Music Therapy on the IEP: Layman's Terms for Parents As Advocates

Originally enacted in 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees the rights of all children with disabilities to a “free and appropriate public education.” For some excellent resources on IDEA and what all it entails, see here and here.

Any parent whose child is receiving special education services under IDEA is generally familiar with the rights and services they receive under IDEA, but it seems like the best-kept secret of IDEA is that music therapy is a related service.

This means that music therapy can be added to a child’s IEP at no cost to the family. If you know how to ask for it and are willing to be assertive about your rights as a parent, your school system will pay for your child to receive music therapy services as part of their IEP. For information and research on how music therapy can improve educational and quality of life outcomes for children with a variety of needs and diagnoses, please see: Music Therapy with Young Children

Music Therapy in Special Education

Music Therapy in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Music Therapy Research: Autism Spectrum Disorders

Music Therapy Research: Special Education

Music Therapy Research: Williams Syndrome

The basic process for obtaining music therapy services on an IEP is outlined as simply as possible below. (Credit for the following information goes to Judy Simpson, cited under “References.”)

1. Request a Music Therapy Assessment

Under IDEA, parents are an equal part of the IEP team and have the right to request assessments for related services. Parents can request an IEP meeting or can wait for the next scheduled meeting to make a request for a music therapy assessment. Parents have the right to contract with a music therapist separately for an assessment, of course, but that gives the school system the right to refute the results of the assessment. Time and expense can be saved by going through the school system for the assessment to begin with. Once an assessment has been requested, a school system cannot legally deny you one, but many may try as a way to avoid the expense of paying for services. You may need to remind the school system that you are guaranteed the right to assessments for your child and they must comply.

2. Music Therapy Assessment is Completed

Once the school system complies, they will contract with a music therapist of their choosing to complete the assessment for your child. You may want to check The Certification Board for Music Therapists to make sure the therapist the school contracts is actually a board-certified music therapist. Assessments vary somewhat from state to state, but in order for a music therapist to recommend that your child receive services, your child’s progress toward IEP goals will need to be measured without music therapy services and with them. If a qualified therapist determines that your child will make significantly more progress toward IEP goals with music therapy to the point that music therapy can be considered necessary for your child’s education, then that therapist will recommend services for your child.

3. Following Up With the School System

Again, many school systems will balk at this stage and attempt to deny access to services. This is generally for financial reasons. However, they are in violation of IDEA laws if they attempt to withhold services after a qualified therapist has deemed those services necessary. A written notice and reminder of their duty is all that is typically needed to encourage a school system to comply. However, sometimes it is necessary to enlist legal help and inform the school system that you will be seeking fulfillment of your rights through the courts if necessary. That being said, it is almost never necessary to actually go to court as most school systems find that the expense and bad press of litigation are not worth fighting. If you find that your school system is reluctant to grant you access to your rights, there are many organizations for parents of children with special needs who can provide you a lawyer at little to no cost.

A Final Note: Parents as Advocates

Parents, as advocates for their child’s rights, must drive the process of obtaining music therapy services on the IEP. This removes music therapists from a real or perceived conflict of interest in assessing and recommending for or against services. However, if you would like assistance and resources for the process, it is strongly recommended that you contact the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and let them know that you are attempting to add music therapy services to your child’s IEP. AMTA can assist parents by providing research and public relations materials, a letter of support addressed directly to school administrators, a copy of the letter from the U.S. Department of Education which clarifies music therapy as a related service, as well as many other additional resources. 

If you decide to pursue music therapy services for your child, I wish you the best of luck. You may find that music therapy makes a difference!

References:

Simpson, J. (2002). Increasing access to music therapy: The roles of parents, music therapists, and AMTA. In B. L. Wilson (Ed.), Models of music therapy interventions in school settings (2nd ed., pp. 3-6). Silver Spring, MD: The American Music Therapy Association, Inc.

Advocacy: The Student Edition

Last year, one of the best posts to come out of Social Media Advocacy Month was Top 10 Times You're an Advocate and You Don't Even Know It by the fantastic Kimberly Sena Moore. Music therapy students, if you don't know who she is, I suggest you start following her on Twitter and reading her blog, Music Therapy Maven. She's an advocacy rock star!

Since a student's involvement with music therapy is a little different than that of a working professional, I offer you all the best ways I have found to advocate as a student!

1. Educate Mom & Dad (and your siblings, and grandparents, and cousins, and nieces and nephews, and great aunt Sally)
Don't be afraid to take a few minutes at the next family dinner and chat with your family about what you are going to school for. Most people are naturally fascinated by the idea of music therapy, so go ahead and ask your family what they already know and fill in any major gaps in their knowledge. The coolest thing happened to me over the holidays. A friend of the family asked what music therapy was all about, and before I could open my mouth, my parents started explaining it like advocacy pros!

