This summer, I started a Session Sneak Peek Series, where I give you a sneak peek into some of my sessions with tweens and teens with autism and related disabilities.
I always love to see what other music therapists are up to, and I thought you might too!
Last week, I gave you a peek into a session where I led a movement experience to a popular Imagine Dragons song, did The Affirmations Rap by Snoop Dogg (with some add ons), and led an auditory perception experience with pop music (“Despactio” on marimba anyone?)
This week, we’ll look at how I incorporated Taylor Swift into my sessions…in a therapeutic way, of course.
Music Man (aka Musical Hangman) Game – We played Music Man with Taylor Swift song lyrics. Whichever song the lyric came from, we used in the next experience…
Movement to T. Swift Songs – We then did a movement experience to songs like “Bad Blood” or “You Need to Calm Down” (one of my personal faves, as well as my students’). One movement pattern for the verse and one pattern for the chorus. This allowed the students to work on gross motor skills and alternating attention while they were jamming to T. Swift! It was a win-win.
“Shake It Off” – Then, we played instruments to my live version of “Shake It Off” on uke. Students were given instructions for what to do every time they heard “shake it off.” For example – switch instruments with the person next to you, or stand up and “shake it.” This gave students the opportunity to work on those all important auditory perception and listening skills, as well as selective attention.
T. Swift BINGO – Simply add all your clients’ favorite songs to the BINGO cards. This is another fun way to work on auditory perception and listening skills, as well as selective attention.
I hope this gave you a few creative ideas for your Tay Tay fans. Stay tuned as I share more Session Sneak Peeks this summer!
If you’d like more creative ideas for your sessions this summer, check out the Summer Session Planning Pack. The E-Book is packed with creative, summer-themed session ideas for your school-age and teen clients.
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