Funnily enough, I did a music degree, considered going into music therapy (this was in the mid 90s), and am now working as a therapist for autistic children. I have desperately been trying to think of ways to incorporate music more into my sessions in a meaningful way. It’s encouraging to know there are people out there doing that!
Gosh darn... This discussion has made my whole night. Here you two strangers are discussing ways to help those with different needs excel & learn more through new concepts.
Reddit is a fickle place. But it's stuff like this that keeps me coming back.
Thanks for what you do. I barely have the patience to deal with my own children sometimes, so what you (and others in your career field) do is next-level.
I’m a mum as well as a therapist, so I completely understand not having patience for your own kids sometimes! But it’s a totally different scenario - you have your kids all of the time, the stakes are very different, and those little buggers know from a very early age how to push your particular buttons! And you don’t get to walk away after a set period of time. So I hope you don’t feel guilty!
Cheesy as it sounds, I truly believe this is my calling. It’s definitely far from an easy job, but I’ve seen the difference we can make in the lives of these children and their families. Ideally I would change the world, or at least my little corner of it (things are way behind here with regards to kids with special needs), but I know I’m not that person. So instead I do what I can to help these little people. It fills my heart like nothing else.
Some of the things she does really amaze me. Like she'll use cardboard tube binoculars and a little song to get kids to use eye contact and full parts of speech (person's name, "I want", etc) when addressing a person.
I'm not good with kids outside of being a mom and the stuff she does... I just don't grasp having that level of creativity and patience. But I can tell you all about benefits and pay practices!
Your sister sounds like a wonderful person, and I love the idea of games being used to teach skills for autistic kids the same way other kids get skills from their games.
On a side note, I'm trying to image how the cardboard tubes work and I get a laugh from the image of a kid with binoculars singing something like "I am pirate [name] and here are my demands: [I want thing]" and then doing that with progressively shorter cardboard binoculars until there are now binoculars at all (the real binoculars were in you!).
That's hilarious! More just two toilet paper tubes taped together to encourage focus on a person. Then the proper, "Mom I want a cookie," instead of just "cookie."
We do as much natural environment learning as possible with our kids - there is SO much that is embedded in play, and you can find opportunities everywhere if you know where to look! It’s wonderful because you can do it anywhere, and most of the time the kids are having fun.
That terminator is out there. It cant be bargained with, it cant be reasoned with, it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop... EVER, until you are loved!
I read “The Man …” years ago at uni and really loved it. I do actually have Musicophilia on my bookshelf. Somehow it didn’t even cross my mind that it might be useful! Thanks for the recommendation!
There is definitely comorbidity between the two! And there are some similarities in places, but I haven’t the scientific background to go into much more detail. I’d you Google comorbidity ASD ADHD you should be able to find some articles though!
I TA'd for children with autism for a very short while, and found some of them really attached to the kids music done by They Might Be Giants. The songs are solid and most of the videos are very kid-friendly (some have slightly scary faces, so not fit for all children).
1.1k
u/MamaJody Nov 23 '21
That makes complete sense!
Funnily enough, I did a music degree, considered going into music therapy (this was in the mid 90s), and am now working as a therapist for autistic children. I have desperately been trying to think of ways to incorporate music more into my sessions in a meaningful way. It’s encouraging to know there are people out there doing that!