Music Therapy by Bunt Leslie Stige Brynjulf

Author:Bunt, Leslie, Stige, Brynjulf
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317815327
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Music therapy and the adult with learning disabilities

In many countries, institutions for people with learning disabilities were among the first places where the pioneers of music therapy started to work. This next case example demonstrates the fundamental human connections that are possible through musical interactions, as well as the delicacy, sensitivity and potential risks involved when inviting an adult for the first time to cross the threshold and take part in a musical encounter.

Sally, a 27-year-old woman with profound learning disabilities, would sit curled up in a foetal position in her chair. She appeared to be completely withdrawn into herself. She was referred to music therapy to see whether some form of communication system could be established; Sally had no use of any words to communicate, or of any signing system. The music therapist had very mixed feelings about starting work with Sally and was anxious about the first session. Was an uninvited intrusion appropriate into a world that Sally had created for herself, possibly as a means of protection from the aural invasions of ward noises, including both the television and the radio? The therapist sat beside Sally and began to play some long, quiet and low sounds on a small pipe. The therapist sang Sally’s name gently and slowly. Very gradually over the weeks, at each visit Sally began to express some curiosity about these sounds. She began to uncurl herself and turn sideways towards the source of the sounds. A few weeks later she began to reach out and touch some of the small tuned and untuned percussion instruments that the therapist had started bringing. This led to Sally’s facing the therapist, who began to sit opposite her. All this took place within an extremely slow time framework; any sudden or loud intrusion would set her back into herself. Sally eventually began to vocalise, making long sounds and sighs. These sounds were framed in a musical relationship, particularly when the therapist supported and matched Sally’s improvised sounds. After a period of nine months of weekly sessions Sally would come into the small room off the main ward, sit facing the therapist, sing and reach out for the instruments. Towards the final and transitional stages of the work, Sally would get out of her chair as soon as the therapist entered the ward and move to the quiet room, singing en route. The speech therapist observed and notated a range of sounds that Sally produced in her singing, sounds that could perhaps become the basis for some kind of communication system. Sally began to attend for regular speech and language therapy.

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