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

interaction with another person, and is greatly resisted by children with
attachment disorders.
• The child has restricted choices. Sometimes an activity involves
playing instruments chosen by one member of the family. The child
can decide whether or not to play what has been chosen for them, but
they cannot choose to play something else.
• Every 5th or 6 th session is a consultation with parents to review
progress and discuss the situation at home.
Content of sessions
• Games, musical explorations of family scenes, events and
confrontations, stories and journeys, musical dialogues, and free
improvisations.
• Discussion of issues that are raised through the music
• Some sessions end with a behaviour target for the child to practice at
home, and this relates to a behaviour shown in the session.
Recently a child took on a target to practice saying ‘Goodbyes’ because
she had shown in her improvisations that endings were difficult and
painful. Every simple ‘Goodbye’ was a trigger to the pain of the
Goodbye she had had with her birth mother when she was 4 years old.
Because she had avoided all farewell greetings ever since, she did not
have the skills to simply say ‘Goodbye’ to family and friends.
Process
• Assessment, report and recommendations - three sessions plus a
consultation with the parents. I am assessing the attachment patterns
of the child and his family. I do this through structured musical
activities of turn taking, following and leading, and holding- music
while the child explores.
• Stage one - Engaging and Exploring. Through games I continue from
the assessment to encourage turn taking and to introduce music as a
safe medium to express feelings. Initially this will be exploring
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