Family Music Therapy Sessions
Getting off to the best possible start is really important and music to support the process of giving birth really helps. Download the DIY guide and give it as a gift to help make the process of giving birth even more special.
Babies with special needs can be helped by music therapy which encourages their development. Working with Mothers and babies and music give both the encouragement and motivation to use rhythm and tone to build thier relationship. Strong attachments create thriving children.
Government policy from 'Every Child Matters' - launched in 2003- through to current Department for Education strategy acknowledges the important role of early intervention:
"a strong focus on the first few years of children's lives leads to huge economic, social and emotional benefits" (1)
There are two main studies describing the effectiveness of Music Therapy family group work. The first study examines parental perceptions of group work for families with a child with Autism. The positive responses to the intervention cited in the paper also reflect those given generally by family group members:
"I think he was the most improved of the kids. A huge change from the beginning. He was interacting by the end. I think that this was great for him". (2)
In her book 'Music Therapy with Children and their Families' Oldfield (3) describes the rationale for her pioneering work and research in this field which is the main influence for the direction of our work at Living with Harmony. Supporting and empowering parents has an ongoing positive impact on the lives of children and families. Families experiencing their children's achievements first hand can really influence their family dynamics and motivation. One mother describes her feelings about her son's musical engagement:
'His enthusiasm and pleasure were so intense that it was impossible not to feel happy myself, especially when he started to share his enjoyment with me' (4)
Social and emotional causes for delays in communication are directly addressed through family group music therapy (5). These are important areas which link to the positive outcomes of 'Every Child Matters'.
Evaluation
Living with Harmony takes the quality of the service and service improvement very seriously. We are happy to receive feedback at any time during or after a project.
Parental Feedback
Feedback questionnaires asking for parents to describe their experience is important in improving the service and in capturing the parents point of view. We are happy to co-create these to include the priorities of our delivery partn
References can be found here.