Music Therapy Ireland – School Aged Children

Music Therapy Ireland offers a creative space to help the lives of people who are healthy and those with disabilities.

Music Therapy Children AGED 7-18 YEARS

Music Therapy for children promotes social interaction, emotional expression and it gives the person the opportunity to communicate in a way that is meaningful to them.

Music Therapy for Children is a child Therapy that works for children and teenagers who have:

Autism, Down Sydrome, Rett Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, Physical disabilities, Developmental delay, Cancer, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Social/Emotional problems, etc.

General Information on Music Therapy For Children

Children with special needs have the great need to communicate with their environment, they have a high level of understanding and can sustain learning, thus, music can become the language by which they interact and communicate in a safe, creative space.

Children with ASD often demonstrate a need for structure, which music contains in many forms, including melody, harmony, rhythm, phrasing and dynamics.

The person may have a strong desire to communicate but are unable due to a lack of expressive language, this is where music can be a powerful tool of expression.

Non-verbal children make sounds in order to communicate with others, although most of the time they make no sense to the others.

The music therapist’s role is to help the children address their needs and provide a non threatening and non judgemental environment for them to freely express themselves and release their emotions; also, to promote their communication and social skills, as well as help the work of the teachers in the learning process. As some children/teenagers demonstrate needs for structure and systematic approaches, the music therapist can provide a very structured session plan, and use repetition or recognisable musical frameworks to help the child adjust.

Music improvisation, where the person plays a musical instrument, is often central for emotional expression and communication with this client base. It is used as a ‘…non-verbal and pre-verbal language which enables verbal people to access pre-verbal experiences, enables non-verbal people to interact communicatively without words, and enables all to engage on a more emotional, relationship-oriented level than may be accessible through verbal language’ (Alvin 1991, as cited in Gold et al., 2006).

Music Therapy is ideal for this population as it covers:

A multi-sensory experience (auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic/vibroacoustic)

A very enjoyable, motivating stimulus

A creative way to achieve therapeutic outcomes