Music Therapy Assessment

Music Therapy Assessment and Treatment

Like all types of therapies, music therapy cannot begin until the patient has been assessed by the therapist. Music therapy assessment is similar in theory to the assessment done by any other medical practitioner: the therapist evaluates the patient, determines the patient’s needs, addresses the patient’s concerns about the therapy process, and then creates a therapy program tailored to that specific patient.

But music therapy assessment differs from medical assessment in many ways as well. Whereas a medical doctor asks about the patient’s symptoms, decides on the cause and suggests a cure or treatment, the music therapist cannot quickly determine the needs of the patient based on a simple conversation. Many music therapists need more than just a few minutes with a patient; they require extended exposure to the patient in the form of conversation, observation and sometimes even analysis of the patient’s environment before they can accurately determine what type of treatment would work well for the specific individual.

Once the music therapist has determined the needs of the patient, they still have to create a treatment plan. Music therapy assessment plays into this step as the therapist uses what he or she observes and learns from the patient to adjust the treatment plan accordingly. Music therapists often create completely unique treatment plans for each patient because each patient has specific, distinctive traits, symptoms, and needs that are different from those of any other patient. Rarely will a music therapy assessment lead a music therapist to exactly the same treatment plan that he or she has used before.

This is not to say, however, that a music therapy assessment and treatment plan will not lead the therapist to specific treatment tools. In fact, there are methods of treatment in music therapy – as there are in psychiatric therapy or any other therapy – that are used to treat certain illnesses. For example, an Autistic patient can expect his therapist to use treatment methods that have been found to be successful in Autism patients. However, there are many different methods for each illness and the combinations of these treatment methods will differ with each patient.

The multitude of treatment methods for each illness and ailment is wonderful because it allows the music therapist to choose from a wide range of possibilities to treat each individual. However, the sheer number of potential treatments makes it even more important that the music therapy assessment is performed by a qualified music therapist who has extensive experience with the patient’s type of illness. The more experience a music therapist has with Autism, for example, the better he or she can treat the many different types of Autism that affect the population.

Natural Healing and Music for Autism

For parents who have autistic children, there is no type of therapy left unexplored.  If it is even suggested that a particular form of therapy could be beneficial to their child, most parents will try it to see for themselves.  Natural healing is one of the ways many parents attempt to enhance their autistic child’s learning.  This can include diet, speech therapy, play therapy, sensory therapy and music therapy.  It is commonly believed that a combination of different remedies will best help the child in coping with autism and allow them to learn at a faster pace.  While many different therapies are effective, music therapy seems to cross many boundaries and assist in all aspects of other learning.  Even if it si not the main source, it can enhance other forms of therapy.

In people without autism, music can be soothing, inspiring and incite the senses.  Because autistic children are often sensitive to sound and seem to be attuned to music, the benefits most people find in music can be especially helpful with autism.  It is a non verbal and non threatening way to enhance situations and to calm the child.  It can also be used as a tool to increase the ability to learn.  It can be used in conjunction with speech therapy in order to speed up the understanding of vocabulary and language patterns.

Social situations, commonly difficult for autistic children, are much easier with the assistance of music in the classroom.  For example, you can use music to encourage autistic children to sit together and interact.  You can even encourage eye contact with the use of clapping in time to the music or using cymbals.  Silly songs and fun beats can often incite smiles in laughter in otherwise stoic children.  For those who have difficulty following the rules, making rules to music can be highly successful. 

Music also soothes the senses and can make a stressful situation seem calmer.  This can help the autistic child in a number of ways across of number of learning opportunities.  Motor skills can be enhanced by practicing physical activities to a beat.  Musical ability is also often displayed in those who have autism.  While not every child is the same, many autistic children are sensitive to musicality.  Some have good singing voices, others can mimic sounds, some may have perfect pitch and others may be able to play an instrument easily by ear.  Regardless, theses skills can all b used to enhance other areas of learning.

Speech problems are typical in autistic children but with the use of music, they can learn vocabulary and sentence structure.  It is common for autistic children to speak in monosyllabic tones but this can gradually dissipate with the use of music therapy as a natural healing remedy.  Children will often understand how to structure a question as opposed to a statement or use an exclamation appropriately when initially taught via music. 

Therapists who use music as a tool to enhance the teaching process to autistic children report a high rate of success.  Parents and teachers alike should try music therapy as a means to enhance their autistic child’s learning ability. It is also highly successful as a natural healing remedy to soothe when in a stressful situation. 

Autism and Diet: Fact or Fiction?

For years there has been research into finding cures for autism. In today’s society, autism has reached a new high with increasing diagnoses throughout the world. Because of this, special attention is now being focused on finding a cure as well as relieving some of the symptoms of autism. One of the ideas that have been popular in recent years is the idea that a special autism diet will have a significant effect on those diagnosed with the disease. Does an autism diet actually work, though? This subject has been the topic of much debate and we are just now getting more information on the facts and fallacies of such claims.

The fact of the matter is, there have been reported individual cases of improvement when altering the diet of someone with autism. However, widespread success rates and the odds of it being successful on a large scale are debatable. The primary premise of an autism diet is to cut out gluten and dairy. The reason for this is based on characteristics of ingredients found in dairy and gluten products that contain properties reported to act like an opiate. This may exacerbate any autistic symptoms that may be present. Cutting out these ingredients may help improve the functionality of someone with autism. This is a fascinating theory and one that holds promise as a possible treatment. However, the facts do not support this as much more than a possible way to fix individual issues on a small scale in some patients.

