Friendship Circle is one of my favorite programs to work with. It is an incredible organization that provides services for children and teens with autism, as well as the opportunity for them to make friends and work on social skills in a supportive environment. I work with Friendship Circle by providing group music therapy services for [...]
It's not always easy to find songs that are: a) considered "cool" by the teens I work and b) able to be used therapeutically. I know because this year I've spent countless hours listening to songs and watching videos on YouTube. Sometimes it's slim pickings. But, a few weeks ago I came back to a song [...]
Did you grab your FREEBIES yet? I'm talking about the Rap Track MP3 & PDF of the Friendship Rap that you can use in your sessions with elementary or middle school students, or with teens. I love sharing the new ideas that I come up with and test out in my sessions. What I love [...]
It can be TOUGH to find pop songs that are "appropriate" for our teen music therapy sessions. I get it. There are drug references, sexual innuendos and curse words in many of the new songs out now. When I'm looking for songs that are "appropriate," I'm looking for songs that are free of inappropriate language and [...]
Before I launch into today's blog post, I want to give a huge THANK YOU to those of you who took the "better blog survey" I sent out. Sara Devine was the winner randomly chosen to receive a free E-Book - The Rap Pack for Teens! I appreciate your survey responses so much and [...]
In my last blog post, I started a brand new series on how to AMP UP your teen music therapy sessions. I love using fresh, new ideas in my sessions, so I'm happy to share what's worked well with my tween & teen groups. Today, I want to share a musical game I created called the ABCs [...]
"Woo-oo-oo-ohh," "Woo-oo-oo-ohh." I constantly have this running through my head after I listen to "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors. It's catchy and it repeats over and over in the song...so I find it running over and over through my head! Today's blog post is the first of a series on how to [...]
I love Bruno Mars. He's got catchy tunes, a fantastic voice and puts on a great show when he performs live (can you believe those curlers?!) So it's not surprising that he's VERY popular with the tween and teen groups I lead for the organization Friendship Circle of Miami. When it came time to choose a [...]
Last week I facilitated a music experience where the teens in my group wrote and performed original raps using the line "I know I can ____________." I just had to share with you the powerful lyrics that were written by one of the group members who is on the autism spectrum (shared with client permission): [...]
"When I'm gone, when I'm go-ne. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, you're gonna miss me by my talk. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone." That song has been stuck in my head more than a time or two the past few months! If you don't [...]
