How To Improve Social Skills Of Disabled Students

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1 Project ID: Music Therapy for Special Needs School Authority: Parkland Community Living and Supports Society Scope: 17 Students, Grades 1 to 12, 1 School PROJECT PLAN Project Description: Our school works with severely disabled students whose socialization and communication skills are not well developed. We want to purchase new resources and provide professional development opportunities for teachers to learn new strategies to be able to teach skills to students. Over the three years of the AISI cycle, we hope to develop socially-acceptable skills that students will use in a variety of situations. Improvement Goals: Student Learning Goals Develop socialization skills in our severely disabled students. Evaluation Methods: Strategies -Through professional development events, teachers and aides will learn new strategies and communicate those to the students; - Teachers and aides will model appropriate social skills to students; -Teachers and aides will work with specialists to learn to use new resources effectively. Measures Anecdotal information and observations will provide information about the social skills that students learn and use in a variety of settings. Feedback from specialists teachers, aides, and parents will inform the AISI coordinator about the ongoing effectiveness of this project. Adjustments will be made to meet the identified needs as they arise. PROJECT RESULTS Student Learning Outcomes: We want to use our AISI funds to explore variety of therapies to work with our severly handicapped special needs students. In the first year we tried out two: Greenspan's Floortime Play Program ( and play therapy strategies designed by a registered psychiatrist who works with our program. The Greenspan program did not work very well for our students because it is a timeconsuming, student-led process that our students simply aren't able to become actively engaged in. We had minimal success, and will look to another therapy for year 2. AISI Project Music Therapy for Special Needs, 2009 Page 1

2 Greenspan's therapy builds upon student interests to provide opportunities to develop individual social skills. This did not work all that well for several reasons; -our student population includes severely disabled students who do not have social or play skills at all, so we have very little to build upon to start with. -we also have students with severe cognitive and behavioural disabilities who simply are not able to engage in the types of activities suggested by Greenspan. -we did not have time to work with all the students -we did not have room In contrast, the play therapy activities taught by the psychiatrist were very effective. Taught to music, the daily physical exercises that many of our students require due to their disabilities became fun and engaging. The class has responded to these activities with enthusiasm, and look forward to the exercises. We will be continuing and extending these exercises in year 2 of the project. We achieved our learning targets of increasing socializaion skills of our severely disabled students through the use of music. The learner outcomes were measured through observation. Many of the students anticipated what was going to happen once they saw the guitar, drums, and other musical instruments come out. Students and staff alike showed true enjoyment of the music program. Some of our cognitively low functioning students would reach out to play or touch the guitar. The therapists hired through JB Music Therapy came with great energy and spent time in whole group activities and one-to-one interactions. Their excitement and enthusiasm, coupled with their very real skill in working with students with special learning needs made them highly effective at our school. Target: To develop socially-acceptable skills that students will use in a variety of situation. - Through the assessment of the music therapist (jb music) the following goals and objectives were established. A. Increase gross and fine motor control Progress: independent instrument play intention shown, even if staff assistance required B. Increase non-verbal communication Progress: increased eye contact, positive changes in body language C. Relaxation Progress: change in overall body posture and a decrease in muscle tension D. Increase self awareness Progress: interest shown in exploring instruments E. Increase on-task behavior Progress: actively participate and choice making F. Increased knowledge of music concepts and emotions Progress: instrument identification, sound recognition, playing a variety of tempos and dynamics G. Increase social interaction Progress: greeting therapist, turn taking, sharing, engage in self expression activities H. Increase verbal communication Progress: imitating melody, pitch or rhythm during AISI Project Music Therapy for Special Needs, 2009 Page 2

