Transforming Developmental Disabilities into Abilities through Music Therapy Transcript

[Music Playing]

Speaker 1: Merlina is my 14-year-old daughter. She has challenges. She has a severe seizure disorder and also has autism. Yeah, great person, very happy going. Nonverbal, so we turned to music therapy. It has been a great way of communication for her.

[Music Playing]

Speaker 2: Nice singing there, Mina.

We use music as a tool. And what we work on in music is actually life goals, not musical goals. So we're not really looking for perfection. We're not looking to turn these children, and teens, and adults—whichever population we're working with—we're not looking for the expertise of music. We're actually looking for music to be an avenue for them to express themselves. Using music to be able to communicate. Using music to be able to make friends and to be able to connect with other people. So we use music as a tool working on non-musical goals.

Speaker 3 (Singing): Hello Andrew. Hello, Andrew. Hello, Andrew. It's time for Music Moves.

Speaker 2: I really like the aspect that Music Moves has a team, that we can collaborate together.

Speaker 3: It's really nice to work with other therapists, too. I find that to be a really big, a really big draw for me as a therapist. Because I get to draw on their professional opinions and experience.

Speaker 2: The whole family is affected. I want to be able to engage the entire family in any kind of way that I can. So for example, sometimes what we do is, I'm working with a client in this room, counseling the sibling, the mom, the dad, whoever it may be. And the music therapist will be in the other room doing music therapy with the clients.

Speaker 4: Naeve imitates everything her brother does. So it helps that he's so into music.

Speaker 2: Early intervention is proven that there is better success and better outcome.

Speaker 4: The earlier they get help, the better.

[Singing]

Speaker 5: Great. One more time. Yeah. Twinkle—Ooh.