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When the majority of a presentation happens in a circle on the floor, it’s a good thing

I had a lovely time tonight, presenting to a group of families who have children with Down syndrome. I was happy that the children seemed interested in participating in the experiences I shared, and also excited to answer general and specific questions about music therapy and how, for example, I might address a child with a short attention span.

We spent about 45 minutes together. I used half an hour with the children and some of the parents in a mini session. We began with a Hello Song, we used some egg shakers, we played some drums, and most popularly, we worked with some Boomwhackers. We closed our mini session with a Goodbye Song, and then the adults moved over to a table where I provided explanations for the experiences I led.

I was happy to work with those children, and to spread the music therapy word a little further. None of the parents there, save my client’s parents, knew about music therapy. I hope I gave them some useful information.

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Presentation tomorrow

Tomorrow evening I present to a group of families who have a child with Down syndrome. I am excited for the experience. The first portion (maybe even half) of my presentation will be engaging the children in experiences on a 1:1 basis as well as in a group. I do not know how many people will be in attendance at this meeting. But, I do know that most of the parents aren’t too aware of music therapy (as was told to me by the family who invited me to speak).

For this reason, I will be breaking the presentation into these pieces:

  • Mini music therapy session with the group of children (complete with the therapeutic arc)
  • Repeated mini music therapy session with the children’s parents taking the place of the children
  • Explanation of some goals I’d have for children in this population
  • Explanation of how the experiences I implement targets those goals
  • Instruction for parents of one experience that will help generalize and build skills, that they may utilize in the home

I’m looking forward to the event. I’m even looking forward to the fact that there are many mysteries involved.

Wish me luck. 

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The importance of being ill

The other music therapist who works at the care center with me suggested to me today that she and I present on the importance of self-care for those new professionals, such as ourselves.

What a perfect idea. How timely, too, given that I am still not feeling well.

What a pity, too, that I/my body chooses the Week That I Am Most Busy to break down a little. (Perhaps this is a coincidence? Indicative of how I’m taking care of myself in this super busy time?)

I can tell you what I’m not doing well enough (in my opinion):

  1. Drinking enough water
  2. Sleeping well (though I argue that the past two nights I have been in bed before 10:00, and have not been able to fall asleep)
  3. Cutting myself some slack when I know that times are going to be more difficult to weather

Here is what I am doing well enough (in my opinion):

  1. Recognizing the above

I’ll just have to tell my co-worker that I am running an experiment on myself so that I have first-hand knowledge to back up the facts we’ll talk about in our presentation.

Tonight I sadly did not attend the Minneapolis Area Music Therapists Group meeting because, well, I’m sick. I didn’t want to get anyone else sick, who could get their clients sick, and so on. 

But, in a few days, I will share my review of the article I chose for this month.

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IN2L

I wonder if anyone out there who works in nursing homes has ever heard of, or uses, the IN2L system. Ours has had it for at least the year I’ve been working on their staff. The IN2L (stands for It’s Never 2/Too Late) is a computer system (pardon my lack of technological language) that provides a number of programs, if you will, that are supposed to be interactive and can be shared with groups or individuals. The touch screen allows for some easy use by a resident.

I don’t find the system particularly useful, and the times I’ve tried to work with it, it hasn’t exactly provided what it says it will, but that’s another story.

The reason I bring it up is because my fellow music therapist/palliative care unit coordinator brought it into our office and said that with the system’s last update, there was installed a “music therapy” program. Hm. She said that the program’s title was “Music Therapy,” and that, when opened, it provided a large number of song selections from different genres of music. This is very nice, and seems to be a step up from the music offerings the system had before, but, I question why they call it “Music Therapy.” A better title could be “Music As Therapy,” or simply, “Music,” but not “Music Therapy.” Unless, of course, a music therapist is using those programs with a resident, and having that supplement the therapeutic process.

I’ll have to do more investigating of it. 

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Who Dat

Here we have a tambourine my parents acquired while on a trip to New Orleans in January. Who Dat!

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(You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me) Technology

I led a group at the care center yesterday that included two family members of one of the residents. The group was going really well, and the family members seemed so happy to be there. (They asked several questions about music therapy following the group session, and requested information from me regarding research. I was impressed by their interest in music therapy, and not simply music, if that makes any sense.) At one point in the session, one of the family members requested the song, “(You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me) Lucille.” I don’t happen to know this song, for which I apologized, but I was able to access it because our department recently acquired tablets for each staff member.

I’ve used the tablet several times for different reasons, and I was able to pull up YouTube and search for the song. I found this:

However, the connection failed right away. I refreshed it, and then it failed again. Repeatedly.

You picked a fine time to leave me, Tablet…