Well hello there! I wasn't able to blog last Wednesday because I was out "in the field," so to speak, observing my practicum students. I had the opportunity to visit the Debbie Institute, the Veteran's Administration Hospital, and back to United Cerebral Palsy! It was exciting to see the students working in the field and [...]
Sometimes I wish I was an octopus. There are times when I am going into a session carrying my guitar, a keyboard, a gathering drum, AND a bag of instruments....and eight arms would really be helpful! (Who needs the gym when you have sessions all day long, right?) I have found that there is one [...]
Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Today I am at work at UCP when most other people seem to have off, but it is A-Okay because I absolutely love my job. I'll be home by 6:45pm tonight after seeing private clients and will be ready to start preparing some side dishes for tomorrow! Today I want to share a super [...]
I am pretty excited that Halloween is right around the corner. There's something about the pumpkins, the candy, and the costumes that makes me feel like a kid again. (Or maybe that's just because I work at a preschool!) Last Sunday one of my favorite programs, Friendship Circle, started up again. I facilitate music therapy groups for [...]
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 [...]
Valentine's Day is right around the corner! Over the past few days, I've shared a few of my favorite V-Day themed interventions. In today's blog post, I'd like to share the V-Day session plan I created for my tween and teen sessions. 1. Valentine's Day BINGO 2. Instrument Playing to "Love Story" by Taylor Swift * (a [...]
Love is in the air! I'll admit that I am a big holiday person. Now that Valentine's Day is around the corner, I'm excited to be implementing my themed activities for this holiday of love. (Too cheesy?) My previous post was about Valentine's BINGO, a musical game I use with my tween and teen clients. Be [...]
I am a BIG fan of using musical games in my music therapy session. I use these games to facilitate social interaction and work on group cohesion with my school-age and teen clients. Today's post is about one of my favorite creations...Valentine's Day BINGO (aka HEART)! Here's how it works: 1. CREATE First, create various [...]
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 [...]
