Jump to > Baselines | Developing music activities | Structuring sessions | Space and instruments | Tapping innate musicality | Developing social and language skills | Learning movement | Encouraging expression | Resources

Click to enlarge

Special needs teachers' workshop

by Daphne Rickson and Dr Robert Krout, Music Therapists
and Tutors on Massey University's Wellington Music Therapy Programme

This resource is presented to help teachers and other carers to successfully involve children with special needs in regular classroom music, and to use the medium of music to encourage children to develop other skills – interaction and social skills, speech and language skills, movement skills, and emotional expression and relationship building.

Baselines

We are aware that readers planning to use this material may come from a variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and training. You may have:

• a class of children who have special needs, or
• a child in a regular classroom who needs some adaptation of the curriculum in order to succeed, or
• you may be working with a special needs child outside of the classroom who wants to learn a musical instrument or develop another specific skill.

Similarly, there will be a wide variation in readers' level of musical confidence. Some will be formally trained musicians, and may be classroom or itinerant music teachers. Others will be carers who have not considered themselves to be musicians to date.

Our first piece of advice for the latter group would be to throw caution to the winds – keep it simple, be creative... but have a go! Children generally respond positively if you approach them with confidence and enthusiasm, and with respect for the musical relationship you intend to develop.

We hold a basic premise that musicality is innate, that we are all intuitive musicians, and that experience and formal training serves simply to enhance our natural human musicianship.

Further, we believe that children are motivated to interact musically and that, despite difficulties they may have in other areas of development, the child's musicality is often intact. To use the concept of Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins (Nordoff and Robbins, 1971), there is a 'music child' inside, no-matter what the disability or limitation.

Children are individuals with unique personalities, strengths, and needs, and whether you work with them one-to-one or in a group setting, each child and/or group will have its own distinctive dynamic. This means there is no single 'recipe for success'.

However, there are many techniques and strategies that can enhance your musical interaction with children who have special needs generally, and some of these are presented in this resource.

You might be working with children who have intellectual, physical, sensory, emotional and/or multiple disabilities, and they may have difficulties in several areas. While we refer occasionally to specific diagnoses/special needs conditions, we have tried to present general concepts and strategies that may be applied to many special needs groups.

Sometimes it is appropriate for a music therapist to carry out a music therapy assessment of a child, in order to provide information, support, and resources to the hands-on teacher/carer on a consultation basis.

As music therapists, our programmes for children who have special needs begin with a formal assessment. We review school, health, and related records, and the IEP (individual education programme). Before planning a music programme specifically designed to meet their agreed goals, we also interact musically with the children to evaluate their strengths and needs.

The assessment session may be carried out with an individual child, in a small group setting, or, occasionally, in a classroom setting. A music therapist has excellent music skills, training in working with children who have specific difficulties, and an understanding of therapeutic processes.

If you feel a music therapy assessment or programme may be beneficial for a child, you are encouraged to contact the New Zealand Society for Music Therapy at www.musictherapy.org.nz to find out if a music therapist is available in your area.

However, the focus of this resource is how you can support a child who has special needs by developing a music programme that enables their successful participation. The ideas in this resource represent just some of the many ways to use music to improve the lives of children with special needs, and to successfully include them in musical experiences.

We would like to emphasize that there is no one right way to make music with special needs children. You know the needs of the children with whom you work. Tap into that knowledge, and combine it with your creative self and spirit to enable these children to explore, enjoy, and learn through music.

Your success with these children will be largely based on your enthusiasm and commitment to them and the music. Don't feel intimidated about trying new things, and remember to enjoy yourself and to be creative and musical in all that you do – the children will follow your lead!

next: Developing music activities