Music Therapy

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Hey everyone!! !!

I am currently a students at UCLA studying the effects of music on individuals with autism or AS. I was wondering if any parents have enrolled their children to a music class or music therapy sessions? And is so, what do you think about it?

~Ani

My 7 year old son went to a week long day camp coordinated by the Autism Society of Minnesota and the MacPhail Center for Music last summer. He loved it. They did cooking, music therapy, yoga, OT, and social skills sessions. He loved trying out the different instruments and singing w/the other children. If it wasn't so expensive I would send him again this year.

we have a music therapist at the school i teach at....the results for our students have been AMAZING!....more self-confidence, more spontaneous talking...WOW!

I exposed my son to lots of music before school and whatever public school he has been in has had music classes. In his current school, they have both music class and Opera.
I have tried to give him keyboard lessons but he won't play music with me. Years ago, when he was a toddler, he could play tunes on the keyboard (Twinkle, Twinkle and Mary had a Little Lamb)
Sometimes he is very active in music and sometimes he gets self-conscious about it. He's very affected by music.

Our 10 yr old dx with AS has not had any formal music therapy but loves music. Makes up tunes to the "songs" When reading J R R Tolkien. Want to get him formal lessons but financially strapped right now. I'll ask his therapist about Music Therapy in our area and let you know what I find out.

My daughter is a music hound!! ! She loves to Sing!! ! She even goes to karaoke a couple times a week. Has a wonderful voice just does not show the emotion. She was on homebound school for a while and her teachers daughter is a music therapist at a assisted living home. We got involved and Sara goes and sings for the folks. We think it is great.
Good luck

One of my daughter's therapists was also a music major. She tried some relaxation techniques using music, but Em was very sensitive to some of it. Finally we found one cd that really made a difference. She was taught to use slow and graceful stretching kind of movements to the music. It is very hard for her to let herself flow, always very stiff in her movements. It really did help, and still does at times. We've been looking for something she can take on as a coping skill as far as relaxation, something she will do for herself. So far all such skills need to be prompted for her to use them.

Our 10 year old has had some african drumming last year in school and quite liked it. Was not so much musical therapy, more as a part of OT. He usually flaps his hands a lot when excited, and doing similar movements in a control manner helped him to some extent to be more aware of it. Not that he stopped flapping, of course, but can limit it a bit when in school.
He now has a hand drum at home since Xmas to play it whenever he feels like it, but has not shown much enthusiasm. Of course after several hours it takes him to finish homework every afternoon, he’s too stressed for anything else but Playstation.