[Social-sciences-list] Introduction, then a serious question

Tue Nov 11 05:49:47 UTC 2014

Will do.

I'm still thinking about how you might blog about this.

On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 7:09 PM, Kaiti Shelton via Social-sciences-list <
social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Thanks all, if anyone has ideas, I'd still be interested in hearing them.
>
>  RC/Claire, please do keep me posted on what your contacts think about
>  this.  Thanks for spreading the message around.
>
>
>
> On 11/10/14, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks all, if anyone has ideas, I'd still be interested in hearing them.
> >
> > RC/Claire, please do keep me posted on what your contacts think about
> > this.  Thanks for spreading the message around.
> >
> > On 11/10/14, Rakesh Chand <chand at connect.com.fj> wrote:
> >> Sounds very interesting
> >>
> >>
> >> I'm a totally blind person with guitar skills and am now trying piano
> and
> >> to
> >> find resources is fairly difficult.
> >>
> >>
> >> Please keep me informed as I never looked at music as a therapy even
> >> though
> >> it has helped me to relax and keep away from stress of mainstream work,
> >> family and daily leaving!
> >>
> >>
> >> Do keep up the wonderful work...
> >>
> >>
> >> Rakesh all the way from:
> >> Fiji in the South Pacific
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Social-sciences-list
> >> [mailto:social-sciences-list-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> >> On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton via Social-sciences-list
> >> Sent: Monday, 10 November 2014 5:55 p.m.
> >> To: social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org
> >> Subject: [Social-sciences-list] Introduction, then a serious question
> >>
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> Some of you may have seen me around on other lists; I'm a junior music
> >> therapy major, and the president of the Ohio Association of Blind
> >> Students.
> >> In case you're wondering what music therapy is, it is the evidence-based
> >> use
> >> of music to address individualized goals through music and therapeutic
> >> relationships, carried out by a professional who has completed an
> >> approved
> >> music therapy training program and earned board-certification by passing
> >> an
> >> exam for accreditation.  To simplify that, in my field I will use music
> >> to
> >> address musical and nonmusical goals, including gait regulation, memory
> >> recall, enforcing positive behavior in children, improving social
> skills,
> >> improving/maintaining quality of life, increasing fine and gross motor
> >> skills, improving appropriate communication, etc.  I'm a lot more like a
> >> physical or occupational therapist than a music teacher or performer,
> >> because I do keep track of data and evidence to back up research and
> keep
> >> track of progress.  End plug, but if you have any questions about what
> >> music
> >> therapy is, feel free to ask.  I'm really looking forward to interacting
> >> on
> >> this list.  I have been on the human services list for quite a while,
> but
> >> I'm wondering if social science might be a little more in-line with what
> >> I'm
> >> going to talk about in the next paragraph.
> >> I'm also working towards a minor in psychology, so that's another reason
> >> why
> >> I joined.
> >>
> >> Anyway, the serious stuff that I mentioned.  I just returned home from
> >> the
> >> national conference for AMTA, the American Music Therapy Association.  I
> >> had
> >> a great time overall, and learned a lot, but it is one of the things
> I've
> >> learned that has me really worried about some ethical concerns I see.  I
> >> went to a session on Friday night called Musical skills and
> competencies:
> >> essential or not?  The AMTA has established competencies which all music
> >> therapy students must meet in order to earn certification, but there is
> >> no
> >> standard protocol or guidelines for accommodating when students with
> >> disabilities have to make modifications.
> >>
> >> The presenter used a student who is currently a senior in her program as
> >> an
> >> example (with the student's permission).  This student lost her left
> hand
> >> due to cancer when she was a kid, and is now looking for music therapy
> >> internships.  It was apparent when she came to the school for music
> >> therapy
> >> that guitar just wouldn't be an option for her, since one hand needs to
> >> play
> >> chords and the other strums.  The professor, having no idea what to do
> >> for
> >> this situation, called AMTA.
> >> They told her, "You'll have to decide how to accommodate her."  They
> >> offered
> >> this professor no guidance, no suggestions, not a single clue about what
> >> should be done to make sure this student can get the competency.  So,
> the
> >> professor accommodated by letting the student use an IPad app to create
> >> the
> >> sound of a guitar in her sessions.
> >> Otherwise, she's a really good music therapist in the making, and can
> >> apparently play piano very well.  Aside from one hand being missing and
> >> guitar in the traditional sense being a problem, there is nothing that
> >> suggests to this professor that this student wouldn't be an exceptional
> >> therapist.  However, she has had to have conversations with the student,
> >> in
> >> which she has had to explain that the accommodation process for music
> >> therapy students is completely subjective.  The professor sees the IPad
> >> as
> >> an accommodation to meet the guitar competency, but an internship
