Over the last few months, Allison and I have been venturing into the wonderful world of public speaking! This morning took us to the North Fulton Music Teachers Association, where we gave an exciting and unique talk about teaching strategies for students with special needs, behavioral issues or other learning challenges from a Music Therapy perspective. As Music Therapists, we’re trained to meet our clients where they are and adapt to a wide range of behavioral, emotional and cognitive diagnoses. Today, we shared some of our ideas for adapting teaching strategies to meet the needs of students struggling with reading difficulties, tantrums, difficulty focusing, hyperactivity, social deficits and more, whether or not they have a specific diagnosis.
We had some wonderful conversations with the teachers afterward, and we were so impressed with some of the creative ideas they are already using. We loved sharing our personal experiences (and some of our fun props, instruments and toys) with them, and we can’t wait to give more talks like this one and to work with this incredible group again in the future.