Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy

I am going to be reviewing this book from the vantage point of the one title that means more to me then any other I have ever received: mom. While I have had other titles that have meant things to me, and others that are very special to me as well (*Mrs. Andy!*), it is my position as a mother to a child with 5 diagnoses that involve neurological dysfunction that led me to purchase this book. While my son has been receiving Neurological Music Therapy (NMT) for approaching 2 years now, it is the therapy process we were engaged in that I knew the least about. And after attending a training seminar this past weekend led by the director of the clinic he is treated at, I had some light bulb moments for ways I could expand the use of this technique at home from what we were doing (isolated NMT exercises) into his functional every day life and his other therapy methods, with the goal of improving outcomes across the board for everybody involved.And I felt that in order to be the most effective mom I can be in that regard, I needed to know more then I currently do. I have no desire to replace those who are working with my little man, their insight and skills are invaluable. But I tend to function like every moment where neither he nor I are sick can be a therapeutic interaction, because as a mom, my heart lives in sorrow when it thinks about what he will face when I/we are gone. Because here in our home, he is loved, he is cherished, he is accepted, he is never a less-than member of the family to any of us, and I don't want his only option to be a total care group home, where they may treat him respectfully, but he will just be a job to them, and he won't feel that love he has here. So my goal is to do everything I can to get this beautiful little boy to a place where he can function in assisted living at least, but truth be told, I'm going for all I can. He's still young, his story is not yet set in stone, so I work like I mean it, with this and everything else I do.So, this is a textbook on NMT basically, and as such it presupposes that the reader has some knowledge in certain therapeutic modalities and music theory. I think if you are a parent who does not have any of those things in your background, you may need to look up a number of things to find this accessible to you. Since I don't think this was really written for the lay person specifically, I think this is as one would expect it to be. As a parent who has a ton of fires to put out, how I approached the use of this book was reading the first few chapters, and then reading chapters about the specific techniques I am interested in using at this time, because not all methods are appropriate for where my son is currently at developmentally, and those are things I will explore more as I am preparing to engage in them in collaboration with his therapist's recommendations. In terms of the format, I purchased the kindle edition, and I felt it was well linked, and didn't' have any trouble viewing the illustrations.How I am personally using the materials most at this time is with RAS (rhythmic auditory stimulation), because my son has quite a few challenges in the area of regulation and maintaining an appropriate gait, and also I have been reviewing NMT techniques that relate to speech development. Because my son is sensitive to sounds, I found the section where it discussed percussive stimulation on the wrist to be quite illuminating, and I've been providing that kind of stimulus (as opposed to the metronome on my phone I was using for our NMT activities previously) to the beats per minute speed recommended by his therapist for the past couple of days, and it's been...just wow. I have never had such an easy time walking with him places in public. Don't get me wrong, he still tried to sit down and throw rocks at the sidewalk near my daughter's school this morning, but he tried to eat fewer of them, and he did far more “on task” walking in all of our walking activities then we normally see. To the point where I want to cry just thinking about it, and I certainly shared with his OT and his ST today some RAS techniques to try with him in his therapy session. And things went better for them then usual to. Super, super exciting.A few days does not, of course, a meaningful relationship between cause and effect demonstrate. However, there are studies which do adequately demonstrate the efficacy of these methods in other patient populations with neurological dysfunction over a period of time, which is more then enough for me to have every reason to believe this will continue to be effective for my little man. And I've certainly noticed the differences in regulation in him after he's finished sessions with his NMT therapists, and I am quite convinced this method is and will continue to be more beneficial to positive outcomes for him than traditional music therapy methods alone, which is why it was number one on my wish list for the music therapy clinics I was on a wait list for. So as a mom, am I happy I shelled out the money for this book? Heck yah! And do I think this therapy has been benefiting my son in the time he's been receiving it? You better believe it.If you are purchasing this as part of a course of study to become a Neurological Music Therapist, though I am not a music therapist so I can not evaluate it from that perspective, I felt like this was a standard, quality text book material for a medical or therapy related field. Generally not going to give you the giggles, but definitely will be informative and useful. And best of luck to you. The world needs more people like you, and it's possible on your internship you could run into my son, because I imagine we're going to be doing this for the foreseeable future. And heaven help you, me as well. He's a workout, but he's worth it. And I'm that mom that's just super involved with what goes on with him, which you will either love or it will annoy the living daylights out of you. So my apologies and gratitude in advance, and as a mom, thank you for what you do and will do for him or for other individuals with those types of struggles.

I received the parcel very quickly and the item I received was perfect.

A wonderful resource! I do wish the pictures were better (several are low quality) but still rating it 5 stars because it's not about the pictures.

Superb

Si apre Strada una nuova Musicoterapia. Le basi scientifiche aiutano ad affermare la disciplina nella riabilitazione neurologica.

Livro maravilhoso! Super recomendo!

Descripció de le 20 tècniques de la NMT. Imprescindible per a conèixer en la seva totalitat aquesta branca de la musicoteràpia!

For anyone seeking to learn about the many interactions between neurologic function/activity and music, those seeking to train in Neurologic Music Therapy, and/or those in professional rehabilitation settings (doctors, nurses, PTs, OTs, SP), this is an excellent resource. It describes each of the techniques currently accepted under the banner of Neurologic Music Therapy and provides excellent case studies for individual application of the technique. Neurologic Music Therapy techniques are scientifically validated through rigorous research methodology, and they provide proven results.