Music Therapy
The sixth and final coping strategy of this series is music therapy! If you recall from the first blog post, music was briefly mentioned as a distraction tool. Well, using music to zone out from a procedure is just one of the ways it can be used to help children and teens cope.
Music therapy can best be described as the clinical and evidence based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals and improve overall mental health. Some music interventions include listening to music or creating it through writing or song. And, health benefits include increased movement and decreased stress as music has the capability of relaxing the body. Fortunately, many pediatric hospitals have music therapists on staff so patients have access to this type of support. I want to take you down memory lane a bit and share some of the ways I’ve seen music benefit patients.
Music Increases Motivation
Do you remember those days when you’d turn on the clean up song to get your toddler or preschooler to clean up their toys? Well, it turns out there’s a lot of different tasks you can utilize music for to help your child get through them! For example, I’ve seen music utilized during a physical therapy session to make the exercises more fun and appealing for children. Similarly, I’ve seen songs created to help children stick with their daily routines; such as taking a bath, brushing teeth, etc. Since children are going through so many routine changes when they become sick, their motivation to do daily tasks just naturally decreases. Therefore, music serves as a reminder that they’re still a normal child doing normal things and serves as a fun tool to help with compliance.
Music Celebrates Success
As a Child Life Specialist, we want to make a point of celebrating treatment milestones and finding ways to recognize patients when they’ve effectively overcome a fear, a difficult procedure, etc. For instance, when I was working in the Stem Cell Transplant unit at Lucile Packard, the music therapist and I wanted to create a unique song that went with the “Little Wishes” packages we would deliver to our patients. Often times, I wanted to deliver these special toys and activities to patients when they accomplished something or needed a little pick-me-up after a tough day. In addition, I wanted the floor staff to learn the song so we could all present the special package and praise the patient as a team. When it came time to celebrate a patient, we would start singing in unison with the music therapist so that it would soon be known that when a child heard the “Little Wishes” song, they would be gifted something special. It was nice reminder to our patients that we would always be there to cheer them on!
In addition to the “Little Wishes” song, we also incorporated a special hospital discharge walk-out song. The idea behind this was to have each patient have a personalized walk out song so they could feel empowered as they left the unit after weeks or months of living in the hospital. This was always special to the patient and family as the song symbolized many things-the child’s strength, resilience, and the end to a difficult medical journey.
Music Allows For Self Expression
Music therapy is such an asset during long treatment courses because it’s a tool that can be used throughout to help one express themselves. For younger children, music can be an outlet to let out those frustrations, worries, and wiggles out. By being able to bang on some drums or shake some maracas vigorously, children are able to physically exert energy in a positive way versus negative way.
For older children, music interventions such as creating a song or learning how to play an instrument, are projects that allow patients to tell a story or express themselves without having to say them directly. For example, a cardiac teen patient decided she wanted to create a song with her music therapist about what it’s like to wait for a heart transplant. Her song encompassed her day-to-day life, the symptoms she would often feel, and the procedures she had to have.
Beyond self expression, learning to play music builds self esteem for children and teens. It also builds social skills such as taking turns or understanding anothers’ perspective when learning in a group setting. Finally, music in combination with music therapy helps children cope with their medical journey as a whole, which is incredibly valuable.