Whitefield Schools and Centre

Every child matters

Music Therapy 

Music is an established system for sharing             
feeling, play, interaction, and human
relationships.  We make music throughout
our lives via radio/TV, live events
e.g. Weddings and concerts) and it is an
integral part of our day.

Music Therapy,  a  state registered 
profession in the UK, uses music to engage and connect with another people without words to   encourage expression, development, and human relationships.  It is a form of interaction, which allows two or more people to share thought, feeling, attention, and awareness through musical play known as Clinical Improvisation – including free improvisation, songs, structured and un-structured activities.

As a medium, which is readably accessible regardless of level of verbal understanding or musical ability, people often respond through body movement, singing and/or vocalising and spontaneous use of the musical instruments.  This form of sharing musical play can helps us connect with our feelings and increase awareness of the feelings of other people, facilitating greater understanding of self and others and fostering relationships with our peers. 

Reasons for receiving Music Therapy

• The student’s development and education is impaired because of additional difficulties other than those directly relating to special need e.g. family loss, mental health needs.

• The student shows that music is a medium in which they are particularly  responsive, and/or developed and they utilize a limited range of mediums in the classroom or at home.

•  The student has difficultly maintaining relationships with the environment/others but is aware of and responsive to music.

• The student has difficulty with appropriate forms of social communication, interaction, personal expression and awareness of self and others, despite educational intervention within the classroom.

Criteria for receiving Music Therapy

• The student presents awareness of and/or motivated by music, showing potential to engage with the adult through sound and/or be affected by music innately.     

• The student is able to engage in a therapeutic relationship, i.e. the student is able to engage with and is affected by the reciprocal music therapy relationship with the therapist.

• The student demonstrates that they can interact with another non-verbally through sound, music and behaviour, showing potential for development through music therapy.

• The student responds innately to the music of the therapist and demonstrates potential for emotional expression.

Individual Music Therapy

This gives the student an opportunity to express his/her internal emotional world through   music, within a safe secure environment.  The student is alone, therefore he/she is free from the impact of others on the relationship with the music therapist, allowing therapist and student to consider elements of the students difficulties under closer scrutiny and intensive interaction.

Music therapy is often recommended for students who have difficulty with

• expressing themselves verbally/non-verbally e.g. the students may use challenging behaviour as a means of communicating with the world

• non-verbal interaction skills e.g. turn-taking, shared attention, imitation etc

• attachment difficulties, i.e. the way the student relates to key people in his/her life e.g. may be very dependent or dominate others.

• managing themselves appropriately within relationships

• difficulties establishing a relationship with their environment and other people

• difficulties maintaining relationships with environment and other people

• difficulty understanding or expressing their own emotional world

• unable to manage themselves in groups

Group Music Therapy

Group music therapy provides an opportunity for students to forge               relationships with other peers, expressing themselves through music and developing their personal expression, social communication a non-verbal interaction skills via the dynamics of group music therapy.  It allows students who have difficulty managing themselves in relationships an opportunity to begin to engage with peers through music and shared emotional expression.  It may benefit students where;

• they require therapy but cannot cope with 1:1 Work

• difficulty establishing relationships with peers

• they have some difficulties managing themselves within groups but can do so with adult support

• development through adolescence is affected by difficulties in social      interaction and peer relationships

• they have limited self-awareness and awareness of others

• difficulties sharing thought and feeling with others