Music Therapy Groupwork with Special Needs Children: The Evolving Process, written by Karen D. Goodman, a longstanding educator and clinician, develops the therapist's sensibility to working effectively toward the formation of a cohesive group with children who have different functioning levels, different temperaments and different musical preferences, either in the school setting or the child psychiatric setting. In order to achieve this end, the therapist must assess the current level of functioning in the music therapy ...
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Music Therapy Groupwork with Special Needs Children: The Evolving Process, written by Karen D. Goodman, a longstanding educator and clinician, develops the therapist's sensibility to working effectively toward the formation of a cohesive group with children who have different functioning levels, different temperaments and different musical preferences, either in the school setting or the child psychiatric setting. In order to achieve this end, the therapist must assess the current level of functioning in the music therapy context (assessment), consider the variables that help determine group placement vs. individual placement in music therapy, employ different clinical expectations (goals and objectives) for each child, and expect to adapt the presentation of the music and methods while simultaneously encouraging the sense of group. Throughout the eight chapters, Professor Goodman provides multiple clinical vignettes from her 28 years of clinical work, all of which serve to demonstrate her theoretical perspectives. The music therapy vignettes describe preschool and latency-age groups with autistic spectrum disorder, multiple disabilities, or psychiatric diagnoses. Study guide questions follow each chapter. Through The Evolving Process, as the subtitle suggests, not only do the children in the group change as a result of the music therapy process but also so does the therapist in understanding and adapting to the needs of the group. The book presents a combination of beginning, intermediate and advanced level concepts. It respects contributions from varying aspects of theoretical work in an effort to integrate methodology. It is an ideal resource for the student entering the field of music therapy, the therapist beginning to cope with the demands of group practice, the seasoned clinician reconsidering long-standing ways of conducting the group and the allied professional working with the music therapist. Music Therapy Groupwork wit
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