The 2014 Carnival for Autism was great fun for many people:
At the Alternative Behavior Strategies booth, Lindsey Green played music and Jessica Engel welcomed visitors and friends:
Lindsey is a certified Music Therapist and brings that expertise to her interventions with ABS. While not directly doing music therapy, she and Mary Jane Dibble, who is also a certified Music Therapist, make use of skills from that area.
For example: recently, one of Lindsey’s clients was non-attentive and running away. Lindsey got his siblings singing and slowly drew him in to where he was willing to proceed with the non-musical program. Lindsey has also found that parents can make good use of music in helping their child’s learning and memorization.
To learn more about music therapy, a research-based practice with its own specific methodologies, visit the American Music Therapy Association website.
Since music uses different mental pathways, it provides another route for cognitive therapies, as is widely recognized:
For Shakespeare, music has a healing power. The doctor orders soft music to be played while Lear, the “child-changed king,” comes back to consciousness, his loving daughter Cordelia looking on in prayer. Paulina orders music to strike when she commands Hermione, or is it a statue of Hermione, to “be stone no more,” to descend, for dear life has redeemed her from death. The good old loyal servant Adam, dying of hunger in the forest of Arden, is restored to life with food and wistful music. — Anthony Esolen
Many of our current clients stopped by the ABS booth
It was great fun to be among a community with similar interests and concerns, in a safe and non-stressful setting where there were a wide range of activities for everyone.
Thanks to Sahara Cares for another great Carnival for Autism.