Why We Specialize: Focusing on the Special Needs Community

Welcome back! In this post we will be delving deeper into why we work with the populations we do. Here at Music Bridges the majority of the clients we see are children with special needs. Similarly to other professions, Music Therapists tend to specialize in certain populations whether that is hospice, mental health, medical, or pediatric. With this being said, just like those other professions, we narrow down our focus and learn as much as we can in order to provide the best care for our clients.

Special Training

The staff at Musical Bridges strives to provide services of the highest caliber, and in order to achieve this, research-based practice is heavily implemented. Musical Bridges is a Neurologic Music Therapy based clinic, and the staff works hard to maintain their certifications as both Music Therapists and as Neurologic Music Therapists.

Neurologic Music Therapy is a research-based approach to music therapy that is based in neuroscience and the effects of music specifically on the brain. It is used to target the neurologic systems of the body and work on speech, cognition, movement, communication, and many other areas of need. NMT research is inundated with studies on its use with children who have been diagnosed with different disabilities. Musical Bridges keeps updated through continuing education courses and personal research on these topics to maintain professional integrity.

While we do not neglect learning about other applicable populations to our clinic, we have decided to delve further into a more specific skill set. To best serve our clients, we have elected to specialize in children and young adults with disabilities and allow ourselves to develop fuller understandings of both the research and our clients’ needs.

Research

We are always striving to learn and grow as Music Therapists; we take special interest in furthering our knowledge about the special needs community. We stay up to date not only in Music Therapy related research but in all areas of research in the special needs community. This includes research from Speech and Language Pathologists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and more!

Our therapists routinely check into what might be new in the research field surrounding our client’s diagnosis. This constant strive for improvement leads to a constant influx of new ideas and strategies to better improve the services we provide. We love sharing new information we garner through this research. In addition, we love when families share what they learn as well! Collaborating not only with a client’s other therapists but the family themselves is something we take pride in.

This directly coincides with our staff therapist’s specialty training. By maintaining and continuing our certifications we are privy to the newest research and data. We at Musical Bridges are constantly learning and growing as therapists to better serve our clients.

Community Involvement:

The Musical Bridges family strives to maintain and grow our relationship with the surrounding special needs community. We do this through partnerships, community outreach, and advocacy. We participate in different fundraisers and resource fairs to connect with local families in hopes of serving them. We hold partnerships and professional relationships with other service providers in the surrounding area as well.

These community events and Musical Bridges have something very important in common—wanting to serve you and your family! By maintaining involvement with our community, we are able to speak directly to other professionals and providers about what the up-and-coming research is in their fields, and how we can collaboratively work for our client’s benefit. Attending fundraisers and resource fairs is vital in showing our support for the communities we serve and reaching out to those who may be needing services but might not know where to find them.

We also take opportunities to advocate specifically for Music Therapy services. Not only are we active participants in the Tennessee Music Therapy task force, but we also hold in-services at other therapy practices, nonprofits, community programs, and schools!

Benefits for you:

With the additional training and attention to new information the therapists at Musical Bridges can provide a tailored, research driven therapeutic relationship to accomplish and improve upon the goals established for your child. Because of a constant drive to learn and grow as therapists, you can always be assured that you are receiving the best services that Musical Bridges can provide. Specializations aid in the quality of service. We are always researching, reading, and discussing what is the most forward and evidence-based way to work with persons with disabilities. We will always continue to do this. Providing quality music therapy that improves the lives of our clients will always be our aim.

While the therapists on staff at Musical Bridges have been trained to serve a wide array of individuals through their schooling, they have chosen to hone their skills in serving the special needs community. We advocate Music Therapy for anyone who feels they would benefit, however because of our skillset our practice might not be the best fit for every individual. We can work with you to figure out whether Musical Bridges is the right fit for you and provide you with other options should you need them. We do offer services to young adults, older adults, and individuals without a special need’s diagnosis. We keep our knowledge up to date on these additional populations. Reach out to see if we might be a good fit for you!