Kevin's Healing Journey: January/February/March Music Therapy

Thursday, March 23, 2017

January/February/March Music Therapy

It's been a while since I've given a music therapy update. Here are some of my favorite moments and progress I've noted in the last few months.

When the music therapist arrives she sings a Hello song. Kevin nearly always chooses the guitar for this song. Afterwards she asked if he wanted MORE guitar music. I thought he might say WANT or MORE...but instead he said HEAR GO on his Talker. I love it when Kevin answers with a word in a way I wasn't expecting.

Another time, Kevin said BLUE FISH on his Talker. The music therapist didn't miss a beat and immediately began singing..."Just keep swimming, just keep swimming"...get it? - Dory, the blue fish!

She has a choice board that enables Kevin to choose a Disney movie song. He finally chose Mulan...one of his favorites. She didn't have the recorded song to play for him so she sang it acapella and Kevin loved it and smiled at all the same times as if he was listening to the song in the movie..."I'll Make a Man Out of You"! I was really impressed that he still enjoyed it without the visual and sounds from the movie.

Kevin's learning to take turns on the piano and other instruments...using the Talker with STOP/GO. She brought visual signs to use for STOP/GO and Kevin easily used his Talker to say GO when he was in stop mode and wanted it to be his turn to play. Another day while playing the piano and using the STOP/GO words he said STOP and then NEW - I think he wanted a new song.

Kevin is using the ribbon sticks better in music therapy and dance class.

Another significant observation is that when Kevin is given two choices he is crossing over and choosing a choice on the left side.

And best of all...in February Kevin started smiling more during his music therapy sessions - Yay! He's feeling comfortable with the music therapist and having some fun!

I almost forgot to mention that we received some financial help for Kevin's music therapy sessions. The community county developmental disability board is now offering funds through a family engagement program. It was a fairly easy process and will be helpful to continue this beneficial program for Kevin.

I've been trying to capture some photos of Kevin with the various instruments but it's not always easy because I don't want to distract him and sometimes I am helping...especially if we are using both hands with an instrument. She got some adapted mallets for him to use with the drums and xylophone so that he can grasp it easier with this left hand but he still needs a lot of help.

Xylophone

Push Bells

Ocean Drum and Thunder Stick

She brings it all...except the piano of course

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My Blog

This blog was created to keep our family and friends updated on Kevin's healing journey. It is also our hope that others may find this blog to give help and hope to other delayed kids.

About Kevin

They told us Kevin would never walk or talk. But with lots of prayers, hard work, and extra hands, he began walking when he was four years old and we continue to have faith and hope as we wait patiently for his speech to develop. Kevin is now eight years old. He is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy due to a brain-injury he had before birth that was caused by a stroke. In 2006, before Kevin was 2 years old, we found Glenn Doman’s book "What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child" that had answers to help children with special needs and developmental delays. We began an individualized home treatment program for Kevin immediately and have been dedicated to our program ever since. We spent three years with the Doman family at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) and now we are with Matthew and Carol Newell at The Family Hope Center (FHC). Twice a year we return to Philadelphia where Kevin receives a neurological evaluation to determine the progress he has made in the last six months. Then they provide us with an individualized, program that puts me in charge to help Kevin develop and reach his fullest potential.

Do You Know a Delayed Child?

The best recommendation we can give to another parent with a special needs or developmentally delayed child (brain-injured, brain-damaged, mentally retarded, mentally deficient, cerebral-palsied, epileptic, autistic, athetoid, hyperactive, attention deficit disordered, developmentally delayed, or down's) is to read Glenn Doman's book What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child and/or Dr. Coralee Thompson and Dr. Philip Maffetone's book Healthy Brains, Healthy Children. By simply reading these books, you will gain valuable information to help your child which will begin to unlock the potential your child has. And best of all you will learn that there are other options to helping your child that you can do yourself. We would also highly recommend attending the parent course at FHC or IAHP. To read how our journey began and the successful progress Kevin has had refer to the January 2010 blog archive.