Music can inspire us, elevate our spirits, encourage us, and foster relationships with our loved ones. It gives us a deeper understanding of the people and environment around us and facilitates the communication and expression of our emotions. Not only may songs and rhythms provide us joy and entertainment, but scientific studies have shown that specific beats can improve our sleep, lessen pain, and boost mental wellness. Considering all of this, it makes sense that formal therapy might also involve music. Patients and their therapists might establish a more goal-oriented therapy plan by listening to music together. Each music therapy session is customized to meet the patient's specific needs and is patient-centered.
People with physical disabilities have had good results with music therapy as a form of therapy. Anyone from preschool age to late adults has used it, as well as people with a wide range of disabilities, some of which were present at birth and some of which developed over time. Music therapy might be a big part of improving, keeping up, or returning to normal physical functioning. Because music is energizing, it can be used to get people to move or structure exercises that are recommended for physical rehabilitation. Music may help people deal with the pain, discomfort, and worry of some physical disabilities by taking their minds off them. When used in music therapy sessions, musical experiences can help people reach a range of physical, emotional, and social goals appropriate for their needs, skills, and preferences.
What is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is when a licensed therapist and a client talk to each other through music. It gives people a lot of chances to take part, learn, enjoy, and talk to each other. This is a way to help people who are sick or live with many different conditions. Music therapy works well for people of all ages who are having problems with their physical, mental, spiritual, or intellectual well-being. It also helps promote, maintain, or restore physical function in older adults, people in pain, or those who want to add more to their lives.
Music therapy is more than just listening to or making music. It is based on study and helps people improve their health, functioning, and well-being via active participation. It is taught by professionals who have gone to college and are registered with the Australian Music Therapy Association Inc. They follow a code of ethics that guides their work.
8 Ways Music Therapy can Benefit People With Disabilities in Respite Care
Although music profoundly impacts all people, children and adults with complex needs can benefit from its usage in the classroom. The benefits of integrating music into special needs schooling are numerous. It includes the following:
1. Music strengthens relationships
Music therapy is when a licensed therapist and a client talk to each other through music. It gives people a lot of chances to take part, learn, enjoy, and talk to each other. This is a way to help people who are sick or live with many different conditions. Music therapy works well for people of all ages who are having problems with their physical, mental, spiritual, or intellectual well-being. It also helps promote, maintain, or restore physical function in older adults, people in pain, or those who want to add more to their lives.
Music therapy is more than just listening to or making music. It is based on study and helps people improve their health, functioning, and well-being via active participation. It is taught by professionals who have gone to college and are registered with the Australian Music Therapy Association Inc. They follow a code of ethics that guides their work.
2. Sensory senses
A child's ability to learn is greatly enhanced when playing an instrument because it stimulates various senses. Using instruments to elicit particular feelings and emotions is a terrific method to help youngsters who struggle with sensory processing learn and possibly even come out of their shells in front of others. Imagine a young youngster using a drum to play. They can feel the drumstick in their hands, move their arm and wrist to pound the drum and hear the sound it makes as it hits the surface, making it a multisensory experience. Their visual faculties are also stimulated as they concentrate on a specific drum area to strike with the drumstick.
3. Help with relaxation
Relaxing is vital to getting more flexible and increasing your range of motion. You should also remember this when working with people with muscle problems. People with spastic cerebral palsy do better with soothing music along with EMG biofeedback relaxation training than with EMG biofeedback relaxation training alone. Some music activities that can help you relax are listening to well-chosen music, improvising on an instrument, and doing relaxation routines with music. It can match and lead your body's responses, like your breathing and heart rate, to a more relaxed state through improvised music. If you want to relax, calming music might work for most people but not for everyone. The music therapist knows how to play music and can monitor how it affects the person. And make changes to the music to ensure the effects are what are wanted.
4. Improve movement skills
Many musical situations can help you get better at coordinating your muscles. Some instruments can help people improve their range of motion and fine and gross motor skills. This can be done by carefully placing the instruments around the person or using instruments requiring certain muscle groups or body parts. You can also improve your hand-eye coordination by playing instruments that need you to move your body more precisely. Using rhythmic sounds has been shown to help people with uneven or irregular walking patterns walk more independently and more evenly (Staum, 1983). It has also been shown to help kids with gross motor problems improve their temporal and quantitative muscle control.
5. Encourage and hold people accountable
People with physical disabilities can succeed in therapy when music creates a positive and fun environment. Well-chosen background music can make regular exercise more enjoyable. By playing live music in the background, adaptability and flexibility are kept up, making it easier for the music therapist to match the person's movements in speed, style, and beat. People with trouble with exercise may find that music helps them forget about themselves and focus on other things. It can also keep them going and make their usual exercise routine seem less boring.
6. Encourage self-reliance, confidence, and self-worth
People can become more independent and feel better about their self-worth as their physical abilities improve and they have more chances to practice and learn new skills. Music therapy interventions can help people create a positive self-image and self-concept, and the activities can be changed to fit the needs and abilities of each person. In this case, instruments or songs may need to be changed to make them easier to play so that the person can have an excellent musical experience while facing challenges. Music therapy can help these people learn to accept their disabilities healthily and give them chances to grow as people.
