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.
9:34 AM
Do you have any personal experiences that you would be willing to share that would you lead you to lean more on one side than the other with music therapy? This sounds fascinating, and might help a lot of people if your research proves to be positive. Keep us informed!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteAs for personal experience, while I don't have any direct experience in the therapy aspect, I have seen music really impact students' mental state through the music teaching I do. I've seen students learn to focus better, retain information longer, and correct mistakes quicker through music instruction, and all of that really gave me the incentive to study the details behind music therapy. :)
Music therapy is very interesting! What are some of the goals music therapy works towards, especially with regards to autism?
ReplyDeleteWhile the field of music therapy is quite broad in its goals, for autism specifically, the main goal is to better a patient's mental state. It uses music as a means to encourage things such as speech/expression, retentive abilities, and problem solving skills in order to set them on par with the general population of their age groups. For example, the clinic I'll be working at also includes a school designed to teach children the appropriate material for their age group, so that they can transfer into regular grade schools without problem. They use the sensory impacts of music to develop in-class skills that they lack due to their cases of autism, so that, when they enter other schools, they won't be at a disadvantage.
DeleteHope that answered your question!
Hey Aarthi! This is so amazing! I'm really excited to follow your journey in learning about and helping others through music in their struggles.
ReplyDeleteI considered researching music therapy, too! I'm glad someone else decided to pursue this topic! Will you be focusing on certain instruments or music styles?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry it took me so long to respond to this! Anyways, there's not really one "style" for the music, though most songs are put to the tunes of children's songs and jingles because of their simplicity and joyful-sounding tunes! As for instruments, there won't be any particular focuses in my project. :)
DeleteHi Aarthi,
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very interesting topic. Do you already have an opinion or expectation as to your question - "what effects does music therapy have on cognitive abilities?" I would be interested to know your opinion before you start and then hear how you may (or may not) change it by the end?
Best,
Mr. Bloom
Hi Mr. Bloom; I'm sorry it took a while for me to respond! Anyways, I do believe that there will be significant changes based on music therapy in patient's cognitive abilities. From the time I've spent at the clinic so far, I've already heard stories and such of how children suddenly progressed quite far in their cognitive goals (such as communication skills, logic skills, etc.) from the addition of music therapy, so I do strongly believe that the effects music therapy has on cognitive abilities is nothing but positive!
DeleteAs for how my opinion may change... I think, rather than change my opinion, I may find myself expanding from music therapy in children with mental disabilities, specifically autism, to those in need of therapies in general, based on the patients at the clinic! :)
Hi Aarthi....thought I had commented last week to your blog but it appears it dropped into a black hole as it does not show. Soooooo, this topic is always so interesting and the people at this site are very helpful. This is going to be a very positive experience for you and one that will give you a good deal of information for your presentation.
ReplyDeleteAarthi this is truly incredible! As someone who has autism, I can't wait to learn more about how music therapy can influence cognitive abilities. I know you just started, but I'm curious if you happen to know if music therapy is more effective for individuals with mild autism or for those with an extreme variant of it? If so, why?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Julius! That's quite an interesting question; I haven't considered that yet! Hm... from what I've read, as long as what I've observed at the clinic, I haven't seen any difference in the effectiveness based on different levels of autism. I think that, for those with more mild cases of autism, music therapy would be easier to put forth and practice, because those patients would have much more developed communication skills, but I don't believe that effectiveness would change based on the severity of the diagnosis.
DeleteStill, I'll look more into that and let you know if I find anything of interest!
Hey there Aarthi. My name is Ellie and I am from Lutheran High School in Parker, Colorado. I think this project is very interesting. I was thinking about studying musical therapy for a while and think it is one of the greatest things. I think that it is amazing how much impact music has on us. Are there any certain instruments you will be studying? I know that piano has had a great impact on my mental health, but are there other instruments that have greater impact? Or does it really just depend on the person? Can't wait to see more of your research!
ReplyDeleteHi Ellie! I'm sorry it took so long for me to notice this! I agree, music therapy is such an amazing field, and I'm so lucky to be able to work in it for these few months. While I'm not studying much on instruments specifically, due to the time restraint of my project, I have seen quite a lot of things with regards to instruments' effects in NMT. From my observations thus far, more than anything, drums seem to have the most therapeutic impact because of the benefits of rhythm in music therapy. They're easy to play, so that allows the patient to include themselves and work on pace if needed, and, when play by, say, the therapist, it provides a very steady beat, something that the patient can anticipate coming next, which can help steady them. Other than that, as for more tune-based instruments, piano is definitely commonly used, and often in NMT you'll see the notes written on the keys, to teach patients things like visual control, auditory distinction, and task managing. Guitars are also used quite a bit by therapists in order to have some music playing in the background that's portable, flexible, and controllable by the therapist. I hope this answers your question!
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