We have less than a month left and I've only just barely started on data collection.

Whoops.

Buuuuuut anyway, let's not focus on that. Instead, let's focus on how I actually had things to do last week, and how I've finally managed to get all the consent forms from the parents/guardians of the patients I'm studying. So, even if I'm nowhere near close to being really prepared for the final presentation, at least I'm getting there.

I also just realized I haven't really given many anecdotes lately, so I figured, rather than just list out all my worries and grievances and have my mini freak-outs on here, that I'd just take this entry to have a little recount of things. I mean, who doesn't love a little story time here and there?

This anecdote specifically happened at Suntree, where, as some of you may remember, I spend my Tuesday mornings, playing music with seniors, some with Alzheimer's, some with dementia, and some with neither. On this particular Tuesday, I was greeted with quite the full house, with more people at the center than I had ever seen there at one point in time. Most of them were somewhat familiar faces, and the new ones were quite friendly, so I was nervous. I suppose more than anything, it was just a bit overwhelming having so many people at once.

That is, until the very end, when one of the ladies who worked at the center pulled me to the center, and asked me to introduce myself, or, in her words: "talk about yourself for a few minutes-- tell us all about you!" No pressure, right?

So for a good three minutes I, the bumbling mess I am, stammered and sputtered out random words about myself-- "born in India, raised here," "senior in high school," "like the color purple," and so on-- until one despicable (okay not really but they really weren't appreciated here) soul made a suggestion.

"Sing for us!"

Now, I'm quite used to being asked to sing, but that was almost always by family. By cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents in India who wanted to hear whatever I learned in my, y'know, Indian music classes. Rarely from people in the States, let alone from the people here at Suntree. All sorts of thoughts rushed through my head:

"What would I even sing?"

"Do I have to do it?"

"Can I come up with an excuse not to?"

"Why don't I want to?"

And so on. Cue me standing there stammering for another few minutes before, uncharacteristically, I made the decision to sing the first thing that came to my head when they asked me for"one of those Indian songs you learn."

As for how it went, well... was I out of tune? Kinda. Was I in beat? Not at all. Was I shaky? Very. Was it okay? Surprisingly... yes. I know we, as people, often like to freak out over things too much and over-analyze ourselves, but it's one thing to know it, and it's another to do it.

Everyone in the music group enjoy it, saying how it sounded unlike so much of what they usually here, and life moved on. Done. Over. Finished. Those few minutes that I was internally stressing out so much over was, in reality, just that: a few minutes.

...Okay, that sounded a little more like a story with a lesson than I expected it to, but hey, life lessons are important, right? ...Right?

Either way, hopefully you were able to have at least a little chuckle or two at my panic. I know these past few weeks haven't been the most informative of posts from me, but I promise I'll post more about the clinic and my actual project soon.

'Til then, hope y'all have a nice rest of the week. and I'll try to actually get my next update out on time (no promises though...).

I'll have to be frank: the main reason I put off writing this week's blog post is, honestly, because I didn't know what to say. I may have thought some of the other weeks were slow, but that all pales in comparison to this week. Probably most of the eventful parts of my week were the times when I wasn't at the clinic, and instead was doing stuff on my own outside of my SRP. At one point I even considered calling this my spring break because it didn't feel like I had really done enough work! But how did I come to this state? Well, let's recap...

Tuesdays, no matter what, have always been my most busy days. In the morning, I spend my time at the Suntree senior daytime-care center, before returning to NMTSA for observation of individual sessions. All the clients who come in the afternoon tend to be quite regular as well, so there's rarely any cancellations freeing up an hour or two in my day. With all this back to back in the morning and afternoon, I end up with only a thirty minute lunch break in the middle of everything. But that's fine, I enjoy busy-- it means I'm actually doing something-- and here at the clinic, the "work" is so enjoyable, the time flies. Every hour is filled with fun and new discoveries, which I always look forward to; this past Tuesday was no exception. I went through the day with no cancellations, schedule changes, etc., and even started some of my formal observation for my case studies. All in all, it was a productive day; the next two days, not so much.

