Spring has sprung here in Pennsylvania!

When I lived in Miami, it was hard to tell the difference between the “seasons.” It was either hot or hotter, rainy or more rainy.

I am thoroughly enjoying watching the transformation of Winter into Spring as I take my morning walks now, and love incorporating Spring-y vibes into my music therapy sessions and classes.

If you would like to do the same, I have some resources for you!

With inspiration from the sights, sounds, and scents of Spring, I created the Spring Music Therapy Session Planning Pack.

In the E-Book, you’ll learn creative musical experiences that are designed for school-age and teens clients, and are effective in helping you connect (really connect!) with them.

(And it’s on SALE from today through next Thursday, April 10th!)

Each of the experiences and the complementary materials has a Spring theme, to keep things interesting and engaging for both you and your students.

If you’re feeling in a creative rut, or are lacking time when it comes to planning, I’ve got you covered.

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

In the E-Book, you’ll learn: musical game ideas, instrument activities, and creative movement experiences; how to use listening guides; and some brand new ideas that I’ve just recently created.

Along with the E-Book, you’ll get: beautiful visuals, colorful picture cards, a musical game template, sample listening guide, and sample mini musical bios, as well as a looped hip hop beat MP4.

Everything you need to implement the ideas in your sessions right away!

Ashley Lewis, MM, MT-BC says of the Spring Session Planning E-Book “I of course love your resources and I think you are brilliant. Your visuals are the best I’ve ever seen! I’m a huge fan of yours and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next because I will be buying it.”

You could also get a jump start on Summer session planning with the Spring & Summer E-Book Combo Pack! They’re on SALE from today through next Thursday, April 10th!

In addition to the E-Book offerings, there is lots of great Spring content on the blog.

Sense-ational Activities – So Many Scents –  See how you can use seasonal scents like peach candles, flowery room spray, and mangoes to provide olfactory stimulation. (And hear my original song to go with the experience!)

Sense-ational Activities – Spring Sounds – Learn how you can use various instruments to mimic the sounds you hear outside your window.

A Spring Session Idea to Reengage Young Clients –  Check out the post to see what this might be….

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I’ve been enjoying this year of homeschooling my preschooler (though I’m ready to send her back to in-person school when the time comes!)

We are now in the middle of a Spring theme and have been enjoying some fun Peeps science experiments (you know the one with the microwave right?), egg art projects, and Spring songs.

A lot of the musical ideas that I bring into homeschooling come directly from my music therapy sessions.

Five Little Ducks is one of our favorite singable stories.

Read this post to see how I use one special instrument to capture her attention and the attention of the young children that attend my virtual Rockin’ & Readin’ at the Library sessions. (This one is sure to bring out the giggles, too!)

I also love to incorporate sensory activities into my homeschooling and my music therapy sessions.

Check out this post called So Many Spring Scents.

See you how you can activate the olfactory sense for your sensory learners and make Spring come alive in your sessions. Feel free to use my original song “So Many Scents” to go along with it.

And, take a look at this post about Springtime Sounds.

Use the instrument ideas to work on localization, sound discrimination, or auditory identification. Create a Springtime soundscape or the ever popular musical rainstorm.

I hope the ideas in these posts help get the wheels turning for how you can create a festive Spring-themed session to target multiple domains of functioning.

Or, use them if you’re homeschooling too!

If you need more fresh ideas, I’d love for you to check out the Virtual Music Therapy Session Planning Pack for Spring (the ideas can be used in-person as well).

In the E-Book, you’ll learn creative musical experiences that are easily customized for your clients.

You’ll learn: musical game ideas, instrument activities, and creative movement experiences; how to use listening guides; and some brand new ideas that I’ve created just for my virtual sessions.

Along with the E-Book, you’ll get: beautiful visuals, picture cards, a musical game template, sample listening guide, and sample mini musical bio, as well as a looped hip hop beat MP3. It’s everything you need to implement the ideas in your virtual sessions right away!

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

Ashley Lewis, MM, MT-BC says “I of course love your resources and I think you are brilliant. Your visuals are the best I’ve ever seen! I’m a huge fan of yours and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next because I will be buying it.”

The post Spring-y Ideas For Your Music Therapy Sessions appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

April was Autism Awareness Month and I had the opportunity to do something I LOVE to do: travel to different library branches throughout Miami-Dade county and lead Rockin’ and Readin’ music therapy sessions.

Rockin’ and Readin’ is a program I created to bring music therapy sessions to the libraries in our area.

