The Sweet Sound of Success

Tuning into education through music therapy

by Jennifer Morita

Ryder Brown was born with a natural sense of rhythm. The Sacramento music lover can pluck the keys of a piano and beat steady pulses on a drum—no small feat for a 14-year-old who uses a wheelchair and walker, and has low muscle tone (due to a rare genetic condition that falls under cerebral palsy).

“He just really matured with music,” says Ryder’s mom, Stacy Berndt. “Sometimes it surprises me how much he has learned from music therapy.”

The growing field of music therapy helps children with a broad array of special needs improve cognitive and communication skills as well as motor functions, whether it’s through echoing songs, playing an instrument or moving to a melody.

“People think music therapy is music lessons for disabled kids, and that’s not what it is,” says Tara McConnell, an Auburn-based certified music therapist of 15 years, who is noticeably passionate about her work within the special needs community. “The purpose isn’t to teach someone how to sing or play the piano—it’s to address specific therapy goals like speech, motor and cognition.”

While the idea of music as a therapeutic influence is at least as old as the writings of Aristotle, music therapy started in the U.S. after World War I and II when veterans returned home suffering from post traumatic stress, explains Tara, who also serves on a statewide music therapy task force. Eventually, universities began developing training programs for aspiring music therapists; University of the Pacific in Stockton was one of the first.

Today music therapists are nationally certified. A four-year college degree in music therapy and a six-month internship are required before passing the board exam for certification. Music therapists are also trained to know which strategies work best for specific needs.

“Most [students] don’t even realize they’re learning because it just all seems like fun,” says Anne Howard, a Sacramento certified music therapist who specializes in neurological music therapy. “If you’re listening to a song and start tapping to the beat, you may not realize you’re doing it, but music is organizing that motor output. Since music is located in many different parts of the brain, it can give you a backdoor into learning.”

Mounting research reveals that music is processed in multiple parts of the brain simultaneously. “The beauty of music is that it uses both sides of the brain, and that crossover turns out to be really valuable in all kinds of development—behavior, speech, cognition, social and also emotional,” says Janice Morris, founder of The Music Place, which has locations throughout the Bay Area and has certified music therapists who specialize in working with children who have special needs.

Music can help children learn nonverbal communication through call and response instrument play. Taking turns during therapy sessions helps reinforce learned social skills. Seemingly simple techniques such as marching to a beat or strumming a guitar helps kids develop their gross and fine motor functions. And, kids struggling with speech often learn to vocalize by singing first.

“Once the music is filtered out, they can maintain speech because the brain has rewired itself,” Anne explains.

For Ryder, weekly sessions with Anne at his own home have helped him hone his fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. He even performed in a Christmas program with other kids and has created a music video on the computer.

“Ryder has blossomed,” his mom says. “There may be a time when he’ll have to move on to something else, but I do think he will always keep music in his life.”

For more information about music therapy or to find a licensed therapist go to CBMT.org.