I spend all of Thursday, from 9 to 3, as well as the three to four hours I spend at the clinic on Fridays each week, sat in the intern room, attempting to get some work done and hoping that someone, at some point, would say the client they expected to be coming, that I was supposed to be studying, or at least that I usually saw and observed, would be here. No such luck, though. I couldn't even spend time in the school for observation when I didn't feel like reading my 17th article in a row or rewriting my data for for the 4th time, because the students were on a two week spring break.

All in all, not the best week, but there's no point on dwelling on the frustrating or unfortunate things. I still have time in this project, and I hope to make the most of it, no matter what happens. Project-wise, I'm not too worried. The great thing about presentations and projects like this is that, if things go how you expect them to, you can present on that, and if things don't go the way you expect them to, you can present on that. So, for anyone who's having some struggles with your project right now, don't worry; you will be fine.

Here's to hoping things will get better, for me, and for all of you guys!

Well, hopefully. I mean, things seem to be going pretty well, but who knows when life will throw another curve-ball at you...or two... or ten... Okay let's stop thinking about this.

But yes, after yet another week at my internship, the fog around my project seems to be clearing up. If you'll recall from my last blog post, last week wasn't the best week for me in terms of progress. I had no idea , how many people I'd be studying,  who I'd be studying, if I'd be able to study anyone at all, and so on. Considering the fact that my project was supposed to be in the form of case studies, having no one confirmed for observation and studying by five weeks into my project was... a little worrying, to say the least.

But, luckily, I'm surrounded by amazing and supportive people at the clinic who each try so hard to help me, the random high school intern who has no idea what she's doing, with my project. My temporary on-site mentor has jumbled around schedules just to try and fit clients in on the days I'll be at the clinic, and she's even offered to take on one of the clients herself, even though she's quite busy running the rest of the clinic and rarely does work as a therapist anymore, just because he was an ideal candidate for my study who I would have not seen for three weeks if we'd have just waited until my regular mentor returned. All the other therapists have patiently answered my questions, offered to play around with their own schedules to take on certain clients, and more. I feel so fortunate for being in an internship where everyone's so open and willing to help out to the best of their abilities.

So, as a proper update, I've narrowed down my study to five clients, three autistic patients, two other, and I'll be studying all of them starting this week (assuming they all send in their consent forms...), until the last week of the project. My data will mostly be observation-based and in my own personal, off-to-the-side accounts, so I'll be doing little to actually take time from the session. Each week, I'll be observing for things including, but not limited to, attention span, long-term focus, memory building, comprehension of tasks, and problem-solving abilities, and I hope to find some sort of trend between each weekly observation. Unfortunately, due to all the scheduling issues and whatnot that have occurred over the past few weeks, I won't have nearly as many weeks as I'd hoped to use as data, but hopefully it'll all be enough!

What I've Learned
I'm not even going to bother coming up with some sort of introduction. You know this segment, I know this segment, everything's good.

So, this week I have learned...

1. To not freak yourself out over the idea you create of a person you've never met just based on what you've heard about them. No one's really that scary in real life. (Well... probably...)
2. To pick up an instrument, any instrument, and try to play a song by ear. It doesn't matter whether you can play that instrument, whether you're "musically talented," or anything. Just try it. If you get it right, you can feel proud. If you get it wrong, you can laugh and try again. Never restrict yourself from doing something just because you "can't" do it. Just do it; sometimes, the things we never do can be the most calming and enjoyable.
3. That even if you may not think you have an impact on anyone, you do.
4. That quietness can be unsettling sometimes.
5. That if your mom is mad at you, bringing her the DVD of that movie that she's wanted to watch for ages will probably change her mood.

True story, the other high school intern (from BASIS Peoria) and I were always too shy and awkward to actually ask for the Wi-Fi password, until the endless hours of free time we got from all the last minute cancellations practically forced us to get up and ask one of the therapists for it. But hey, the five seconds of awkward silence where the therapist just stared at us incredulously was totally worth it.

