Day 27:
On Monday, we had 4 preschool boys. One boy was new and the others had been here before. The new boy was very resistant. He wouldn't participate, cooperate, or speak clearly. He didn't want people in his personal space either. When one boy got too close to him, he pushed him over and started crying. He also whined a lot. It was reassuring when he wanted to play the small drum and the Q-chord. We could see that he did want to participate if it involved something he liked. He then threw a fit when he had to play the maraca instead by throwing it across the room and then hitting it out of my hand when I retrieved it for him. Another boy wanted to play the small drum that the new boy had, but part of the session involves knowing how to take turns. He also threw a fit with the maraca, but he knew he had to play with it if he wanted to play the small drum. So he very unhappily shook the maraca. The two other boys were very clingy with me during the session. They kept telling me to sit by them, or would hold my hand or arm and just look at me. Overall, the session was okay. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.
After music, we had a mini goodbye party for my last day. We had mini muffins and juice boxes. They also signed a card for me and it was really sweet. I've loved working with them every week, and it was hard to say goodbye.
Day 28:
I got a lot of visual aid things completed on Thursday! I was there for four and a half hours and finished off strongly. I made 4 song puzzles (2 with Go The Distance, 2 with Here Comes The Sun.) The goal of the song puzzles is to match the available pictures to the lyrics of the song. I also made 5 Mad Libs binders. I made definition cards for each binder for adjectives, verbs, and nouns. Each binder has songs with blank spaces and a set of markers in a pouch so the words the clients choose can be erased.
(The Song Puzzles) (One Mad Libs Binder)
Day 29:
A lot of music therapy sessions involve things that aren't music. One game the participants with Alzheimer's played was passing around/mimicking animal motions and sounds, which led to singing. We sang a lot of happy songs. I noticed that the sillier the activity/song is, the happier the clients seem. I played Moonlight Sonata on the piano for the first group. The objectives for the groups (stated verbally) involve 5 domains: motor, communication, cognitive, affective/emotional, and social. There was a lot more singing in the second group this Friday.
We had a nice goodbye, too. I was given flowers and a balloon. Working with these men and women, hearing about their lives, and watching them progress has been a highlight of every week.
After this session, I went to the clinic and observed my final session with the first boy with Autism. Client 2 unfortunately wasn't able to make it on Friday. His mom told me that he was having a hard week, which would explain his behavior in the session. He was a lot more physical and would hit his head a lot. He seemed really down and would pout for parts of the session. He just wasn't feeling it today. He had a really bad moment during an activity and the MT had to hold hold his ears to calm him down. It was an interesting way to end my time observing because his sessions/behaviors have always been all over the place. I was able to thank his mother for letting me observe her son over the course of my project, and I even got to say goodbye to the boy.
Final Words:
And that would be the end of my internship! I have learned so much over the past 10 weeks and I'm excited to complete my project. I've loved being able to combine my love of music and psychology. And I also loved getting to share my piano playing with the elderly clients and the preschoolers. I've worked with people with ages ranging from 3 to 96, seeing both similarities and differences from each client. Thank you to everyone who made this possible!