3 improvisation, singing along or filling in words to songs I. Increase independence and creative expression Progress: expressive instrument play, abstract ideas We attribute this amazing success to the effectiveness of the music specialist and the enthusiasm of the support staff. The music specialist was relaxed, and very open to suggestions. She was able to adapt her plans to meet the needs of the students and engage them individually even during whole group instruction time. She adapted her expectations according to student abilities and was able to motivate students to participate. Effective/Promising Practices Instructional Strategy: The music therapy worked with small groups to introduce a specific instrument, rythm, pitch, or melody. She then encouraged students to work with the new music independently and to experiment. She encouraged each child to work at his or her own level and adapted her instruction based on specific student learner needs. She noted that all of the interventions presented to a particular group have been specifically chosen for them. Activities are meant to be challenging, yet not so complicated as to frustrate the students. The students are always set up to succeed and praised for any input. For some students success is echoing beats while others is hitting a drum. The sessions are set up so that all students can walk away with a sense of accomplishment and pride. Professional Development: Wanda presented a play therapy workshop for all the staff; teachers and aides, in January. Although this year s project was geared toward two specific classrooms, the workshop was very general. Wanda shared with us the philosophies behind play, the benefits of this form of therapy and ideas that could be incorporated into any of our classrooms or classes. Due to Alberta Education requirements to schedule each student for a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day, one classroom has incorporated a variety of short activities, play and exercises, throughout the day. Many of the activities are stretching exercises through imaginary play. Often these activities have background music playing. For example, between a transition, the class may be directed to stand and reach for an apple at the top of a tree or pretend to be caught in a horrific wind storm. The class has responded to these activities with enthusiasm. Their monotonous daily exercises have been given a new life. Although many of the activities were not given directly by Wanda, the daily physical programs have been transformed into fun, playful entertainment. In February all Parkland School staff had the pleasure of attending a music therapy inservice, put on by JB Music Therapy. We learned a great deal about how to use music to meet the learning needs of our students. For instance: -music should not be on all the time; if it is left on it will loose its effectiveness. -music is a great form of communication. For example, you can use it to cue the upcoming activities, or a quiet lullaby could cue the students that it is rest time. AISI Project Music Therapy for Special Needs, 2009 Page 3

4 -some people gravitate to certain instruments, for their sound, look or feel, while sometimes people can be irritated and even repulsed by some. -during music therapy sessions it is sometimes beneficial to assist some students participation using hand over hand. Other times it's beneficial to just let them experience by themselves. The staff were also given some valuable tips for the regular music classes. Summary and Reflections What worked well: -purchase of specialized toys -professional development session for all staff which gave an overview of the benefits of play and how to teach play to developmentally disabled students -8 students and their aides received 1-1 play therapy - Music specialists at JB Music. - students are given choices ex. choose an instrument - 1/2 hour is an appropriate duration (changed from 1 hour) - variety of manipulatives used (brought by therapist) - action songs to retain attention - song repetition so students anticipate and participate - therapist incorporated student names into many of the songs What did not work well: -lack of floor space for Stanley Greenspan's Floortime methods -motivating some staff who did not believe in the benefits it would bring about -8 students were involved in the project; due to student absentees, some did not receive as much intervention as we had planned. - jb music therapy cancelled for 1 1/2 months due to therapist illness - timetable - some students missed other classes and activities due to jb music availability - students who were involved in the swimming program never experienced music therapy - one hour sessions were too long (time reduced to 1/2 hour) - therapist was creating her session at too high of a level cognitively (therapist informed and a reduction in her anticipated achievement level) - there were not enough new songs introduced to the older students to create and maintain their interest - two classes were only exposed to it for two months Project adjustments AISI Project Music Therapy for Special Needs, 2009 Page 4

5 no adjustments made in the first year, but for the second year we will implement a music therapy program instead of the Greenspan program. - we are increasing the music therapy time for the school year (one more class for one hour weekly) - the Senior classes were incorporated into the sessions for the last two months - session time reduced from 1 hour to 1/2 hour - sessions moved from afternoons to mornings for 2 of the classes - new sounds and instruments brought in throughout year Sharing and celebration of success -year-end summaries were prepared and given to parents, teachers and the appropriate student aides -play therapy techniques were shared with all school personnel at our annual convention -parent/teacher conferences - professional development day - shared the information regarding the music therapy with parents at parent-teacher interviews - reported in the Alberta Education documents (AERR and 3 year education reports - continuation of the music therapy program; will contract the therapist at our own expense - shared the therapists report with all the teachers - continue to expand until all students are receiving music therapy on a consistent basis Unanticipated results/effects -The teacher of a class that was not specifically targeted during Wanda's visits decided to incorporate movement activities in the classroom as a part of their DPA (daily physical activities) after seeing how effective it was with the targeted children. - came under budget due to therapist illness; we will be adding an extra weekly session in the 08/09 term - some students had adverse affects and needed to be removed due to increased agitation - some children surprised staff by following or repeating actions to songs - some students stood up and danced - by the end of the year some could remain seated for the duration of the session AISI Project Music Therapy for Special Needs, 2009 Page 5