One of the more effective ways that a child can address a wider span of behavioral and communication-based struggles is through the use of music therapy. Music Therapy is not a well-understood discipline in the way of therapy. It isn’t just a fun and play-based brand of therapy, although play is a significant and important component of music therapy. Speech and language difficulties, as well as social issues, are managed effectively in a therapeutic setting with the use of music as the modality for treatment.
A certified Music Therapist will help the child they are working with to overcome various social, cognitive, speech/language, and even motor skills-related challenges by embarking on exercises that use music as a tool to help promote connectedness and cooperation between the child and others. The therapist might have the child playing music on an instrument, the very act of which can provide immense benefits to a child who struggles with various forms of Speech/Language issues. They might also sing with the child in order to work through a particular issue. In other cases, music therapists might design exercises where the child makes movements in response to music or simply listens to certain selections as a form of therapy.
Music therapy has an added benefit that most other modalities of treating impairment, language, and behavioral issues do not. It has been proven not only to effectively engage children who find it difficult to express themselves or understand others in more traditional ways, but also to increase a child’s investment in their entire therapeutic journey. Music therapy provides a sense of emotional levity to challenges that encourage the child to succeed in their efforts to progress. Finally, music therapy is a great deal of fun for a child who is often in a state of struggle in many other situations that their peers find enjoyable.