2. Social Media
Our generation was practically born with Facebook and Twitter accounts. Use that knowledge of social media to share music therapy news with your family and friends. Follow music therapists on Twitter, and like music therapy businesses on Facebook. Check out the AMTA News page for ideas of what to share using social media.

3. Practice Your "Elevator Speeches"
The question, "What is music therapy?" will be with you like a birthmark until music therapy becomes so mainstream that it would be laughable not to know about it. Until that day, people will ask you this in restaurants, grocery stores, in lines, in the park, you name it. The challenge for you is answering this question in less than 2 minutes! Practice answering the most common questions you hear and see how concise you can get your answer while still giving the most important points.

4. Wear It Out Loud
Does your music therapy student organization have t-shirts or hoodies? Do you have any AMTA apparel? Don't save it for lazy Saturdays in the house. Instead, wear your music therapy clothing out to run errands and be prepared to answer "What is music therapy?" yet again.

5. Gig In the Name of Music Therapy
Every time I perform for anything, when someone compliments a performance, my response goes something like this. "Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it. I am actually majoring in music therapy, so I would hope my education is paying off." And again, I answer, "What is music therapy?"

6. Start a Music Therapy Blog
It's not hard, and even as a student, you will have valuable things to share. I promise.

7. Join Your CBMT State Task Force
If you really want to be involved with advocacy, this is the way to go. I'm not kidding. I did it, and so did a fellow Drury student. We have gotten to participate in conference calls and be "in the know" with the process of state recognition in Missouri. If there is anything students can do along the way, I want to know about it and help. Check out the CBMT State Recognition page and brainstorm ways you could be involved with the process. Contact your state task force to offer your services.

I didn't quite make 10, but I bet you have some more ideas! Share them in the comments below.

What I Would Love to Share with Music Educators

At Drury, we are blessed to learn and work very closely beside our friends and colleagues who are majoring in music education.

I spend a lot of time thinking about music education and music educators, because every single current or future music therapist is able to do what they do because they had positive experiences in music education at some point. Our first formal musical learning experiences came from music educators.

That fact alone means that music therapists should have a vested interest in the continuing well-being of music educators and the vitality of their curriculum.

And on that thought, here some of the things music therapists know that I would love to share with music educators.

Advocacy

Music therapists know that our profession depends on advocacy. This is no less true for music educators. People go into education and therapy both because they had positive experiences in music education. It's a self-perpetuating profession. Advocacy is essential, but it seems like many educators learn how to advocate effectively after they are already teaching. And when you find out that your band program may be in danger is no time to learn advocacy strategies. I really wish that music education curricula would include more specific instruction on the most effective strategies for advocacy.

Transference and Counter-transference

 As I wrote in a previous post, clients can bring a lot of rough stuff to sessions with them. We are prepared for this - that's why our clients are seeing us - the rough stuff! Even though someone is a music educator that doesn't mean students won't bring tough subjects with them to class. Music educators are not insulated from the harsh realities of students' lives that have nothing to do with music. So, I really wish that more attention could be given to the issues of transference and counter-transference in music classrooms.I would love to see educators receive more preparation for their own emotional reactions to students' personal difficulties.

Self-Care and Burnout 

 The music educators I know spend a lot of their time stressed out and emotionally drained. That's not to say that music therapists don't spend a lot of their time that way, too! It seems that music therapists hear a lot more about self-care than educators do, however. I would love for more educators and therapists both to take self-care to heart and to really be vigilant against the dangers of burnout. It is true that if the educator or the therapist is not at his or her very best, students and clients aren't going to get the very best treatment or education possible. 

Resource Sharing

Finally, I would love to see educators and therapists put our heads together a little bit more than we already do. Students with disabilities are frequently mainstreamed in music classrooms because music is so very accessible. But music education curricula do not include a large amount of information on students with exceptional needs, as a general rule. Are we making music educators aware that they can collaborate with music therapists in their music classrooms? Are we teaching educators how to make music therapy part of the IEP for a student? Additionally, what educational strategies do music educators have that music therapists aren't aware of and could benefit greatly from? Where can we get our heads together more?

For the all the music educators out there, what would you share with music therapists? How would you most like to see us collaborate with one another? What are educators doing well that therapists could do better? Please feel free to share your thoughts!

Networking for Students: Is it Really So Scary?

Like "advocacy" the word "networking" gets thrown around a lot as something that music therapy students need to learn to do to be successful. And frankly, like "advocacy" it's a word that can scare the daylights out of music therapy students.

But is it really that hard to start making connections with professionals in our field? Sure, as a student, it can be very intimidating to walk up to someone who authored your textbooks and introduce yourself, but it is also doable, and very rewarding.
 Here are some of the strategies that I have found most helpful for getting connected to the bigger music therapy world.

