Pasadena Child Development Associates, Inc.

Thank you for your generous support of PCDA's
Music Therapy Program!

I appreciate the individualized attention, creativity of the therapists, feedback, and responsiveness to our questions and requests.

Music Therapy

Music therapy is the enhancement of human capabilities through the planned use of musical influences on human brain functioning¹. At PCDA, Music therapists work individually with children and their caregivers using a variety of rhythm and music-based techniques to engage children with others in purposeful and functional activities. Music Therapy experiences involve children in singing, listening, moving, playing instruments, and creative activities creating a familiar musical environment that encourages positive interpersonal interaction and allows clients freedom to explore and express themselves².

In the treatment of children with developmental disabilities, neurological impairments, and autistic spectrum disorders, music therapy provides a unique opportunity to address and enhance development in the areas of communication, cognition, motor skills, and social-emotional development. Music Therapy at PCDA is child and family-centered with a specific focus on social emotional development and supporting parent child interactions.

How does music therapy make a difference for individuals with special needs and their families?

Music therapy can be effective in addressing developmental needs in the following ways:

Rhythm and music may be used to support development in many areas, including: communication skills, attention and interaction, and movement/motor skills.
Music provides concrete multi-sensory stimulation, through auditory, visual, tactile and proprioceptive senses. The rhythmic component of music is very organizing for the sensory systems and supports emotional and behavioral regulation. Auditory processing and other sensory-motor, perceptual/motor, gross and fine motor skills can be enhanced through music therapy.
Musical elements and structure provide a sense of security and familiarity in the music therapy setting, encouraging clients to attempt new tasks within this predictable but malleable framework.
Music builds trusting relationships, forming a strong basis for learning, self-expression, and communication.
Enhancing parent-child interactions is an integral aspect of music therapy sessions. Music may be a comfortable and very effective medium to support the parent-child relationship and the child s capacity in social interactions.
Music captures and helps maintain attention. It is highly motivating and can support sustained engagement and a flow of back-and-forth interactions.
Music therapy can enable those without language to communicate, participate, and express themselves non-verbally, through sounds, gestures, eye gaze and signs. Very often music therapy also assists in the development of verbal communication, speech, and language skills. The interpersonal timing and reciprocity in shared play, turn taking, listening, and responding to another person can accommodate to individual styles of communication.
Music therapy provides opportunities to organize affect and practice appropriate expression of various emotions.

What services do PCDA Music Therapists provide?

PCDA provides clinical music therapy services, music therapy consultation, and professional development education and training. Clinical services include assessment, treatment planning, and direct or consultative services for individuals with special needs and their families.

¹Biomedical Foundations of Music as Therapy; Dale B. Taylor, Ph.D., MT-BC; MMB Music, Inc. 1997.

²Adapted from the American Music Therapy Association, Inc.: http://www.musictherapy.org

Please contact Melissa St. John for more information:
(626) 793-7350 ext. 261 or melissas@pasadenachilddevelopment.org

Music Therapy Success Stories

WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL THAT HE IS GETTING MUSIC THERAPY! Music Therapy has helped our son in many ways. He is able to focus more. He also likes to listen to music, and play the piano and different instruments. Music helps him to socialize better with friends and family. Also music helps him with his speech. He really enjoys the sessions.

We are very grateful that he is getting Music Therapy!"

WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL THAT HE IS GETTING MUSIC THERAPY!

Thank You,
The Vazquez Family

This past holiday season was the most unforgettable one. My child gave us a gift for the first time in seven years. Her music therapist recorded my child's voice on a CD singing 'Jingle Bells' and gave it to us as a present for Christmas. We can never forget that experience. We all gathered as the CD played. My child's expression was as if she wanted to tell us, 'that's me singing' and she was very proud of herself. We were all very happy and touched by the scene. We played it over and over again, sharing this experience with all of our family members."

-The Shakelian Family, South Pasadena

We have been so very happy, and are so grateful for having found music therapy. Our son, Craigie, is 11, and profoundly mentally retarded, and with severe autism. He is a sweetheart, so sweet, but he has no speech and has had such difficulty interacting with others, even with therapists.

Music Therapy has been the one most effective treatment for my child's communicative skills. It was during his beginning music therapy session that we heard his first words in response to a song he had listened to since birth.
-Nicole Thai

Craigie began music therapy just over one year ago. The music therapy has been incredibly beneficial. I could tell the difference after one week, in how he participated in things.

He knows where to interact with the songs, putting in the right sounds in the right places in the songs. He is mimicking sounds back to his music therapist. He tries to communicate and sing. He still doesn't have any speech or any words at all. You have to understand that for him to mimic sounds, we think that maybe; just maybe, he can get speech, as it relates to hearing sounds that form into words and mimicking them too. We are so impressed.

With the music therapy, Craigie found a way of somehow expressing himself singing. It's like he is expressing his emotions in ways he could never do before. His singing has been unlocked and now he seems to anticipate going, and is singing like a songbird around the house.

Within the past year, our son has become much more interactive, making much more social connections, which is huge for him. His eye contact is much improved, and he is even more affectionate. He gets so charged up, like he is glowing with enthusiasm with his own new found abilities. It is like this is the highlight of his week, and it branches out into everything else.

We can not say enough about the goodness that music therapy brings our son and we are very grateful.