Now, jokes aside, I can't honestly say that this past week has been the most... productive. For some reasons that I don't feel I'm in the position to be explaining, my on-site mentor will not be present at the clinic for the next few weeks. Luckily, there are other staff able and willing to watch over me and help me with the project, and finding someone to act as my mentor for the next few weeks was relatively easy. Unfortunately, because my original mentor is also a therapist, there have been some issues with scheduling her patients, some of which I had planned to use for my case studies, around to other therapists.

So this past week, between sick leaves, scheduling mix-ups, and spring break, I've been faced with quite a few cancellations. Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly did see some patients, and got quite a bit of work done in the time I didn't, but it was still a slow week nonetheless. I've also had a few moments of freaking out when I realized I wouldn't be able to see quite a few patients I was planning to study for the next several weeks. Fortunately, at the clinic, I'm surrounded by understanding therapists, and we've been able to make a lot work by rescheduling things and figuring out solutions this past week, so even if things don't work out exactly as I had planned before, I'm sure everything will happen for the better in the end.

What I've Learned
Since I don't have nearly as many anecdotes to share this week, I hope I'll at least be able to give a little window into my past week with this segment here.

So, without further ado, here are five things I've learned.

1. Never underestimate how valuable being an "upperclassman," so to speak, can be to a person, even if that person is an NMT patient who has another possible NMT patient observing him to see what happens during sessions.
2. If you have a question, ask it. Better to possibly face some embarrassment than living with never knowing.
3. Same thing goes with any concerns or worries. Things can't always just be solved by yourself-- a lot of the time, you need that extra voice for advice.
4. It doesn't matter if you're just a temporary research intern-- once you've joined a field, you'll connect to that group of people more than you've ever expected you could. Case in point: I may or may not have shed a couple tears reading this article.
5. It may make sense to you to do mouth exercises because you've started mumbling again, but other people may find it be a bit... disturbing. Just wait until you're alone to go at it again.  

How many different ways can I say "it's time for another blog post" at the beginning of these things before I just give up on doing it? Well, I guess we'll see.

This week I had the chance to step out of the clinic and experience something new: a senior care center. On Tuesday morning, I joined one of the therapists on a trip to Suntree Center, a daytime care-giving facility provided to seniors with Alzheimer's, dementia, and other disabilities, conditions, or physical limitations. I couldn't help but be nervous on the way there and at the beginning of the group sessions, seeing as so far, in my internship experience, I had yet to leave the clinic to visit other care facilities, let alone one for older adults. Even at the clinic, while I have seen older adult patients, all of the clients I have come in contact with and observed were occasionally my age, but most of the time, younger than me. How I held myself, the tone I maintained, and everything else would have to be adjusted based on this different population I was facing, and to be honest, it was more than a bit nerve-wracking. It didn't quell my nervousness to hear that, as the therapist I was accompanying explained in the care, not all of them were verbally responsive, and that some didn't even speak English! My thoughts were jumbling together into a flurry of thoughts, of "what if I'm not needed?" and "how many people will be there?' and "will this really work out?" and more.

But those fears, as fears nearly always are, were quickly put to rest as I entered the group. A small group, with no more than 15 people, most likely, circled up, laughing and messing around with each other, greeted me and the therapist as we brought in all of our supplies (i.e. the seemingly endless amount of instruments we brought). All friendly and outgoing people, who were delighted to have another person joining their little music session, and completely ready to have a productive day filled with singing and instrument playing. And those few that didn't speak English? Some of the most chipper and energetic people there, and everything they couldn't convey with their words, they'd show with their actions, whether it be pointing to my hair and cooing when noticing how long it was, or quickly playing instrument as soon as it reached their hands. Time simply flew by as we jammed out with the Suntree group, and I left the center with nothing short of a grin on my face.

The rest of the week went by as usual, with more scooter races through the halls and impromptu sessions in the recording studio. And before anyone asks: no, I did not throw a ball at anyone's head this week. I learn from my mistakes, I swear. On the research side, I've managed to narrow down all the data I'll be collecting, qualitative and quantitative, and I've finished writing out the consent form I'll be handing out to the patients' parents/legal guardians (which I may upload online and link to in this blog, if anyone would like to see it), so hopefully, data collection can begin this coming week or the one after.

What I've Learned
As you can probably tell, I'm not really up for zesty introduction lines today, so let's just jump straight into it, shall we?

