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Derrington 2012 thesis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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9.2.3 CVC students<br />

The CVC students presented with a stronger sense of self to begin with and showed<br />

less change in the inventory of self-concept. They indicated greater change in levels<br />

of anxiety which seemed to show that they were more in touch with this feeling after<br />

therapy. Shipley and Odell-Miller (<strong>2012</strong>) described how music therapy was shown to<br />

help adolescent school refusers with high anxiety, referring in particular to the<br />

effectiveness of therapeutic musical improvisation to address the adolescent’s<br />

‘changing balance between moments of chaos and calm, risk and safety, exploration<br />

and retreat’ (p.39). CVC students also generally coped better with finishing after<br />

twenty weeks and, on the whole, considered the work complete. These results are<br />

probably a reflection that CVC students have developed more appropriately for their<br />

academic age and have more emotional skills to help them cope.<br />

The CVC students are generally further ahead than The Centre School students which<br />

was demonstrated in their ability to talk in much greater depth on their experience of<br />

music therapy and the differences they felt the sessions had made. They recognised<br />

change in themselves and some found their concentration and motivation to learn had<br />

improved. This was a very important finding and supports the case for music therapy:<br />

it addresses the hypo<strong>thesis</strong> that school can be difficult for many adolescents with<br />

emotional problems which interfere with concentration, motivation and general<br />

ability to learn and can lead to disruptive and challenging behaviour (1.1).<br />

Short-term work was arguably more effective for the mainstream students than for<br />

those in the special school. Daniel (6.2.1) for example, needed the intervention as a<br />

matter of urgency and the results show that it made a noticeable difference. He<br />

stopped refusing school and attended sessions regularly for the whole twenty weeks<br />

which, along with his data, demonstrate the impact that music therapy made. Several<br />

teachers at CVC commented to me on changes they had noticed in students and the<br />

progress they were making. One teacher said: “Whatever you did it worked! He<br />

wants to learn now.”<br />

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