Thursday 8 August 2013

Incredible Results With Music Therapy For Special Needs Youth

By Saleem Rana


Kristen Tillona, Director of Admissions and Karen Carreira, Director of Music and Vocational programs, Berkshire Hills Music Academy, MA, discussed the powerful impact of music therapy for special needs youth with Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio. They explained how music can be used as the glue for a therapeutic program helping young people with problems learn to have good social relationships, build self-confidence, and develop leadership.

Background

Kristen Tillona, Director of Admissions and Marketing, has spent eleven years in private schools working in admissions, advertising, marketing, and teaching. She obtained her B.S. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Kristen is a French horn and trumpet player.

Karen Carreira, Director of Music and Vocational Programs, is a board-certified music therapist, accredited psychological health clinician, and expert singer. She obtained her BA from Wheaton College in Norton, MA, and her MA from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Berkshire Hills Music Academy (BHMA) is a school that meets the demands of pupils with a large assortment of disabilities by utilizing music, songs, and rhythms to captivate and engage the mind and develop enhanced learning, inspiration and attention. The forty-acre campus is located in the foothills of West Massachusetts. Students learn good work habits through the assistance of human service certified personnel.

How Music Music therapy for Special Needs Youth Helps Teach a Variety of Life Skills

During the course of the interview, Lon asked his two guests why music therapy for special needs youth works and why it has been able to produce a profound change in their pupils, who are either 18 years old or older. Typically, there are about 32 students signed up in the school at any one-time.

The guests explained that enrollment is based on admitting those who have an intrinsic love of music, either as listeners or performers, and that this passion for music unlocks their latent talents and helps them express themselves more fully both socially and academically.

Whether the pupils become entertainers or just want to learn to play a musical instrument, they have a natural motivation to find out the necessary skills to become independent adults while doing something they love. Their love of music helps with learning a variety of non-music skills.

As students improve their life skills through popular music courses, practices, rehearsals, and performances, they experience much better self-discipline and focus, greater motivation and self-assurance, and begin to appreciate discovering how to learn.

Popular music is a universal language and noticeably improves communications skills. Tempo is related to the self-discovery process, and the innovative use of music, songs, and rhythms are used to master numerous life skills, improving social skills and work habits.

Ultimately confidence in music helps them to become confident in other areas of their lives. For instance, students have developed the confidence to open up their own bank accounts. Toward the close of the talk show, the guests outlined some remarkable examples of students who had become highly functioning through a music curriculum that brought them out of their shells. Music therapy for special needs youth works remarkably well in helping children finds their self-confidence and learns life skills.




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