So, without further ado, this week, I have learned...

1. The more times you talk about ensuring confidentiality while writing a consent form, the better.
2. Boomwhacker Tuned Percussion Tubes are hollow, color-coded, plastic tubes, tuned to musical pitches by length. 
3. Boomwhacker Tuned Percussion Tubes are quite fun to use as drumsticks.
4. You can make a game out of anything, even if it's a mish-mosh collection of objects, including a piano, a drum-set, a guitar, a squishy ball, and a spinner board (the one to sit on, not the wheel you spin with your hands)
5. Experimentation is the key to success. Have an idea? Roll with it; it'll pay off, whether it works out or not.

Until next time, this is Aarthi Ganapathi, BASIS Scottsdale senior and newly discovered BoomWhacker-er, signing out.

It's that time of the week again, where I bring you yet another update on the quirky happenings of my SRP!

So here we are again, after yet another week into the Senior Research Project.

How are you? Good? I hope so! How have I been, you ask? I've been well, a bit busy between studying for my music exam and running around throwing plush balls at unexpecting seven-year-olds in a music therapy clinic, but still, I've been well.

This past week was just as eventful as the last one, with lots of great opportunities for observations, plenty of time for independent research, and a plethora of games and activities. I'm slowly moving out of the "transition stage" between high school and an internship, and I'm quickly feeling more and more comfortable with everything there. Of course, there were still a few awkward moments, like those times when I needed to page my mentor and stay in the waiting room for her to come get me because I still haven't learned the access key for the inside of the clinic, or when I needed to look something up online, only to remember a few minutes later that I still haven't asked anyone for the Wi-Fi password yet.

But my week wasn't all fun and games. Earlier in the week, I had a chance to witness and take part in some of the more serious, calmer sides of music therapy. For nearly an hour, I was in the ACT school, besides only two people: a student, and another intern, as we all worked on the student's American History assignment together. There were no therapists around, and while other staff were present, they were, most of the time, busy dealing with other students to constantly be watching the three of us. What's more, the student hadn't been having the best of his days, with his arousal and emotions rapidly changing, skyrocketing at one point, and plummeting at the next. Neither I nor the other intern had ever been left to tend to a patient by ourselves before, without any other therapist or full-time staff taking the reigns.

Looking back, I don't know why I didn't feel terrified back then. I was responsible for this other person, for not just their history homework, but for their mood and attitude for the rest of that day, perhaps even the week. Yet, somehow, everything just fell into place. I found myself calmly speaking the same words I'd hear staff say to clients-- "Let's take a lap around the clinic, okay?" "Do you need a vision break?" "Communicate with your real voice, please." None of it felt awkward; if anything, it was... heartfelt. Things continued this way for the rest of the week, and by the end of it, I realized that nearly all the patients I had met in Week 1 remembered my name and wanted to know more about me, and a few of them even ran up to me and gave me high-fives and hugs. This has happened before, when I've taught music students and became close with them, but I never expected this would happen in such little time. It was shocking, but touching. I really felt like I was connecting with the patients, like I was getting to know them and, in turn, they were getting to know me.

On the research side, things are progressing smoothly as well. I'll be purchasing a few music therapy research books soon, hopefully, and I've had the chance to read many of the great books and articles kept at NMTSA. My observations are becoming more and more coherent, and I'll hopefully begin narrowing down my number of clients for my case studies, and begin handing out consent forms to parents before I begin interviews and whatnot.

What I've Learned
By popular demand (not really), the glamorous segment has returned! So, once again, here are five things, in no particular order, that I've learned this week:

1. How to give proper squeezes to the body.
    -Side note/Context: Because autism and other mental disabilities can often disconnect the brain from the body, leaving patients with no spatial recognition of their bodies, squeezing body parts, including the feet, legs, hips, arms, and head, can help rebuild networks and strengthen the connections between the brain and body, allowing patients to feel their bodies more
2. I really show draw out and show a map or blueprint of the clinic to show to people when explaining the common music therapy practices at NMTSA.
3. Always bring a jacket, no matter how warm it is outside; you never know when the AC's suddenly going to kick on in full blast.
4. Emotions and cognitive abilities go hand-in-hand, in a sort of "chicken and the egg" way: negative emotions can block cognitive functioning, but those blocks can cause frustration and more negative emotions, and that can continue in an awful cycle for quite a while
5. I still don't know medical terms.