1. Start Online
 If the thought of actually shaking hands with a well-known and respected professional makes you shake, maybe it's a good idea to start by building an online presence with sites like Twitter or LinkedIn.
Both are free and easy to use. For Twitter, I suggest starting out by following AMTA and then go by the suggestions Twitter gives. Follow anyone who includes "MT-BC" in their information. Follow the people they follow. And so on! Also check out the #musictherapy feed to see what is going on with music therapists on Twitter.
LinkedIn is great, too. Once you make a profile, you will have suggestions for professional contacts with whom to connect, as well as having the capability to search for specific people you know (or would like to know).
If you would like to get your name out there even more, it is very easy to start a music therapy-themed blog just like this one. Just because you are a student doesn't mean you won't have any thoughts worth sharing with the larger music therapy community. 
2. Come Prepared
I went to the AMTA annual conference last year for the first time, and I was totally overwhelmed with all of the amazing MT-BC's I met. And I was shocked that after chatting with people for a few minutes, they often wanted to exchange contact information with me. I felt silly pulling out my notebook and scribbling down my information for someone who could someday be my employer.
This year, I came prepared with some simple business cards. Many services like VistaPrint will allow you to make business cards inexpensively. A lot of local print shops will also do student discounts. It doesn't have to be fancy, and having those cards in your pocket can make you feel much more confident approaching someone at conference. 
3. Remember That Professionals are Still People
Jayne Standley, PhD, MT-BC, is very well known for her work and research with the NICU. She's one of our better-known names. And I got a hug from her at conference. A hug. From Jayne Standley. I was nervous going up and introducing myself, but obviously from her reaction, she was very approachable. In my experience, professional music therapists rarely are "too busy" or "too famous" or "too anything" to talk with students. In fact, professionals are usually very excited to share their resources, knowledge, and wisdom with students. So if you see someone you recognize from a journal article, textbook, or news feature, remember that they were once completely unknown students, and chances are, they would really like to share their experience with you. Just. Go. Talk. To. Them.
4. Be Grateful 
Always thank conference presenters for sharing their knowledge with you. Do this in person and then follow up with a thank-you email. Most of these people have their contact information online and it's not hard to find. Don't be scared to send an email and thank them again for their presentation.
5. Follow Up and Keep Doing It
Finally, keep track of all the business cards you have collected, the names of the conference presenters you heard from, and all the internship directors you spoke with. Within one week of meeting them, send a follow-up email reminding them how nice it was to chat with them and let them know you are interested in staying in touch in the future. Touch base with these people as appropriate, usually no more frequently than every 6-8 months and no less frequently than every year or so.

The rewards of getting connected with professionals now instead of later can be great, so don't let "I'm just a student" hold you back.

Go forth and network!

Music Therapy: Time to Be Ourselves

This weekend, Dr. Dena Register of the University of Kansas (see http://music.ku.edu/programs/memt/faculty/register/ for her bio)  came to Drury University's Center for Music Therapy to discuss the process of getting state recognized licensure for music therapists in the state of Missouri. Colorado just introduced a bill with licensure language, and two other states passed either licensure or registry bills in 2011.

It has been a record year for music therapy developments with unprecedented coverage in the news, and media such as the film "The Music Never Stopped" and Jodi Picoult's novel "Sing me Home."

Things are moving and changing.

In the past, music therapists have sought the important process of licensure alongside or underneath the umbrella of other therapy and helping professions, such as in New York state where music therapists are licensed under a Creative Arts Therapist license.

This is not the direction we'd like to see music therapy licensure take in MO. Oftentimes, when someone asks us, "Music therapy? What's that?" we respond by saying, "We do this that's like occupational therapy, and this that's like psychotherapy, and this that's like speech therapy, and this that's like physical therapy, and, and, and..."

Dr. Register proposed that while this is a useful way to communicate with people who have never heard of music therapy, perhaps it's time we begin to stand alone because none of those other professions work across the life-span with any and every diagnosis like music therapists do. We love and respect our peers and colleagues in the other helping professions, but as Dr. Register pointed out, you are not likely to see an art therapist working in the NICU, or a dance therapist working in hospice and end-of-life care.

The other therapists tend to define themselves by the area they practice in: speech, occupational, physical, development, psychology.

We call ourselves music therapists because music is the main overriding factor that ties all our work together. Music can be clinically beneficial to every age and diagnosis, from labor and delivery through the very last seconds of life.

It's time that we chose to stand up and be counted as an independent, fully-functioning profession. The other professions have worked hard and deserve the state recognition and understanding that they receive.

Music therapists are music therapists. Nothing more, nothing less, and it's time that we be ourselves.