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Kathryn

music therapy

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My daughter has expressed an interest in trying music therapy. I think it would really help her as she loves music and it seems to have a calming effect. I don't know anything about it and wondered if anyone had tried it and where.

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Hi Kathryn,

 

My son has recently had Reiki Therapy - and I was stunned at the effect on him.

He has become much calmer and the music is very therapuetic. I have not heard of music therapy though - can you enlighten me,

 

Thanks

 

Helen

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Hiya Kathryn,

I can't say i know too much about music therapy but the special unit we are hoping to have Lewis placed in after Christmas does Music therapy. I will let you know about it if and when (keep you're fingers crossed for me!) he goes to the Unit.

Kirstie. x

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Thanks for the replies everyone and for the link Nellie. Good luck, Kirstie, with the unit, I'd like to hear how Lewis gets on.

 

We're trying to get my daughter referred to a centre near us which does music and art therapy. I would happily look around and find someone to do it privately but we cannot afford it right now.

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Reiki was a new experience for me, but has worked immensely well. It's odd, because Aspie's tend to hate physical contact, but often seem to respond well to something like Reiki (expect us to be pretty nervous about it at first tho!).

 

As to music therapy, I can offer something from both my own perspective and from that of my cousin, who is a music therapist. Although tastes differ, very relaxing music (the specialist stuff rather than just chillout) and tribal music are both very effective at mood influence in most forms of Autism and related "disorders". Many of us respond well to drumming too. Not the whole drum kit thing (before parents and partners start panicking :blink: ) but just something simple like tom-toms. The repetitive (and often quite complex) rhythms that we (usually) quietly beat out are incredibly soothing, and are a good mood indicator.

 

Aspie's can be incredibly good at meditating, and are often quite spiritual, so things like Celtic music often appeal, but this too is a matter of taste. Make sure you don't try and talk to us over it though! :rolleyes:

 

Hope this helps.

 

Adam

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Hi Adam,

 

Both my son (dx Aspie) and husband - non Dx but an Aspie for sure - sit and tap out rhythms and shake their head. They are unaware that they are doing this and it is usually when I want to watch or listen to something that is of no interest whatsoever to them. Husband used to play drums in a local group when he was a teenager. My little one used to have a tape recorder in his bedroom when he was a little baby. I used to copy my albums onto blank tapes and I would never bother marking them on the outside. He could pick from a box of blank tapes the one that he wanted! I have never been able to figure it out. He also was distraught when he was a little toddler as his "Durder Turder" tape had gone missing. Evenutally he vocalised the singing as "Durder, Turder, Durder, Turder" and I recognised it as the first song of a Talk Talk album that I had taped for him.

 

Music is a very big part of both their lives.

 

My son who dislikes intensley being touched, was also very receptive to Reiki and I am going this weekend on a course to learn Level one in order that I can maybe help him when things are a bit tough. He has also asked the practitioner to teach him as well!. Adam - it is all a mystery to me - but it works for him.

 

Best Wishes

 

Helen

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Thanks for your personal insight Adam. My daughter does like celtic music actually. I don't think she goes much for drums although she often slaps her hand on her leg when she's sitting reading. She likes wind chimes and has a number of them hanging by her window. She likes particular pieces of music which have specific associations; she enjoys listening to the Pastoral Symphony as it features in Fantasia and she used to watch that particular part over and over again as a child.

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when i worked in residential the children had lots of music therapy and it was beneficial for all the children. Music seemed to have a calming effect and, for some reason, enabled them to communicate better - probably because the youngsters were calmer i suppose. One girl in particular loved her music and liked it on all night. She loved celtic music too, whale music and wave music things, definately had a calming effect. And much as I like Dido as a singer a 12hour night shift with Dido on repeat play 2x week is a tad too much for me!!!

Art therapy I find fascinating and would love to qualify myself as one. it is a course of therapy i think worth persuing for the children, horrendously expensive privately though.

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Glad my perspective was of some help :)

 

I must admit that as a kid I would play the same music over and over, but you grow out of it - most of the time :rolleyes:

 

As for the Reiki, I am hoping to learn too this year, though it will depend on whether I can get well enough to work again - Incapacity Benefit gives me barely enough to live on, so Reiki would have to wait until I am earning again. The Reiki thing touches on a surprising aspect of ASD (and autism for that matter) that I had thought was just a "me" thing. It's a tricky thing to discuss, because we shy away from discussing things that are too unconventional, even in a group like this, but a LOT of ASD kids and adults are very "sensitive" to spiritual moods and treatments. It has often been explained away as people being suggestive to new ideas, but I think that there is more to it than this. I am starting to cautiously wonder whether it is not a matter of picking up less from the world around us, or whether it's a case of picking up different things in different ways. Just a thought.

 

Adam

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My son has nearly finished a course of music therapy (he gets 10 half hour sessions) which he is now enjoying- he found it difficult to begin with and screamed through the whole of the first session.

 

It's hard to say what he has got out of it but it has been nice to spend the time with him doing something different.

 

The sessions consist of going into a room where there is nothing but the instruments spread on the floor and the therapist. It's very unstructured- the therapist sings a 'hello' and 'goodbye' song and we mostly follow Ivan's lead to get him to engage with us-banging drums shaking shakers etc.

 

We haven't had to pay for sessions as they are provided as part of the excellent support he gets from his playgroup (for asd kids).

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I'm glad your son is enjoying the music sessions, Hatter. It would be interesting to see what a therapist would do with an older child like my daughter. She used to do singing lessons at school and loved them, in fact though it seems hard to believe now, she passed her grade 5 exam less than a year ago. She dropped the lessons when she came out of school in September as she found the pressure of having to perform too much. But she still enjoys listening to music and singing to herself so a session where she could just enjoy music for its own sake might be the best thing.

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