disabilities

Summer Reading Challenge, Part 1: Neurodiversity and Movement Differences

June 13, 2017
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Academic life makes for a busy 40 weeks. These include the 32 weeks of actual classes, meetings, defenses, and grading, along with the extra 8ish weeks of course prep and semester wrap-up. These 40 weeks leave me busy enough there’s little to no time for non-teaching related activity. (Long-time readers may have noticed my blogging […]

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Making Music Education Successful for the Exceptional Student

August 9, 2012
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I am the only music therapist in my small(-ish) town of 18,000. The music community here is fairly tight-knit, so when a music teacher is facing a year of working with students with IEPs (Individualized Education Plan, if you’re curious), he/she will likely reach out to me. This happened about a month ago. A friend […]

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Important Lessons from a Deaf Musician

February 23, 2011
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My husband introduced me to this TED talk by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. Glennie–who, incidentally, happens to be deaf–illustrates how “listening” to music involves so much more than using your ears. I’d like to share this video with you because I feel it contains several relevant and important reminders for us therapists. Aren’t we, too, […]

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How Should We View Autism?

February 2, 2011
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There’s an alien living in Ohio. Well, not really, but the blogger at Reports from a Resident Alien calls herself…well, a “resident alien.” And she admits in her tagline that “(t)his ‘Earth’ place sure is weird.” Reports from a Resident Alien is one of my favorite blogs. Chaotic Idealism (her user name) lives with autism […]

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A Disability is Only a Difference

July 22, 2010
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I am speechless. As a mother and as a therapist…speechless. And not the good kind. I read this story in the Kansas City Star yesterday. It’s about a couple in the area who gave birth to a baby girl (“M”) two months ago. The baby girl was perfect, healthy, and strong. The parents were excited […]

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And the Music Calmed Them

August 11, 2009

This is a post about mental illness. I know a little about mental illness and children, given that I work primarily with trauma-influenced kids. I know less about adult mental illness. But my husband and I just watched the movie The Soloist last night, which got me thinking. (The Soloist, by the way, is a […]

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POLL RESULTS TO Attention All Therapists: An Ethical Question

June 17, 2009

Last week, I posed a question to all the therapists out there. The question was an ethical one: what do you do when the beliefs of a family clash with the nature of your client, who happens to be a child? What’s your role as a therapist in this situation? I posted a survey, asking […]

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T-ing Unseen Differences

March 25, 2009

It’s March 25th and time to say: Happy Birthday to the Queen of Soul! Aretha Franklin has been an integral part of our music history since the 1960s. She continues to remain current, having sung at the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama (and who can forget that FABULOUS hat!) But I’m not here […]

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