Power struggles, that is. This post is mainly for everyone who thinks that music therapy is nothing but rainbows and sunshine. It is much, much more than butterflies and flowers, even at a children's hospital!
Most kids who get music therapy really enjoy it, but what happens when you get a patient who gets MT as part of his or her therapy who is... less than enthusiastic about doing things that may be more difficult than he or she wants to do? I'm not saying that MT is the problem here, rather doing things that make this kid work a little harder so he or she can go home is. How do you work with kids who literally stalemate and shut you out in therapy when they need to have it?
Story: Met with this kid for a session (and not the first) and we were doing an UE movement task. Things were a little slow and full of complaints, and then out of nowhere, this kid stops. For about ten minutes pt. just sat there not wanting to finish the number of reps. Eventually, the pt. completed task, but it was... quite a power struggle between us for a little while.
So my latest project (and things have been slowly getting better) has been to find new interventions that this kid will like and will work toward our goals, as well as providing the right reinforcers. But for everyone else out there, How do you help someone who doesn't seem to want to help themselves?
Remember your post about flexibility? It's normal for people (of all ages and labels) to resist. It's largely a matter of learning to work with the resistance and meeting the person where s/he is musically. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Things have definitely gotten better. It was a combination of personality and meds, but we are getting along pretty well now that I understand his personality more. We have been doing a lot more improvisation and relating things to his school band!
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