Five Ideas For Using Music Therapeutically With Children Who Have Visual Impairments
I have the opportunity to work with many clients with visual impairments in the public schools. These children often enjoy music as a primary motivator and independently seek out music stimuli in their environment. In my work as a music therapist I am usually asked to find ways to help these children and their teachers use music stimuli more effectively to aid students in making progress on non-musical objectives. Many students who are singularly challenged with visual impairments pursue music in a traditional way as a hobby, leisure skill or career. We all know about the success and talent of people like Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, etc., but how do we use music to connect with those children with multiple disabilities?
Children who have visual impairments or blindness combined with disabilities such as mental retardation, autism, Down and other syndromes present unique challenges for using music therapeutically. Traditional adaptations for learning music as a skill may not work with these children. Many of the children I work with may only be able to learn a very short rhythm or melodic sequence by rote and do not read braille due to cognitive impairments. These children also tend to have more acute sensory defensive behaviors towards objects in the environment. Therefore, I often employ music strategies to address non-musical objectives instead of trying to teach music as a skill.