First, the way the opiate properties are absorbed in autistic patients is via permeable intestines, an ailment more commonly found in autistics. Although it is commonly found in autistics, not everyone who has autism has permeable intestines. In fact only twenty percent do. As far as statistics go, this is much higher than most segments of the population but is by no means a majority of autistic patients. If this is the case, gluten and dairy should have no ill effect and no change in diet will affect the symptoms. The reverse is also true. People around the world eat diets high in dairy and gluten with no ill effects. Some of them are not diagnosed with autism yet do have permeable intestines. No abnormalities are seen in them; therefore, the theory does not seem to be sound as a whole.

So what about the reported incidents of improvement when diet is changed? There is no doubt that this has occurred in some instances. Medical professionals tend to agree the reason for this is an added comfort level on the part of an autistic patient who also has gastrointestinal problems. If you relieve one of the accompanying symptoms of the core disease, the autistic patient may be more comfortable, better able to focus and more amenable to learning and absorbing coping techniques. This will lend to improvement in the overall behavior and ability to function within society. However, no concrete evidence shows that changing diet will affect all autistics in a positive manner in the least.

Because of this, most medical professionals advise a change in diet only for those who have gastrointestinal issues and only on a temporary basis to see if improvement is reached. If there is improvement, continue with the dietary changes of eliminating gluten and dairy from the diet. However, if no change is seen or if the patient has no gastrointestinal problems, it is advisable not to alter the diet in any way. A gluten and dairy free diet is difficult and stressful to sustain and there is no need to go to such extremes if there will be no positive benefits from it.

Jung–Art Therapy

Carl S. Jung–Art Therapy in the Making

Carl Jung, known for the Jung art therapy theory, was one of the colleagues of the famous Austrian psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud, the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud became internationally recognized with his groundbreaking theories regarding the conscious vs. unconscious parts of the mind. Simultaneously beginning his Jung art therapy theories, Jung felt that even though Freud made the goal of his therapy the unconscious conscious, he felt that it was made to sound as if it were an unpleasant “cauldron of seething desires.”

But according to the American Art Therapy Association, Inc., Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud together, along with many other psychiatric individuals at the time, had a big hand in the development of art therapy. It was thought that these historical practitioners had the same insight that entered into the development of art therapy, along with its application of conflict resolution. The healing and learning that was derived from the “talk therapy” these men eventually became known for, was thought to have built a base for uncovering the unconscious levels of the mind. But many feel that it was the Jung art therapy that seemed to be the method upon which today’s art therapy received its roots.

One of the tools Carl Jung used for his patients to express their unconscious feelings was art, bringing forth the Jung art therapy method. Influenced by both psychology and psychiatry, Jung’s influence was based on his devotion to the psychological meaning that was inside of each art piece. Freud himself never had his patients do their own artwork, but Carl Jung encouraged it. “To paint what we see before us, ” Jung wrote, “is a different art from painting what we see within.”

Totally rejecting Freud’s theories, Jung expanded the field of psychoanalysis on a personal level. The Jung art therapy included artwork of all levels, the interaction of mythology and its influence on the present moment, and the thoughts of native people which included the round spiritual mandala and the Sanskrit. Many felt he had more common sense than Freud, as the he felt the individual’s psyche had more than one interacting systems. One of these was the ego, as he dismissed Freud’s superego and id, feeling that the ego alone was considered a personal unconscious state of the mind but as a fundamental collective unconscious one.

With much more of an optimistic view of art than did Freud, with his Jung art therapy views Carl Jung felt that psychological art originated within the psyche and was considered to be intelligible to the general mass. But even more, he discovered that another style called visionary art, dew on the collective unconscious and was a lot deeper and with less individual nature. This sort of art were of images–appearing in dreams and in the art form–and were more spontaneoius and were considered to be more fulfilling images. He considered them as metaphors that held the troubled individual’s separate worlds together in a world of trauma and chaos.

Music Therapy Autism and Children

Music therapy Autism is a very important part of the treatment for this serious disease. Most the music therapy autism patients are children and this makes the application of the treatments even more integral to the successful results of the therapy. Since Autism is generally discovered in children three years old or younger, many Autism patients begin treatment at a very young age. This is quite beneficial as there is some research to suggest that early treatment of Autism can greatly improve the child’s ability to function on his own in a more “normal” way. Music therapy autism is generally used with children – and even sometimes with children as young as three to five years of age – because a child can appreciate music at a young age.

Of course, not all types of music therapy can be used in young autism patients. Those treatments that require coordinated actions and activities might be too advanced for young children. But other types of music therapy can be used to treat autism in children. For example, some methods of music therapy for Autism patients are used to engage the patient; some children respond well to this type of music therapy autism.

The reason music therapy autistic is used with children is because there is a very high success rate. Autistic children tend to have extremely high aptitudes for music. They are unusually talented in the music area, and many are natural instrument players and singers. By using music therapy to treat Autism, music therapists can help the Autistic child build his or her language skills.

Music therapists will play a musical note and the child will respond by singing the same note. There has been extensive research on this phenomenon and some of the research even shows that some of the children in the studies even progress past just singing a solitary note. Music therapy autism treatments are used to teach autistic children who cannot communicate in more than grunts or hums to form small words. This technique was researched in one study where a therapist matched combinations of consonants and vowels to musical notes and taught an Autistic child to speak simple words by singing them.

Similar techniques are used to help Autistic children to communicate in more complex ways as well. Music therapy autism professionals will create repetitive songs that they teach to the child. The words of the song create a way for the child to communicate his wants and needs through singing. The repetitive nature of the songs works with the way the Autistic mind understands and remembers things.