Has anyone here used any type of music therapy with their child?

[gatorsmom]

We are on a waiting list for Greenbean to start Therapeutic Listening. The wait could be a year or longer. In the meantime, his therapist recommended I look into a program that is being offered in town using music to help children with many different disorders. I am just trying to collect as much info as I can about this type of therapy.

Does anyone here have any experience with it? Thoughts?

[mytwosons]

Why is there such a long wait for theraputic listening? The OT we used had all of the CDs and just loaned them out to us. If there had been a big delay, I would have considered purchasing the CDs (although they are pricey).

DS1 had a music therapist come in weekly to his ECDD classroom. I think it did help him some with regulation. We had friends who did private music therapy and felt it helped, but nothing major.

[gatorsmom]

Why is there such a long wait for theraputic listening? The OT we used had all of the CDs and just loaned them out to us. If there had been a big delay, I would have considered purchasing the CDs (although they are pricey).
.

I never even thought about buying them. I didn't know it was an option. The reason that the wait is so long is because there is only one therapist in town who offers this. Do you know the name of the discs/therapist and where I can look into purchasing them?

[mytwosons]

I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of the program we used, but I think there are only a couple.

Our OT gave us the CDs one-by-one, so I'm not sure if there was a specific order that is followed or if it is individualized based on the child's needs. My son listened to them at home for 20 mins each day.

I'm hoping cchavez sees this since I think she has experience and could give you some advice.

I do think this is something some parents do on their own, after going through an evaluation.

ETA: I'm sorry the details are so fuzzy for me; it's been almost five years. Now that I am thinking of it, I think we had two listening sessions per day. He would color or swing while listening. There was something about having him engage in an activity while listening....

[crl]

We did music therapy very briefly. The therapist was sweet but young and new and had no idea how to get ds to cooperate. I could see how it would be useful for teaching communication skills (listening carefully, turn taking, etc) with a more skillful therapist. That was the skill set we were targeting. I'm not familiar with other issues it might be used to address.

Catherine

[gatorsmom]

I'm not familiar with other issues it might be used to address.

Catherine

Our therapist thought it might be used to help Greenbean become more comfortable with the aspects of noises that he is most sensitive too. He becomes more irritated with certain pitches and noises in our house, it seems and we thought maybe music could be used to help him deal with that.

The music therapist our therapist recommended has been very successful helping some children with other disorders. I can't remember the specific disorders now, but I can go through our paperwork at home and post them here, if they might help someone.

[mytwosons]

Lisa, my son was very sensitive to noise as well. I do think the therapeutic listening helped.

For us, the other things that helped with the sound sensitivity were increased magnesium and treating a yeast overgrowth in his gut.

[HIU8]

You purchase them from Vital Sounds. You also have to purchase the special headphones--Sennheiser.com--HD500A are the ones we were told to get. For Vital Sounds (to get the modulated CD's--which are the ones used for therapeutic listening). www.vitalsounds.com. You can't just call and purchase the CD's though. You will need your OT's code (that they are certified to do the TL program). With that code you can order the CD's.

Hope this helps.

DS did the program for a little over a year. It worked wonders. However, the OT told us which CD's to use, how long to use them and tweaked the program for issues DS was having.

[gatorsmom]

Lisa, my son was very sensitive to noise as well. I do think the therapeutic listening helped.

For us, the other things that helped with the sound sensitivity were increased magnesium and treating a yeast overgrowth in his gut.

Did your son have any problems with constipation? Greenbean has had ongoing problems with constipation since he started his very first solid foods (rice cereal). I wonder if that ties into the sensitiviitez at all?

[gatorsmom]

You purchase them from Vital Sounds. You also have to purchase the special headphones--Sennheiser.com--HD500A are the ones we were told to get. For Vital Sounds (to get the modulated CD's--which are the ones used for therapeutic listening). www.vitalsounds.com. You can't just call and purchase the CD's though. You will need your OT's code (that they are certified to do the TL program). With that code you can order the CD's.

Hope this helps.

DS did the program for a little over a year. It worked wonders. However, the OT told us which CD's to use, how long to use them and tweaked the program for issues DS was having.

Thank you so much for this information. I'm just astounded that neither our child psychologist NOR the OT mentioned that these could be purchased! Particularly when they were recommending that I drive 3 hours away to the nearest clinic for these therapy sessions! Thank goodness I asked you smart moms. :) I might even get insurance to cover some of the cost. I'll look into that too.

[crl]

Ah, we did not attempt to target ds' noise sensitivities in music therapy. We did buy him some noise blocking headphones which allowed him to use public restrooms without freaking out and to go to the movies. He did eventually outgrown the noise issues at around age 5 or 6. Sorry not to be of more help.

Catherine

[HIU8]

Our insurance did not cover any TL. The headphones are about $150. Each CD is roughly $30-$40 and there are about 15-20 of them (which may be why they did not mention you could purchase them). Our OT has one spare set and pretty much requires you purchase your own. Also, the CD player you use needs to have a digital volume control. Sennseiser also has a CD holder/belt so the child can move around while listening (which is what our OT wanted DS to do). Also, the 30 minute sessions 2x/day do not have to be done in a clinicians office. DS did them while playing, eating, jumping on the minitrampoline, crashing into a makeshift fort etc.., but not while watching TV.

[gatorsmom]

Our insurance did not cover any TL. The headphones are about $150. Each CD is roughly $30-$40 and there are about 15-20 of them (which may be why they did not mention you could purchase them). Our OT has one spare set and pretty much requires you purchase your own. Also, the CD player you use needs to have a digital volume control. Sennseiser also has a CD holder/belt so the child can move around while listening (which is what our OT wanted DS to do). Also, the 30 minute sessions 2x/day do not have to be done in a clinicians office. DS did them while playing, eating, jumping on the minitrampoline, crashing into a makeshift fort etc.., but not while watching TV.

Ouch! Those costs do add up. But I think it might still be better than driving several hours each week to get to the nearest therapy session. I might be able to resell the equipment when we were done using it. I'm going to look into this tonight. Thank you again!

[HIU8]

I still have ours, but we kept it in case DS needed to go back to it again. Our OT has several ppl wanting to buy, so reselling it should be fairly easy. I believe we spent between $5,000 and $6,000 total on the program. It was worth it though. DS went from barking at ppl as a way to say hi or respond to them to having actual conversations.

[JTsMom]

Lisa, we were told GI issues could happen as a result of TL-don't know if it could help it or not, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.

We tried it TL twice. I think it did help some with noise sensitivity, but it didn't do as much as I'd hoped. I still have our stuff- headphones and 4 CD's.

[ca mom to 2]

This is another option:

http://www.integratedlistening.com/

I do think it had benefit, and would try the home version now if cost wasn't such an issue.

Good luck!

[mytwosons]

Did your son have any problems with constipation? Greenbean has had ongoing problems with constipation since he started his very first solid foods (rice cereal). I wonder if that ties into the sensitiviitez at all?

I believe it does.

When the poop sits in there, yeast can grow. Magnesium will also help to get his bowels moving.