Music Therapy and Books! Singable Song Stories
The cow said neigh and the pig said oink? Yup, you read that correctly. The cat did say hello and the farmer said moo but have you ever seen a bear combing his hair or a whale with a polka dotted tail down by the bay? I sure have!
I love using books or song books in music therapy sessions. Books such as “The Cow Said Neigh” by Rory Feek and “Down by the Bay” by Raffi can be used to work on so many more skills than just reading. They can be used to treat several goals that include visual stimulation, attention, socialization, creativity, expressive communication and language, distress tolerance, and memory recall. Of course, just like the music used in sessions, books are client preferred and age appropriate. Lots of books can be used in many different ways and for a variety of clients. For example, I might use the book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See” by Bill Martin Jr. with a three year old client to work on animal and color identification, animal sounds, attention to task, and following directions. I could also use the same book with a 8-11 year old client to address expressive communication, distress tolerance and creativity by writing our own version of the book. Pink flamingo, pink flamingo, what do you see? Fun, right?
