Music Therapy with Children and their Families

In the past, music therapy work with children typically took place in special schools without the family being present. More recently, music therapy has become a widespread practice, and this book reflects the variety of settings within which music therapists are now working with children together with their families.

The contributors are music therapists with experience of working with children and their families in a range of different environments, such as schools, hospices, psychiatric units, child development centres and in the community. They describe their approaches to family work with client groups including children with autism, learning disabled toddlers, adopted children and looked after teenagers. Their experiences demonstrate that involving the family in a child's music therapy can be beneficial for everyone, and that it is possible to address relationship issues within the family as part of the treatment.

This book will provide useful insight into the growing area of music therapy with children and their families, and will be valuable for music therapy professionals and students, as well as other medical and teaching professionals who work with families.

CONTENIDO:

Foreword, Vince Hesketh
Acknowledgements
Introduction, Kay Sobey
1. Working in Partnership and Supporting Parents: Music Therapy for Pre-school Children and their Parents at a Child Development Centre. Amelia Oldfield, Croft Children's Unit, Cambridge, UK
2. Back to Basics: Community-based Music Therapy for Vulnerable Young Children and Their Parents. Tiffany Drake, Coram, London, UK
3. Music Therapy Groups for Families with a Learning Disabled Toddler: Bridging Some Gaps. Helen Loth, Music Therapy Clinic Coordinator and Senior Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
4. Autism and the Family: Group Music Therapy with Mothers and Children. Rachel Bull, music therapy practitioner in special education
5. 'Who is the Therapy for?': Involving a Parent or Carer in their Child's Music Therapy. Jasenka Horvat and Nicky O'Neill, Nordoff-Robbins MMT
6. Music Therapy with Traumatised Children and Their Families in Mainstream Primary Schools: A Case Study with a Six-Year-Old Girl and her Mother Sarah Howden, music therapist providing individual, group and family sessions in mainstream primary schools
7. It's a Family Affair: Music Therapy for Children and Families at a Psychiatric Unit. Emma Davies, Croft Children's Unit, Cambridge, UK
8. Music Therapy After Adoption: The Role of Family Music Therapy in Developing Secure Attachment in Adopted Children. Colette E. Salkeld
9. A Piece of the Puzzle: Music Therapy with Looked-after Teenagers and Their Carers. Joy Hasler, Catchpoint Consultancy Ltd
10. Living with Dying: Reflections on Family Music Therapy with Children Near the End of Life. Claire Flower, Cheyne Child Development Services, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK
References
List of Contributors
Subject Index
Author Index