Resources & references

Listen to Karen Twyford discuss her scoping review on the use of music therapy in pediatric neurodisability.

Click here to read the article being discussed.

Read an article discussing an intergenerational music therapy group, led by music therapist Hayley Cann, aiming to bridge gaps and forge social connections between school children and seniors.

Watch a group music therapy session where children play instruments, sing, and interact in music experiences. Participants address skills such as emotional regulation, listening, following directions, leadership skills, social confidence, teamwork, waiting, turn-taking and joint play. 

This book offers a solid foundation for music therapy work with infants and children in pediatric medical settings, combining expert practice insights with a critical review of the existing literature.

Read a thesis paper exploring the use of music therapy to target gross motor skills in young children with congenital blindness/visual impairments. Two case studies are presented, and five common themes are explained.

Watch how music therapy can support children, adolescents and their families in a pediatric hospital setting, and learn how music therapists contribute to interdisciplinary care teams.

This video showcases the Jared Kurtin Music Therapy Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, which is a clinical and evidence-based program for hospitalized infants, children and their families. This hospital is a leader in creative medical treatment options and has the first established pediatric music therapy program in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Watch music therapist Becky Ickes describe how she uses music therapy to support children in a pediatric hospital setting.

This chapter in the book Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop, details a unique music therapy songwriting program, Hear Our Voices, and the songwriting process of the Little Saints, a group of “at-risk” fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The authors, who were also the music therapists working with this group, discuss the relevance of Hip-Hop culture, and its musical framework, to the music therapy process, and to the success of the program. 
 

Watch as a music therapist sings and plays a hello song for a child during an individual music therapy session.

Music therapists often begin sessions with a hello song and end them with a goodbye song. Read about the function of these songs to support music therapy goals with children.

Click here to see an example of a hello song in both French and English.

Read a news article detailing a performance by students with emotional and behavioural challenges at a school. Erin Steiner, the music therapist at the school, explains that while they call it a show, the performances and displays are truly a presentation of the culmination of the year's work in music and art therapy sessions.