Come here often to find the latest tips, news, and activities you can use at home
Can I Benefit From Music Therapy if I Don’t Have a Diagnosis?
Yes! You absolutely can benefit from Music Therapy without a diagnosis! We have shared in length how we support individuals with a wide array of diagnoses; this, however, does not mean you need a diagnosis to participate in music therapy. Getting a diagnosis can be time consuming, costly, and daunting. Many individuals go their entire lives without officially being diagnosed in anyway. When we say music therapy is inclusive, that includes everyone!
Neurologic Music Therapy Techniques and Benefits for Autism
At Musical Bridges one of the primary populations we work with are individuals with Autism. Individuals can benefit greatly from the use of different Neurologic Music Therapy techniques. Autism has neurological elements that can have an effect on individuals, and NMT targets the neurologic intricacies of diagnoses.
Types of Therapy for Autism: 9 Therapies To Consider
Getting an autism diagnosis can be daunting. You may have questions about the next steps and how you can set your child up for success. Therapy is a common step in a post diagnosis journey, but where to start? There are so many options from traditional to non-traditional therapies and we are here to tell you some pros and cons to the multitude of options you have waiting for you!
Spring Break Hacks - How to make the most of your break!
Spring break is upon us, and with it comes a disruption in routine. We here at Musical Bridges understand that routines are so important and help make your kiddos feel comfortable and secure. We want to share some ideas to implement over spring break to make the most of it, while having fun too!
Neurologic Music Therapy: What is it?
Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is the therapeutic application of music to cognitive, sensory, and motor dysfunctions due to neurologic disease of the human nervous system (Thaut, 1999). This evidenced-based clinical treatment system is driven by advances (research) in neuroscience and an understanding that music can influence and change non-musical brain and behavior function. NMT employs 20 unique, trademarked techniques therapists use to target speech, sensorimotor, and cognitive skills.
Neurologic Music Therapy Breakdown: MMT
Musical Mnemonics Training is a wonderful way to help individuals learn information. Musical Mnemonics are very prevalent in day-to-day life. Have you ever sung your ABC’s? Or created a little jingle to help you remember a set of numbers, no one can forget 8675309. We use music to remember information unintentionally on some parts and intentionally as well.
Neurologic Music Therapy Breakdown: MEFT
MEFT is the use of improvisation and composition exercises in a group or individually to practice executive function skills such as organization, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, and comprehension, within a social; context that provides important therapeutic elements such as performance products in real time, temporal structure, creative process, affective content, sensory structure, and social interaction patterns (Dolan 2002).
Neurologic Music Therapy Breakdown: DSLM
What is DSLM?
DSLM is the specific use of developmentally appropriate musical materials and experiences to enhance speech and language development through singing, chanting, playing musical instruments, and combining music, speech, and movement (Thaut 2005).
Put simply DSLM is the use of music/music experiences to increase speech and language skills.
Neurologic Music Therapy Breakdown: MACT
Our last post regarding Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) gave a list of definitions for each of the techniques. Now it's time to get to the nitty gritty. What is this and how can it help? We will be breaking down each NMT technique in an individual post to help our families better understand how and why we do what we do! First on our list is one of our therapist's favorites— Musical Attention Control Training or MACT.
Neurologic Music Therapy Definitions
As Neurologic Music Therapists, we employ a variety of techniques in our work. We thought it would be useful to have them all in one place as a simple point of reference. For parents and caregivers, refer to these definitions to learn the acronyms when reading our monthly documentation. For others, we hope these definitions give you an overview of Neurologic Music Therapy. Please reach out to us to learn more.
Neurologic Music Therapy- What does it mean, and how can we benefit?
Earlier this year, our owner, Ms. Melissa, completed a 4-day intensive training in Neurologic Music Therapy. Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is the therapeutic application of music to cognitive, sensory, and motor dysfunctions due to neurologic disease of the human nervous system (Thaut, 1999).