It can be difficult to explain music therapy to new families because there is such a broad spectrum of things that music therapy can assist with. At the same time, it can be difficult to fully understand music therapy’s benefit. When explaining what music therapy is to families, I often get comments like, “oh, I’m not musical” or “I don’t play any instruments”. It’s a common misconception that you have to play an instrument or “be musical” to participate in music therapy, which cannot be further from the truth! Even if “you can’t sing” or “don’t play instruments”, music therapy can help.

Our goals in music therapy aren’t necessarily music related, they are to assist with health and/or mental health concerns you may have for your child. “What does that mean?”, you may be asking. Well say for example your child is experiencing symptoms of autism or is developmentally behind. Music therapy may help your child learn how to deal with those symptoms of autism or help your child experience age-appropriate milestones.

Keep in mind, these are only a very small number of examples. Music has such a great way of reaching a lot of different areas including cognition, mental health, movement, speech, and social needs. As a result, we created a handy graphic that touches on the many different things that music therapy can assist a client with. This is by no means everything, but it will hopefully give a more in-depth picture of the things we work on with clients in our sessions. If you have any questions or think your child may benefit from music therapy but aren’t completely sure, we’d be happy to talk with you and provide any further information!

Sara Chigani, MA, MT-BC