Each week at music therapy we work with a small group of men and women. We might see some faces on Wednesday and different faces on Friday, but generally the group remains the same. One particular participant, I'll call him Bernard, is younger than many of the others-- maybe late fifties, early sixties. While I do not know what he suffers from, it leaves him unable to communicate and move of his own free will.
I spoke with the music therapy student who began interning in October, and she told me how when she first met Bernard, he would often sleep through the hour-long therapy session and his movement would be minimal to none. Since then, and especially since I have seen him over the past three weeks, Bernard has improved. While still nonverbal, the start of each session puts a happy grin on his face. His feet begin tapping to the music, and his eyes follow the therapist as she guides the activities and leads the songs. I am not the only one who has noticed this improvement; the music therapist has caught on as well and has begun giving him extra time and attention while the therapy student takes over. Today she held a hand drum slightly above his knee, asking him to lift his leg to tap it. And he did-- multiple times even. Last week he was able to popcorn drum (see previous post They Don't Know It's Therapy) at his own pace where before he would not even move his arms at all. Bernard's progress with the help of music therapy is truly amazing and very rewarding for everyone involved. Music therapy works.
Hi Anila! This is very interesting and uplifting! Do you or the music therapist think that your patient will continually get better with this therapy? What results do you think it could have in his case?
ReplyDeleteThanks Kayla! We can only hope those who experience music therapy improve. However, due to the nature of these neurological diseases and conditions that we see in older people, we do not expect any sort of massive recovery, as the conditions are degenerative. But in Bernard's case, or in someone's like Bernard, it is nice to see results where music therapy improves quality of life, the ability to function normally, move around, speak, and connect with people. We hope for those results.
ReplyDeleteHi Anila. I hope your internship is going well. I am wondering do you know what kind of music that Bernard is listening to? Also are patients like Bernard allowed to watch tv, where maybe he might have picked up the step movement maybe from a commercial, a movie, or something else?
ReplyDeleteHey Armando! Bernard responds to what he hears during music therapy, which is the therapist's singing, maybe her guitar, and whatever other instruments we happen to be using at the time (hand chimes, drums, etc). It is during these therapy exercises with these instruments and music that we see responses from him, and these responses require a lot of time, patience, and encouragement. The movements are guided by the therapist and would not occur outside therapy sessions. They are not really movements he would see elsewhere outside music therapy because these techniques were made solely for this purpose, and his movements are directly in response to what the music therapist's actions and encouragement.
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