Finding Meaning In Your Music Therapy Interventions

Finding Meaning In Your Music Therapy Interventions

In my latest post I talked about all of the “ah-ha” moments that happen during internship. It’s these moments that make you excited and eager to learn more.

Something that I am excited to learn about as I prepare for my clients is creating purposeful interventions. According to Dr. Thaut, sometimes we plan sessions based off of music activities or we address goals very broadly. Sometimes, I would plan sessions and say, “This intervention works on articulation, breathing, and attention.” Yet, how will I accomplish a lot if I am trying to work on everything at once? If I am using ONE goal to drive the intervention, more gains will be made.

I’m learning to break down each goal to create specific and meaningful interventions. Dr. Thaut’s Transformational Design Model (TDM) has been extremely helpful when doing this. Throughout my internship I have been assigned to fill out the TDM for different clients. I also like to go through the steps when planning a session on my own. The more I go through these steps, the faster I get at thinking through it. Thinking about your approach as you would if you were a PT, OT, SLP, or vocal coach is very helpful. It helps give that intervention a specific meaning. What would they do? How can you put music to that?

An important step of this process is generalization. I always have to think about the generalization piece. For kids, this step always makes you think about how you can involve the parents and even other therapists.

Soon, I will be able to think through the TDM very quickly. We are musicians! Think of practicing these steps like practicing your instrument! It’s hard work, but soon it will become second nature!

Rachel