Mrs. Angela Arlotta

Eve has benefited from Music Therapy in so many ways, in such a short amount of time. Her language has increased drastically. She is speaking more; singing songs from both the therapy & from TV, movie soundtracks & music cds that she listens to. Her annunciation and clarity is improving, her vocabulary has been increasing and her verbalization of wants and needs has become more frequent. We have found at home and in the community, that singing with Eve or playing music for Eve during difficult or stressful situations has helped her to calm down or recover from disruptions more quickly. Eve's confidence in socializing with others has improved as well. She engages more with other adults as well as children, both in school and within our family. I feel that her confidence in allowing others to interact with her is largely due to her confidence in being understood when she speaks. The reason that I think all of these things are attributed to Music Therapy is because of the amazing results we ve had. We were told by a psychologist with the Regional Center when Eve was first diagnosed Autism as well as by a school psychologist that if Eve wasn t speaking or doing other things by age 7, she probably never would or would not be able to 'catch up.' Eve just turned 9 years old on July 1, 2009. We have seen more results with Eve s language since starting Music Therapy and it has also carried over in her other therapies and in school, increasing her success.

We are devastated that the State has discontinued funding for this therapy for Eve. Should the opportunity arise in the future to reinstate Music Therapy; I hope Eve will be the first child to receive services again!

Sincerely,
Gemma Yousoofian

Eve has benefited from Music Therapy in so many ways, in such a short amount of time. The 45 minutes a week my daughter and I spend with our music therapist at PCDA is probably the most enjoyable time of our week. This is the place where I (mommy) can be encouraged as I see and can be amazed at all the things my daughter Lucia has the potential to do. Both of us can enjoy communicating and playing together. This might seem like an easy thing for most kids, but even something as simple as playing together with anyone is a great accomplishment for Lucia.

Even though my daughter Lucia is 10 years old, she is severely physically and mentally challenged. She doesn't walk, or talk and her fine motor skills are so delayed that she can only hang on to objects briefly. She is so floppy from her hypotonia that even reaching her hands up or out is a big task for her. Communication in the traditional sense of words or even gestures is pretty much non-existent at this time. She also has functional vision problems so it hard to get her to focus on objects. Many times when I am out and about strangers often say to me that she looks tired or sleepy. She appears to not be engaged in the world around her but rather be in her own little comfortable world.

However, in music therapy, it is about Lucia and connecting with her right where she is at. With a passionate, talented, creative, energetic, patient, and well trained music therapist, we are able to tap into her world. The therapist using a variety of music stimuli is able to help me enter Lucia's world and then motivate and challenge her to join us and do things she would not normally do. In Lucia's case we wait and look for her responses. It may be a look, a vocalization, a touch or squeeze of my hand, tapping, reaching, or the even rarer response we love the most, laughing.

Music therapy time is probably the time Lucia is most alert and engaged. Ironically, even though music therapy time is not performance directed it is actually the place where I think she performs at her best. I try to share the activities we do and methods we use in music therapy with her caregivers, teachers, or anyone that relates to her in the hopes that they too will try it and see that Lucia is capable of much more then they can imagine. It has really helped with her fine motor skills, and communication.

As we read books with a singing voice, Lucia is able to turn the page when we pause and wait for her. One of the books has monkeys with Velcro that she actually is able to pull off with determination and effort. Even though the cabasa is a heavy instrument for her, somehow she is very motivated and manages to lift it and sometimes even bang a few times.

She has learned to make choices. We have been able to see that she does have preferences. When we present her with two musical activities and wait for a response she will let us know her choice by looking at, touching, and/or reaching. We already know she has favorites like playing with the ocean drum or reading "Five Little Monkeys Swinging on a tree." As we introduce new activities she develops new preferences. One of her current favorites is the autoharp which also allows her to feel and pull the strings and today she chose it over the big drum which she also loves.

She has been able to do some turn taking as the therapist or I do an activity then we wait for her to do the activity. She has been able to tell us she wants to continue an activity after we stop the activity and wait for her to touch my hand. This has been exciting for me as I can interact with my daughter two ways not just one way.

I think the reason music therapy is so successful is because it allows Lucia to engage with many of her senses and offers so much variety to keep her engaged and motivated. For the sense of hearing, musical instruments and the human voice in singing can make such a variety of sounds, tones and can be played or sung fast, slow, high, low, etc. Visually, there are instruments that are shiny, or offer high contrast colors like the piano black and white keys. For touch, the instruments all have their own textures, some are smooth or rough to the touch, some you have to pluck like strings on a guitar, others you need to push and pull like an accordion. Emotionally, music can be calming, exciting, happy, silly, inspiring, and much more.

Actually, I really believe that the benefits of music therapy and the various approaches it are so overwhelming that if they could incorporated into more aspects of Lucia's life (like school) she would be more engaged, learn more, and be able to relate more to others.

Rosa Tuero-Huang
Mother of Lucia Tuero-Huang

My daughter and I have been enjoying Music Therapy for the past 6 years. This has been the perfect learning environment for my child, since she has a Traumatic Brain injury from a car accident. She has been unable to communicate verbally and has multiple disabilities. My daughter was considered to be comatose after her injury. Music has awakened her! She usually has seizures all day, but with music she has been calm and attentive to her therapist. My daughter can now communicate with eye blinking, once for 'yes' and twice for 'no.' She chooses the songs she wants to hear when asked if and which instrument she wants to play. She is awake and alert during her sessions when she usually sleeps. She is always excited and anticipates her travel to PCDA every Thursday.

Thank you PCDA for giving my child music! And waking her up! We are very sad to hear my daughter's music sessions will be cut if no funding is found and my daughter will miss this opportunity for learning and growing a lot more!

- Nanette Rincon

Pasadena Child Development Associates, Inc.

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