What is Music Therapy?
What is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is the evidenced-based use of music as intervention to address goals to improve quality of life and independence skills. Music therapy must be led by a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) who conducts an initial assessment, creates goals, develops a treatment plan, takes data on goals and reports on goals. Music therapy is individualized to meet the needs of those seeking services.
Check out more information about music therapy at https://www.musictherapy.org/
What goal areas can music therapy address?
- Social skills
- Communication skills
- Gross motor skills
- Fine motor skills
- Emotional expression
- Coping skills
- Independence skills
- Cognitive skills
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What does the music therapy process look like?
- Initial Assessment
- Goal Creation (at the end of the Initial Assessment)
- Treatment Planning (through weekly sessions to reach goals)
- Repeat Goal Creation and Treatment Planning (as many times as needed)
- Termination (When a client ends services)
How does music therapy work?
No music therapy session is the same. Each session is individualized using a strengths-based approach to address needs and goal areas. Some sessions look very active while other sessions are sedentary. Interventions are targeted to use music as a motivating medium to address the goals.
Who is music therapy for?
Music therapy is for anyone who is looking to develop generalized skills through music from birth to death (including neonatal music therapy to hospice care and all stages of life in between).
Client populations include:
-Autism
-intellectual disabilities/cognitive impairments
-developmental disabilities
-Apraxia
-Aphasia
-speech impairments
-Alzheimer's/Dementia
-Parkinson's disease
-Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
..and many more!
Why does music therapy work?
Through research, we know that music develops new neural networks and strengthens other networks. Music is a motivating medium that when paired with necessary training can be a powerful tool for learning and building on skills in several domain areas.
What professional qualifications do music therapists have?
Board-Certified Music Therapists (MT-BC) must attend a four year academic program approved by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). Following, they must attend a 6 month-1 year internship while being supervised by a board certified music therapist. After that, they take a test to become board-certified. In the state of Ohio, they must also be licensed with the LPMT credential (Licensed Professional Music Therapist).