So, after much preparation, nervous fits, and rush-hour traffic, I have finally completed the first week of my internship, and of my Senior Research Project. And let me tell you: it's been a wild ride. I mean, I even dreamed about observing sessions for some of the patients at the clinic the night after my first day there! I never knew it was possible to become so immersed into something so quickly, but apparently it is.

From the beginning, I was prepared for the worst, for confusion, for incompetence, for awkwardness, for practically anything. The reality was far from that, actually; I faced little, if any, of those things. Adjusting to the environment of the clinic took no more than a few hours, at most. Sure, at first, the sudden screams from patients would startle me, the lack of a strictly controlled environment would leave me wondering if I was in anyone's way, and the physical closeness between me and the patients as I did my observation would make me feel a bit awkward. Yet, before I knew it, I was addressing patients by their names, introducing myself to parents, and fist-bumping therapists... well, not in that exact order.

I spent three days at the clinic this week: two eight-hour days, Tuesday and Thursday, and one four-hour day, Friday. My time was split between observing group sessions, led by one therapist and with multiple patients present, taking part in individual sessions between one therapist and one client, and watching patients as they attended the ACT school offered at NMTSA for students to gain an education while their needs would be kept in mind. I've marked my observations of many patients, following their individual appointments, group sessions, and school activities, so the next week or two will be spent on narrowing down which clients to further study for my case studies.

As of now, my research question remains quite broad, and I'm still working on my particular boundaries and conditions that I'll take into consideration. Particularly, while I was previously considering studying onto patients with autism, I've found quite a few interesting cases in those either diagnosed with something else, or not diagnosed at all. Hopefully, I'll be able to specify all of that soon, in the next few weeks.

What I've Learned
Now this is a little corner I decided to introduce to each one of my weekly blog posts because, well, an internship, like anything else, is a place to learn. Why not mark what those things are, then?

So this week, I have learned...

1. That I know little to no medical terms.
2. That layout of the building is extremely important in the music therapy practice.
3. The lyrics to Elsa's part in "For the First Time in Forever" from Frozen.
4. That music therapy is far more wide-reaching than simply "using music to treat mental illnesses."
5. That there are three-year-olds sharper and wittier than I'll probably ever be.

Five seems like a good number to stop at, so I'll leave it at here this week. I hope next week I'll have more and more exciting updates to bring you all.

Until then, this is Aarthi Ganapathi, BASIS Scottsdale Senior and amateur yoga-ball-bouncer, signing out.

Why hello there!

It seems you've somehow stumbled upon this blog, whether it be through school obligation, mutual connections, shared interests, or just random internet browsing. Either way, it's fantastic to meet you; I'm Aarthi, how are you? I hope well.

So what is it that you'll see on this little blog of mine? You'll see documentation of my progress on answering my research question. What research question, you may ask? Well, it's this: what effects does music therapy have on cognitive abilities, and how can this knowledge be used to further better the field of therapy and psychology through music as a while.

In order to answer this question, I will be spending three months assisting at the Neurological Music Therapy Services of Arizona (NMTSA). There, I will be observing the classes that are a part of NMTSA's school, as well as observing some of the group and some of the individual sessions in the clinic, as I work with and study, face-to-face, children with autism. I will watch how the music therapy sessions change in effect based on their cognitive abilities, and will discuss with the patients' parents, teachers, doctors, and peers to understand each patient's progress over time. All of this will be done in a case study format, and my hope for the end of this project is to find trends between one's cognitive and perceptive abilities, as impacted by varying levels of autism, and the effectiveness of music as a therapy service.

For more information, you can find my research proposal linked to in the sidebar.

I look forward to conducting this research, and I hope (for the sake of my motivation... and my grade) that you will be as well!

Until then, this is Aarthi Ganapathi, BASIS Scottsdale senior and aspiring researcher, signing out.