Dear Janna,

I was just surfing the web and I came across this group, and I wanted
to respond to your question. I am a Board Certified Music Therapist,
although I do not work with autism (my specialty is hospice). Still,
I have a few suggestions for you.

A couple of good books to read:

J. Alvin and A. Warwick: Music Therapy for the Autistic Child (Oxford
University Press)

Edith Boxill: Music Therapy for the Developmentally Disabled (Pro-Ed,
Austin, TX)

Also, in my view the primary experts on music therapy and autism are
the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy in New York City,
(212)995-5151. I think they could be the best ones to consult with.

I have also published an article entitled "Music Therapy in the
Treatment of Social Isolation in Visually Impaired Children," which
appeared in the journal RE:view for Winter 1998. It mentions some
exercises with music that would be appropriate for autistic children,
and also contains more references you might find helpful.

Please forgive me if the ground I have covered is already familiar to
you. I hope this helps,

Charles Gourgey, Ph.D., MT-BC


--- In aecoute@egroups.com, "Janna Hoskin" <karalianne@e...> wrote:
>
> Hi, I'm pretty new to the list... not sure how many people are
actually
> music therapists here, but I'm hoping to get some helpful feedback
> anyway. :)
>
> I work as an ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapist for a
little
> boy (almost 4) who has autism. When I started working with him
back
in
> August, he was effectively nonverbal and uncompliant to the therapy
> (there are five of us working with him). It was natural for me to
just
> start singing kids' songs to him, and his Mom is convinced that
this
is
> part of why he is now almost functionally verbal (he'll request
things
> but is mostly echolalic and into verbal stims). I go into their
home
> an extra hour each week to do half an hour of one-on-one singing and
> music stimulation followed by half an hour of 'Kindermusik' (I'm not
> really qualified to teach this, but that's the material I'm using to
> guide the time). The problem is that right before Christmas, Ryan
> started to get tired of the one-on-one sessions. They're on hold
now
> until I come up with something new and exciting.
>
> Goals include functional speech and socialization (that's why we
have
> the group time), and possibly even appropriate play with toys.
>
> I'm not a trained music therapist, though I'm going to go back to
> school in a few years and get a degree in MT (at Capilano College in
> Vancouver, British Columbia or Wilfrid Laurier in
Kitchener-Waterloo
in
> Ontario - I'm Canadian). My undergrad degree is in music
composition.
>
> If anyone out there is a music therapist and has some ideas of
> activities and songs I could use with Ryan, I'd greatly appreciate
it.
> Ryan's Mom isn't all that impressed with the music therapist we saw
> here (once; she canceled two appointments at the last minute, which
> meant that Ryan's days were all screwed up), so she's not wanting
to
go
> back to her.
>
> I'd also appreciate any thoughts on good books I could read. I
want
to
> specialize in autistic kids, but anything would be wonderful - I'm a
> voracious reader and I know that I'm going to have to adapt
everything
> I learn at school to work with 'my kids' - the few psych classes I
took
> in university, the profs didn't know much at all about autism; it's
> like autism is maybe a chapter, if not simply a footnote, in most
> people's training...
>
> Thanks for any and all help!
>
> -Janna, ABA therapist to Ryan, age 3