Music Therapy

I have often thought about music therapy as a possibility to help my son with his learning. He likes singing nursery rhymes, songs from the Mamma Mia movie (no kidding) and plays guitar (has his own guitar which he likes to place on his lap and strum pretending he's playing a tune from a song etc.). It completely relaxes him. So, although we are yet to venture into that because he is currently involved in other therapy sessions, I have heard great things about music therapy for autistic children - that it helps them focus, reduces anxiety and frustration.
So, I guess it is a tool to look into.
FYI: The following is part of the report on the topic on the Washington Post, March 3, 2009

"Measuring the Impact
Creating studies to assess the benefits of music therapy is a challenge. Petra Kern, a professor of music therapy at the State University of New York at New Paltz and one of the organizers of the Autism Agenda conference, says it is difficult to conduct autism research using randomized controlled trials because autism is a spectrum disorder and individual behavior varies greatly. She advocates learning as much as possible from groups of related individual case studies to understand how and why music therapy works.
Catherine Lord, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan specializing in autism research, says, "We know that music therapy treatment is associated with improvement, but we don't know what the cause of that improvement is." Studies suggesting positive results for music therapy, she says, typically "don't control for what you need to control to find out what causes the change." Students may improve because of factors such as the therapist's enthusiasm and attention rather than the music itself.
Lord notes that she would support the use of music therapy only if it could be shown that it helped to decrease problem behaviors and also if it was clearly determined that students with autism enjoyed the therapy. Many people with autism lack forms of entertainment and relaxation, so providing effective behavioral treatment that is also pleasurable would be worthwhile, she says.
Mijin Kim, a music therapist at the Beth Abraham Institute in New York, says music may be effective because it complements the cognitive abilities of people with autism, which include a strong inclination for creating patterns.
"Music is inherently structured and patterned," she says. "You can see people with autism who are hypersensitive to sound but respond differently to music because of its structure." "

For full story, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030201759.html?hpid=sec-health

If you want to try this therapy with an accredited music therapist locally, contact Chris Lisenchuk at her studio located in Carrying Place (between Trenton and Brighton)at kk22kk@hotmail.com or phone 613-475-4091.