Proceedings, Oxford, UK (2002) - World Federation of Music Therapy

The Assessment Process
Following a referral, a lengthy discussion takes place with the parents.
At this time we explain exactly what music therapy is, what we will be
looking for in the assessment, their role and the structure of the session.
• We emphasise the therapy aspect of music therapy and that during the
assessment we will be looking at the non musical use of the space as
well as the musical.
• We stress that there are no musical rights and wrongs, that their child
does not have to play if they do not want to and that it is not about
passing or failing a test.
• We explain that we will not only be assessing the child’s ability to use
music for interactive and expressive purposes, but also their emotional
needs and difficulties.
• We describe the proposed format of the session, that there will be a
welcome song, an instrumental section, a concluding song and an
opportunity for discussion at the end.
Sometimes at this stage, parents say, “Oh this is not what I thought music
therapy was. I don’t think it is what I want for my child.” Sometimes,
what parents are really looking for are music sessions and we are able to
suggest more appropriate musical input.
In the assessments we found that it was more effective if we split our
roles. One of us acts as “the lead therapist” taking a more proactive role,
leading the session both verbally and musically. The other therapist
remains at the piano throughout and takes a musical and observational
role. This allows the leading therapist to be subjective so that the person
at the piano can be more objective.
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