've learned in my fourteen years as a music therapist is that it is better when we work together. Cue Jack Johnson singing "it's always better when we're together." One of my favorite parts about working in a school setting is co-treating with other professionals. I have learned a tremendous amount from co-treating [...]
I've recently been beefing up my arsenal of activities for the school-age population (grades K-5). Two years ago I started working at a school for children with special needs, and it's been a great exercise in creativity for me! I have lots of ideas for working with children and teens, but not many that are [...]
A few weeks ago, I shared a musical experience I created called The Noun Rap. I designed it for the 3rd, 4th & 5th grade students I work with at Children's Resources Educational Center. I figured, hey, if they have to learn about nouns, why not at least make it cool? (You can listen to [...]
The ink has barely dried on my Beach Themed blog posts and already I'm realizing people are posting first day of school pics of their kids. That can only mean one thing - it's back to school time! Looks like it's time to shift gears. I'm excited, though, because at the end of August I'll be [...]
Today is the final post for my video series on Music Therapy + Cognition. I've had so much fun putting these videos together! You can catch up on the past posts and videos here: Part 1: Using the clarinet to work on localization Part 2: Using rhythm instruments to work on auditory perception skills Today [...]
There are a ton of lesson and session planning resources out there for teachers and therapists who work with children. Just scroll through Pinterest and you'll see the ideas out there are endless! One of the best resources I've found for creating visuals for my academic activities is a site called FileFolderFun.com. This site has free [...]
Today's post is Part 1 of my summer blog series on movin' and groovin' during your music therapy sessions with kids! Movement is so important when children are learning - it wakes up the body and the brain and actively engages children in the learning process. In the video below, I am working on shape identification [...]
I don't know about you, but sometimes it's refreshing to just drop all the things you were "supposed to do" from your To Do list and just spend time with family and enjoy a beautiful day. That is just what I did yesterday, which is why I didn't get the chance to write my usual Saturday morning blog post. I [...]
"Here is a song about S...S, S, the letter S!" Here's a little tune to address the letter S. There are a few ways to implement this activity: You can ask children to identify various S-word pictures; you can play "I Spy" and ask them to identify various S-words around the room; or you can sing nonsense words [...]
Welcome to another edition of...Saturday Song Share! The weather has been unbearably hot here in Miami (as always!) With that being the case, I thought it would be appropriate to release my song entitled "I Like to Eat Ice Cream." I can eat ice cream any time of year, but there is nothing better than cold [...]
