It has been an incredible year and I have learned so, so much!

I’m looking forward to the coming months, where I have a few major life changes coming down the line….

Even with all the changes happening, I’ve still been keeping up with my private practice clients and generating lots of new ideas that I can share with you here on the blog!

One new idea I came up with one the spot in a dyad session a few weeks ago is called Musical Hide & Seek.

My goals were to facilitate interaction and communication between two siblings; they both loved my stuffed toy frog…and thus Musical Hide & Seek was created.

Here’s how this intervention works:

–  One child is the ‘hider.’ One child is the ‘seeker.’ The ‘seeker’ closes his eyes as the ‘hider’ sneaks around the room and tries to find the best hiding place for the stuffed toy frog. As he is finding a place to hide the frog, I will mimic what he’s doing musically on the guitar (maybe a boom chuck in minor if he’s tip toeing around; or I will strum through a chord progression while counting backwards from 10 to 1).

– Once the frog is hidden, I’ll sing through an original song “Where is the Frog Hiding?”

– Following that, I’ll give the ‘hider’ a shaker and tell him to watch as his sister tries to find the frog. When she is far away from where the frog is hidden, shake slowly and softly. But as she gets closer to where the frog is hidden, start to shake faster and louder. This will let her know she’s getting closer to finding the frog!

– After the instructions have been given, the ‘seeker’ will walk around the room and try to find the frog. I encourage the ‘seeker’ to really listen to the shaker and what her brother is trying to tell her by shaking in different ways. Meanwhile, I will use my guitar strumming to match how the shaker is shaking.

– Once the ‘seeker’ finds the frog, we sing through “Where is the Frog Hiding?” and insert spatial concepts (ie. “the frog is under the table” or “next to the chair”).

This was a huge hit during this sibling dyad session!

They were playing a ‘game’ while working on skills like nonverbal communication, auditory discrimination. and knowledge of spatial concepts.

You can try this out during your group sessions as well!

Now I would love to hear from YOU! What musical games do you incorporate into your sessions? Leave a comment below to let us know!

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Empathy.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of empathy is: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.

I decided to explore this concept with a group of adolescents I work with in Miami. The inspiration for this idea came from The Mosaic Project, an incredible organization that works to promote a peaceful future by uniting young children of diverse backgrounds and exploring the concepts of empathy and tolerance.

They have an excellent collection of songs that I listen to in my car all the time :) AND use during my music therapy sessions. My favorites? “It’s All Right to Cry,” “Don’t Laugh at Me,” and “We Are the Mosaic.” But who am I kidding, they’re all fantastic and lend themselves to concepts that we frequently address with our clients.

Since social emotional skills are one of the main goal areas I target with this teen group, I used “The Empathy Song” as a springboard for lyric analysis and discussion.

Want to know the procedure and questions I use during the music therapy session to facilitate this discussion?

Then check out this resource ~ Tuneful Teens 2: MORE Creative Ideas for Engaging Adolescents in Music Therapy. In it, I share MANY MORE ideas similar to this one, as well as activity templates and sheet music!

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No, not really! It’s just the name of the newest release for my Saturday Song Share series!

Hello and Goodbye Songs are an important part of my music therapy sessions for children with special needs. They are not necessarily right for all populations and settings, but for my children’s groups, they provide structure and predictability, as well as a beginning and end point for my sessions.

I wrote this song during my internship and have been using it ever since! Have a listen…

Time to take action!

Leave a comment below and let us know: How do you start and end your music therapy sessions? Do you use Hello and Goodbye songs? Do you do a check-in and check-out? I would love to hear!

Image source

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It’s time for another Saturday Song Share! Woot woot!

Last week’s song share was a High Five song (always a popular way to greet a friend!). Today’s song share is another greeting song…this one encourages children to say hello and shake hands. This is one of my favorite original songs….I think because of the minor key.

What do you think?

Guitar Version –

Piano Version –

If you liked this post and found it useful…share it with your friends! Sharing is caring :)

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It’s time for a Saturday Song Share!

I’ve been sharing songs here and there, and today I’m super excited to start a new regular series for Wholesome Harmonies – Saturday Song Share! So mark your calendar and stay tuned. Here goes!

Greeting songs are an important part of my music therapy sessions for children with special needs. These songs are designed to teach proper social greetings, such as giving hugs, giving high fives, blowing kisses, and shaking hands. Today’s song is about prompting children to greet their friends by giving a high five.

Have a listen…

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Now that the children in the Kindergarten class can express how they’re feeling, we hear “I’m mad!” or “That made me sad!” ALL day long. They’re getting a lot of practice with expressing their feelings.

Here’s one of their favorite songs to sing during music therapy, called “How Are You?”

Not only does this song allow them the opportunity to express their feelings, but it’s great practice in encouraging them to use complete sentences (for example, “I feel happy!”)

Watch and see!

Here are some things I do to extend the activity:

– I talk with them about what things make them feel happy, sad, mad, etc. The most common answer for what makes them feel sad? As you hear in the video “When mommy does pow pow.” (i.e. When mommy spanks them.)

– I also have the children practice singing the first part of the song and ask another child in the class “How are you? Tell me how are you?”

What is YOUR favorite song about feelings?

Song reference: by B. Brunk & S. Cartwright, Prelude Music Series

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