> >> director
> >> might see that the competency is unmet and not take this student into
> >> their
> >> program because of it.  The professor expressed worry, because on one
> >> hand
> >> she wants this girl to succeed and knows her skills, but doesn't want to
> >> set
> >> her up for failure if no one else agrees with her on accommodations in
> an
> >> internship.  On the one hand, she wants to believe that music therapy
> can
> >> be
> >> an accessible career to those with disabilities, but she also feels like
> >> she
> >> needs to be a gatekeeper for the competencies so the integrity of the
> >> field
> >> is maintained, and the integrity of the college is upheld.  She's very
> >> worried because she realizes that as music therapy has grown, more and
> >> more
> >> students with disabilities are going to be coming into the field.
> >> Competencies just keep getting added to the litany, but none have been
> >> taken
> >> away or modified.
> >>
> >> I had a situation last semester, where my professors didn't know how to
> >> accommodate me in documentation.  While this session focused on
> >> accommodating for the music competencies, the problem is still the same.
> >> I
> >> question how on Earth a profession which accommodates for individual
> >> client
> >> needs on a daily basis around the world doesn't have policies in place
> >> for
> >> accommodating students with disabilities who wish to become
> >> professionals?
> >> How is it okay that there is no standard system in place for this?  I
> >> understand every student is a case-by-case basis really, but there is
> >> nothing at all for professors to go by, so they don't know what is okay
> >> and
> >> what is breaching the competencies.  I wonder how many students have
> been
> >> held back for one reason or another, because they couldn't meet a
> >> competency
> >> in the cookie-cutter way due to their disability?  But let me tell you
> >> the
> >> kicker in all of this; let's say that student X with the hand problem is
> >> hypothetically told by someone that she can't get an internship because
> >> she
> >> can't actually play guitar.  After the internship and completion of the
> >> college program for music therapy, all students must take an exam to
> earn
> >> certification.  The exam does not test musical skill at all.  To my
> >> knowledge it also does not test one's ability to actively assess
> clients,
> >> which is the issue I ran into last semester when I was having difficulty
> >> providing visual feedback on my group.
> >>
> >> As a student, I understand why we have the competencies.  This is a
> >> profession that has had to advocate itself to death for the past 60 or
> so
> >> years because it is so new and out of a typical person's norm, but if we
> >> keep making it harder by adding competencies and pushing out potential
> >> therapists with disabilities, I think detriment will be done to the
> >> field.
> >> The whole reason I learned about music therapy was because I worked with
> >> a
> >> blind music therapist as a child.  She taught me to be okay with the
> fact
> >> that I was different from my sighted classmates, emphasized the
> >> importance
> >> of using braille and a cane, and encouraged me to practice music.  When
> I
> >> got older, she was a role model I could talk to about general blindness
> >> issues, and was a mentor once I figured out I wanted to go into music
> >> therapy.  I remember being 8 or 9 years old, and worrying about how I
> >> would
> >> go to the grocery store by myself when I was older.  I think she and I
> >> had
> >> a
> >> closer therapist-client relationship because she was someone I could ask
> >> questions that others wouldn't understand.  I am hoping to do the same
> >> thing
> >> for other students with disabilities who may become my clients, and it
> >> would
> >> be a shame if others with disabilities can't serve as role models and
> >> mentors to their clients.
> >>
> >> Is it ethical for a profession which strives to accommodate clients to
> >> push
> >> those who have disabilities and want to be a part of the striving away?
> >> To
> >> me, that says that I as a blind person am good enough to receive
> services
> >> from a music therapist, but I'm not good enough to be a provider, and if
> >> I
> >> modify a competency so that I get the same basic result but in a
> >> different
> >> way I'm not actually a complete music therapist.  I personally don't
> >> think
> >> it is sound, but there are those who cling to the clinical competencies
> >> like
> >> ethically, it is the most important thing to protect them.  I'm not
> >> saying
> >> that protecting the integrity of the competencies isn't important, but
> >> for
> >> students with disabilities there has to be some middle ground.
> >>
> >> I don't quite know what to do about this.  I've emailed a bunch of
> people
> >> to
> >> start a think tank, which includes one blind and one sighted music
> >> therapist, a socialworker who is their supervisor, a woman I know who
> >> knows
> >> more than I thought there was to know about disability rights for
> >> students,
> >> and my state NFB president, but other than that I'm stumped.  This issue
> >> really bothers me, but I also want to take it easy since I still have
> yet
> >> to
> >> get through my own training and figure out my own accommodation issues.
> >> Thoughts?
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> nnect.com.fj
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Kaiti
> >
>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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