7. Improve your speech and conversation skills
There are many ways that singing and speaking are alike. When you sing, you use your voice to do tasks that can help improve oral motor skills, like articulation, breath control, and vocal intensity. You can change the speech rate and enhance speech clarity by changing the tempo and flow. This will help the person communicate better. It has also been shown that rhythmic training can help people with trouble speaking. When someone goes through melodic intonation treatment, they sing propositional sentences in a way that sounds like how the sentence naturally sounds when spoken.
This method has been shown to help language-delayed apraxic children improve their word-morpheme performance levels, sentence lengths, articulation skills, and the ease with which they can understand what others are saying. It has also been shown to help some people with severe aphasia. Music has also been shown to help physically disabled children talk on their own and to help them communicate without words by using joy symbols or sign language.
8. Inspiration
One tool for motivation is music. Music therapy in Australia is a valuable tool for children and adults with complicated needs, much as athletes use it to psych themselves up before competition. A child might be motivated to work on a challenging activity with the help of music therapy.
Non-verbal
Since music can be nonverbal, it benefits nonverbal kids and adults. Playing tunes with captivating beats and melodies might help a child escape their shell. It can also encourage a youngster to get up and dance, giving them physical stimulation or as a motivating aid to start a task.
How Does Music Therapy Make these Things Happen?
Our brains learn how to process and react to music from a very young age. Throughout history, mothers have used lullabies and rhythmic rocking to calm crying babies. From the point of view of evolution, music came before words.
We hear a rhythm or beat; our bodies instantly change how they work to match it. Some of the music that gets into our brains through our ears goes straight to the muscle nerves in our spinal cord. This is why our muscles can move in time with a rhythm without realising it, like when we tap our feet to the beat of a song. People who have had strokes can even use this to help them learn how to walk again.
Music changes the way our bodies work. Rhythms can change our brainwaves, muscles, and even how we breathe. This is great for helping us relax but can also help us learn, remember things, and even get motivated. There are even parts of our brains that are used for singing and speech that are used for music. Speech therapists use music to help their patients learn how to talk and interact again after being sick or hurt.
What Does a Music Therapist do?
A qualified music therapist takes part in music therapy by playing live or pre-recorded music on one or more instruments in a way that has been clinically tested and studied to help the client reach specific goals.
Music therapists work in health, community, disability, early childhood, private practice, and long-term care. In schools, hospitals, and community programmes, they often work with other people as a team.
Since the 1780s, music therapy has been used to help people with mental and physical problems. However, it has become much more popular since the 1940s. As part of a client-centred, goal-directed framework, a music therapist gives patients clinical plans as part of a wide range of treatments from a group of professionals.
Music therapy can help you talk to someone and help them talk back by using different styles, tempos, sounds, and beats of musical instruments matched to the client's mood. For instance, the therapist could make a short piece of music before or during the meeting and see how the client reacts. That person will hear the song and be free to respond however they choose. The client could even be given a set of instruments, like percussion instruments, to play, explore, or react with. They could also strum a guitar, press keyboard keys, or make up their music. There are planned and controlled musical times in these therapeutic programmes. They can help the client in many ways, which is one reason the NDIS offers music therapy.
Conclusion
Music therapy is effective in both clinical trials and peer reviews. As a result, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has accepted it as a professional Allied Health therapy and successful applicants can get it through the NDIS. You should immediately click on this list of qualified music therapists if you think that music therapy could help you or someone you support or work with. However, if you or someone you support or work with has trouble making these plans,
If you are in need of a respite care facility that utilises several means to make you comfortable, like music therapy, Care Assure is your go to. We make sure all our participants get tailored solutions and services. We provide a comfortable, safe and secure environment for each resident to grow and thrive. Get in touch with us today to get started with your music therapy during a respite care visit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does music therapy mean, and how does it help disabled people?
As a form of therapy, music therapy uses music to help people with their physical, mental, cognitive, and social needs. Music therapy can help disabled people communicate better, move their bodies more easily, feel less stressed and anxious, and be healthier overall. Know more about the Australian music therapy association.
How does music therapy help people who have disabilities?
Music therapy uses many different methods, such as listening to music, playing instruments, singing, making songs, and moving to music. These tasks are changed to fit each person's specific needs and skills, giving them a way to express themselves and talk to others that might be hard to do otherwise.
What kinds of problems can music therapy help?
A lot of different kinds of illnesses can benefit from music therapy. These include autism spectrum disorder, developmental delays, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, sensory processing disorders, and traumatic brain injuries.
Has music therapy been shown to help people with disabilities?
Studies have shown that music therapy can help people with disabilities improve their social skills, speech, motor coordination, ability to control their emotions, and brain function.
What kind of leisure care does Care Assure offer for people who are in music therapy programs?
Care Assure knows how important it is for people with disabilities in music therapy groups to have time off. They offer personalized leisure care services that are made to fit the needs of each person and their family. Care Assure ensures that people can get trained caregivers to help them during music therapy classes and give them extra care if needed.
What makes Care Assure a good respite care provider for people in music therapy programs?
The health and happiness of disabled people and their families are essential to Care Assure. They know how important it is for people in music therapy groups to have consistency and support. Care Assure's caregivers are trained to give kind care and ensure people can explore and benefit from music therapy in a safe and caring setting.
How does Care Assure ensure that music therapy programs work well with leisure care services?
Care Assure works closely with music therapists and other medical workers caring for the person to ensure that services stay consistent and coordinated. They talk to families and caregivers daily to determine what the person wants and needs. This lets them customize their respite care services to improve the therapeutic experience.
