The Music Therapy Show

I thought this year's conference was one of the best I've attended in a long time! In this episode, I'll give you the highlights of the sessions I attended at the American Music Therapy Association Conference in Kansas City, including what I learned and how I plan to incorporate that information into my work.

The American Music Therapy Association's Strategic Priority on Autism Spectrum Disorder is wrapping up their 3-year endeavors. Marcia Humpal (Chair), Blythe LaGasse, and Petra Kern will be sharing the outcomes of this work group on this episode.

A long overdue episode of Parent Support group is finally here! Amy Zuniga, mother of two and a parenting support professional, joins me, Janice Lindstrom, mother of one and music therapist, to talk about what our families have been dealing with this month and the things we have been worried about as parents that have turned out to be fine, in spite of ourselves!

Dr. Meganne Masko and I discuss the research published in the Journal of Music Therapy Volume 52 Number 2. This edition features msuic therapy research for infants with Down Syndrome, Canadian Music Therapy Internships, Improvisation with Autistic children, and Dialectical Behavior Thrapy. Plus a book review of Music Therapy Handbook edited by Barbara Wheeler!

Members of the OCMT organizing committee will join me to talk about the 2016 Online Conference: Expanding Horizons in Music Therapy. This 24-hour worldwide online conference will be held February 6th, 2016!

The OCMT is a grassroots initiative with big dreams; in 2015 we became a non-profit organization. As a non-profit organization the OCMT will ensure good quality, peer reviewed research and information will be accessible by all Music Therapists around the world; therein by preserving our profession, the quality of our methodology and ultimately improving interventions for our clients.

The idea is to provide an online service to allow music therapists from around the world to connect and share educative experiences about their work and profession. For now the OCMT is a conference, but maybe later, as an organization it could well become an open forum with a variety of thematic chambers where members could chat, share solutions for some issues or simply get re-energized or feel empowered and less isolated.

Amy Zuniga joins me for this edition of Parent Support Group. This month, we're talking about dealing with the start of school, getting back into the regular routine, and starting daycare.

Dr. Meganne Masko joins me to discuss music therapy research in the Journal of Music Therapy, Spring 2015, Volume 52, Number 1. If you'd like to participate or prepare for Journal Club, read the abstracts of each article prior to the show. We'll discuss our impressions of the research and how we apply each article to our work as board certified music therapists.

The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA)  hosted, “IMPROVING ACCESS AND QUALITY: MUSIC THERAPY RESEARCH 2025” (MTR 2025) July 16-18, 2015. This was a working symposium sponsored by AMTA to recommend guidance for future research in music therapy. The meeting was comprised of invited speakers and delegates. Interested music therapy professionals were invited to attend this meeting as general attendees and observers.Dr. Meganne Masko and Annette Whitehead-Pleaux were able to attend this symposium and will join me to share what they experienced at #MTR2025 on Wednesday, July 29, 2015 at 1:00 pm CDT.

Amy Zuniga joins me to discuss creating rhythm in parenting. Having a rhythm for your day can help you and your typically-developing or special needs children have some predictibility in the world around them, which is important for developing social competence and learning. We'll share our own struggles and explorations in finding the rhythm for our families, plus some research behind this concept. Call in to share your story or ask questions.

Dr. Meganne Masko joins me to discuss the first Music Therapy Persectives of 2015. Listen live at 2 pm Central on Thursday, June 18, or the archived podcast following the live broadcast. Want to prepare for this journal club meeting? Read the abstracts of each article before listening!