communicating with music/music therapy
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My son like a lot of ASD kids loves music. That is the one time , when i sing , that i can get good eye contact. But I want to improvise and make it more communicative. We took him for music therapy but with almost 18 hours of ABA and his napping, we dont have the time to do it. Does anybody have any good ideas/ DVDs etc to promote this? I am singing the classic nursery rhymes like itsy bitsy, or wheels of the bus and try to be animated and use gestures as well. Just struggling with the next steps? I am unable to incorpate ABA during our family time in the evening and I feel he is exhausted with the therapists doing the puzzles, matching, buidling towers etc. I tried DIR but not been successful , I am not that creative either. Please help. Could you move to more educational type songs?Body parts, days of the week, seasonal type songs, feelings with faces? Then hes learning stuff? I know a lot of them from singing all day with my 5 preschoolers and from working as a special needs preschool teacher for several yrs (autism and down syndrome) so if you need some ideas I could help. I like your idea of singing the nursery rhymes with gestues. You may already be doing this, but you could try prompting the gestures, even guiding your son's hands to make the gestures, they really praising/rewarding when he does them. Gradually fade out your prompts so you're helping him less and less. A set of CD's you might be interested in here: http://www.precisionsongs.com/ I would say just keep it fun and interactive, and I'm sure it will be beneficial. Good luck! Nicole Interviews and Articles from Autism Experts, Writers, and Organizations ~ http://www.PositivelyAutism.com
I forgot there are some free songs on http://www.do2learn.com/ Parts of Me: http://www.do2learn.com/games/songs/PartsofMe/index.htm would probably be fun. For the others (mostly safety related) move your mouse over the tab "Songs and Games" then "Songs" and select the one you want from the drop down menu. Nicole Interviews and Articles from Autism Experts, Writers, and Organizations ~ http://www.PositivelyAutism.com Our dd loved music too & very visual so I got a ton of kidsongs/wee songs videos and Preschool power and Mommy and me...all had little kids singing and acting out themes to help with pretend play. The preschool power are geared at teaching self help skills...the video "I Gotta Go" video was wonderful for getting her motivated to go potty..its like a potty musical. Most of these you can get at your library or on half.com or ebay..I found many at thrift stores for .99 cents! Spectrum Connections are great DVD's that are for kids on the spectrum and really good as well...they are purchase online but libraries may have these too~they are made by a music therapist with lots of fun songs about emotions an and other themes. Good luck! Check out the "Tunes that Teach" CD from Cathy Bollinger (she's a musictherapist). http://www.rivannamusic.com/info/album/tunesthatteach/ My links never work so you'll have to google it or cut and paste the link. That CD has taught most of my kids their days of the week, seasons, phone number, etc. It's catchy and not annoying... you'll find yourself singing it alone! Taylor loved baby einstein--and they still use it in class with her now, when she needs to calm down--something about it that makes her feel at ease and she really follows along with it. Colin loves musical videos--but hates any of us to sing along with them (preschool and elementary school musical videos). He will scream. Don't know what is up with that. He loves songs like 7-up described, especially the movements as well--and THOSE he will do with someone--it just cant be sung while a video is playing at the same time with the song going. |
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