Music Therapy Comes to an End

Once again my blog is becoming woefully behind-the-times. I've been on the computer non-stop for several weeks now updating my online art appreciation course; how I wish I were writing about my beautiful girls instead!

There's a lot to say about what has been going on with Miss Emily lately. As of next week I will find out about her school schedule. Little Miss will be starting preschool this fall. I'm both anxious and excited to find out if she will be accepted into the district's special education program. I believe in my heart these services will be of great benefit to her; both Ryan and I are keeping our fingers crossed that we will get good news.

As this door opens, of course other doors must close. And so, writing this entry is a little bitter sweet. Several weeks ago, Emily had her last session with her music therapist/group therapist Miss Angie. I had hoped to write several posts on her progress, and then this farewell, but here is everything at once.

As I've mentioned in prior posts, Emily attended Miss Angie's sessions weekly from the beginning of the year to her third birthday, at which point she aged out of the Early Childhood Intervention program. When these sessions started, Emily was for all intents and purposes non-verbal, and had a hard time interacting with the other kids. As the weeks turned into months, the change in Em was just phenomenal. She began singing many of the silly little songs at home. In the last month to 6 weeks of the sessions, Emily began singing the songs in front of the other children. Huge step people, huge! You see, she almost never talks to anyone outside of our immediate family, so to have her singing in front of children (some of whom were newer) was just incredible. The pride and joy I felt hearing her sing and strum the guitar can't be measured. Her ability to show compassion and interact with other children increased due to Miss Angie's guidance. But, by far, the most important thing to come out of these sessions was discovering Emily's love of music. She loves songs, she loves instruments, and as soon as she's old enough I am going to have Aunt Rachel teach her how to play the drums.

I did say this post was bittersweet for me to write, however, because we no longer attend these group sessions. Emily hasn't asked for Miss Angie by name, so I wonder if she misses her. As time goes by, though, I've noticed Emily has started singing some of the songs from the sessions without being cued. Whenever she washes her hands, now, she sings the "Scrub your hands" tune. When we leave a place, she sings the "Bye-bye" song. And I've noticed she plays with our percussion instruments more as of late. But she can't really tell me what she is thinking, so I am left to wonder.

I just want to close by saying Thank You to Miss Angie. I don't know if you will read this or not, but you've done so much for my little girl.

From Music/Group Therapy