Our focus in April was on toddlers and young children with autism and other special needs and for this round of sessions, all my activities were spring related. I incorporated a butterfly movement song, a musical egg hunt, a spring-themed instrument playing activity, and of course a singable spring story.

I chose the book “Five Little Ducks” because many children and adults are familiar with this song and can sing along (which helps them feel successful!)

I’ve used this singable story before, but this time I decided to incorporate one thing that made it stand out from all the other times I’ve done it. One thing that grabbed the attention of the children who were distracted and reengaged them in our activity.

What was that one thing you ask?

(drumroll.…)

The duck quacker!

If you are not familiar with the duck quacker, I highly recommend you check it out.

This silly sounding instruments sounds JUST LIKE A DUCK. The toddlers and children I work with absolutely love it. Every time we got to the part in the song where the mother duck says “quack quack quack quack,” I played that quacker as loud as I could. The group erupted in laughter because I had hidden it behind the book and they couldn’t see what was making that noise.

Was it a real duck?!

The key takeaway here is this: think about what you can incorporate into your sessions that will grab the attention of your clients and refocus their attention back on you. If you work with toddlers and young children like I do, you know we need to have an endless amount of reengagement strategies in our back pocket.

Maybe it’s the duck quacker, maybe it’s the thunder tube, maybe it’s the castanet. Leave a comment below to let me know what’s worked for you and your clients!

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When you live in Miami, one season tends to blend right in to the next.

Winter feels like Spring and Spring feels like Summer. Nonetheless, I like to acknowledge the change of seasons in my sessions. Thus, I have a ton of ideas in store for my Spring-themed sessions next week.

I work at a school called Children’s Resources here in Miami, providing group music therapy sessions to the PreK – 5th grade classrooms. For the children who are sensory learners (those with severe and profound intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder), I bring in experiences that target ALL the senses.

Let’s focus today on my personal favorite – the sense of smell.

To provide olfactory stimulation I bring in the following Spring-y scents:

• Peach
• Pineapple
• Flowers
• Mangoes
• Coconut
• Passionfruit
• Sunscreen

PRO TIP: Go to the Dollar Tree and stock up. You will not be disappointed. You can find lotions, candles and room sprays in a variety of scents.

To facilitate this experience, I ask the teachers to pass around one scent at a time while I sing this original song:

I love to see eyes widen as the children get a whiff of coconut or mango. Yum! If you’d like to use this song in your upcoming sessions:
And be sure to check out the Sensational Songs & Activities E-Book for more sensory ideas, sheet music, & themed session plans:

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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 know what you’re thinking. Of course, music therapists provide auditory stimulation throughout their sessions, but this activity is targeted to specifically work on localization. Localization is a basic developmental skill in which an individual turns their head towards a sound source.

For this activity, I sing my original “Springtime Sounds” song and use various instruments to mimic the sounds of things you see and hear during Springtime. Examples include –

Canary stick –> Chirping bird
Wind chimes –> Blowing wind
Rain stick –> Falling rain (bonus: use a water bottle to spritz like falling rain for tactile stimulation!)
Kazoo –> Buzzing bees
Frog rasp –> Croaking frog
Quacker –> Ducks quacking

Play each instrument in various places around the individual (i.e. on the right side of their head, on the left side of their head, above their head, etc.) to encourage localization.

What ideas do YOU have for providing auditory stimulation and to work on localization? Share in the comments section below!

For more sensory ideas, sheet music, & themed session plans, check out the Sensational Songs & Activities E-Book:

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Olfactory Stimulation

At UCP’s Early Beginnings Academy, I work with many children who have a diagnosis of severe and profound intellectual disability. For these children, stimulation of the five senses is very important. In my previous Sense-ational Activity post, I shared a song and activity about providing tactile stimulation.

Here’s an original song I wrote called “So Many Scents.” It pairs with an activity where I use a variety of scents to provide olfactory stimulation for the children.

These are some examples of scents I’ve used based on the season we’re in…

Summer/Spring:
– peach candle
– flowery room spray
– mangoes
– mango passionfruit shave gel

Fall/Winter
– cinnamon
– oranges
– apple hand soap
– vanilla hand lotion
– apple cinnamon candle
– coffee beans
– tea bags

The sky is the limit!

Would you like to use this song in your sessions?

And be sure to check out the Sensational Songs & Activities E-Book for more sensory ideas, sheet music, & themed session plans:

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