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Sunday, 11 August 2013

Remarkable Success With Music Therapy For Special Needs Youth

By Saleem Rana


Kristen Tillona, Director of Admissions, and Karen Carreira, Director of Music and Vocational programs, Berkshire Hills Music Academy, MA, talked about the powerful influence of music therapy for special needs youth with Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio. They clarified how music can be used for helping troubled youth find out how to have excellent social connections, construct a positive self-image, and develop leadership skills.

Background

Kristen Tillona, Director of Admissions and Marketing, has eleven years of private school experience in admissions, marketing, and teaching. She received her B.S. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Kristen is a French horn and trumpet player.

Karen Carreira, Director of Music and Vocational Programs, is a board-certified music therapist, licensed mental health clinician, and professional vocalist. She received her BA from Wheaton College in Norton, MA, and her MA from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Berkshire Hills Music Academy (BHMA) is a school that satisfies the special needs of students with a large variety of disabilities, using music to engage the mind and improve motivation and attention. The forty-acre campus is found in the foothills of the Western area of Massachusetts. Students learn excellent work habits and learn invaluable life skills under the direction of a well-qualified and certified staff.

Music Therapy For Special Needs Youth Helps Educate Them In An Assortment Of Life Skills

During the interview, Lon asked his two guests about how music therapy for special needs youth works and why it helped create a profound change in their students, ages 18 and up. On average, there are about 32 students enrolled in the school at any one time.

The guests said that registration is based on only admitting those children that have an innate love of music, either as listeners or performers. It was this enthusiasm for music that released their latent abilities and helped them come to express themselves much more fully both socially and academically.

Whether the pupils become entertainers or just want to learn to play a musical instrument, they have a natural motivation to find out the necessary skills to become independent adults while doing something they love. Their love of music helps with learning a variety of non-music skills.

As pupils improve their abilities through music and songs lessons, musical techniques, and rehearsals, they experience much better self-discipline and concentration, attain higher inspiration and self-confidence, and start to appreciate and discover the world around them.

Music is a universal language and helps improve communications skills. Rhythm is associated with the learning process, and the creative use of music is used to pace many life skills, including social and work skills.

At the end of the day, it is confidence in popular music that helps students become competent in a wide range of life skills. For instance, students have developed the self-confidence to open up their own savings account. Toward the close of the talk show, the visitors talked about some exceptional students who had actually ended up being high functioning because music therapy brought them out of their sheltered worldview. Music therapy for special needs youth has worked incredibly well in assisting youngsters find a positive self-image.




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