Tag: LEARN

HOW TO HELP A CHILD WHO HAS SPEECH DISORDER USING MUSIC THERAPY

Posted on by Escape Global

Children who have speech disorder may not learn or master language milestones as other children.

Few years ago I had a patient who had speech disorder, on first meeting he was quite curious to know how the guitar is being played, he also wanted to know how to accompany his voice with it so I gave him the guitar and taught him the placement of the G Major chord, he was able to try it out though his hands were not firm on it, I also taught him the placement of his hands to make the E Minor. He was able to interchange both chords but not conveniently. He sang and played though it felt like noise to everyone around but he enjoyed it and did not feel like returning home with his parents. In the atmosphere of music, he could vocalize.
This experience made me realize the need to teach few simple and helpful ways of working on a speech disorder.

👉 First is to allow your young one listen to music, it helps boosts cognitive functioning, put it on at different times of the day.
A particular study done in 2010 revealed that Children who listened to music closed the developmental gap faster than those who had no music therapy. Those with speech delays moved faster toward correcting speech or improving communication skills at all ages, from toddlers with speech delays to older children. The balanced rhythm of the music helps the child match the words to the beat, providing more measure than normal speech, and therefore helping the child learn how language works trouble-free.

👉 Possibly get a mouth organ to help in breath production and by mouth organ I mean the harmonica or a recorder.

👉 Engage in vocalization of vow and consonant sounds alike, I did a video exemplifying this on my Instagram page, be sure to check it out @mercykaynimi or @escape_global

👉 Engage in the turn-taking technique singing simple and familiar songs with short lyrics. For example, Twinkle Twinkle Little star. I exemplified that too in the video I made on my Instagram page.
The child will be able to pick the words of the shorter song better and will more readily repeat them to the beat.

👉Playing an instrument, such as an acoustic guitar, it also helps the cognitive development of children just like the story of the patient I shared earlier in this post.

👉 Make sure also that everything you are teaching is age appropriate and more importantly be grateful for every process, don’t compare your journey with another.

You are doing very well and I’m rooting for you!

Do let me know in the comment box if this post was helpful.

Need counsel? Need help or have questions? Feel free to drop them here or if for confidentiality’s sake you don’t want to, kindly write to me; mercykayt@gmail.com.

Thank You.

TEACH SOCIAL SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEED USING MUSIC

Posted on by Escape Global

One time I had an autistic patient who came to a session I was to have with her crying, I went on to ask her mother the reason for the tears, she told me that she raised her voice at her because immediately they stepped into the hospital, she covered her face. If you are familiar with children who live with autism, you will know that they have very poor social skills, they can hardly make an eye contact.

The major reason why I’m doing this post is to help you as a caregiver teach a/your child social skills using Music. non-musical pathway may seem forceful and tiring for you and your child.

Children with poor social skills are often seen as preoccupied in their own world and may be highly passive or unresponsive in social situations. In this post, I’ll share with you steps to take and five social skills to target for intervention.

The first is to be grateful for your journey again and again, there is an air that gratitude brings, it dispels toxicity and comparison.

Next is to enrol your child in a music school if you might not be available due to work schedule or other things. The music school attendance may be an extra-curricular or full-time activity, either way is perfect. The goal is to be in an environment that is musical and increases curiosity first.

Getting a musical instrument of their choice will not be a bad idea, take note of choice because you don’t want to buy one that your child will not like or end up making use of. What musical instrument does is that it builds a level of self-awareness in them and improves relationships with others. It encourages a level of communicative behavior and interaction with others, which is something that autistic children have great difficulty with. An illustration of a band was given by someone, if we look closely at the way that a band works, it is obvious that the instruments must all interact with one another, but the player only needs to interact with the instrument at first. interacting with others can be troubling for children living with autism, but through the introduction of a musical instrument, there are possibilities that they will connect first with the object and then open up to others interacting with their musical instruments also. The autistic child whose story I shared earlier on was able to bond with music and myself through the use of musical instrument (The Guitar).

Proper interpretation of music both in lyrics and in sound, this can go a long way to help in teaching us to converse. For children with autism, it could mean learning a new word from a song, or better understanding on the way to act in a social situation based on the messages that a song expresses. We know that autism can create barriers for children in social settings, but small groups of children listening to music together may feel confident and comfortable enough to comment or sing along with others.

Using musical parody to teach them this social skills that are targeted for intervention: eye-contact, vocalization, imitation, initiation and turn-taking. For example, the popular twinkle, twinkle little star can be sung using other lyrics but same tune. That’s parody, different lyrics but same or popular tune.

  • While you do this try to make eye-contact with them, let them look you in the eye and make sure to do same.
  • Ask them to vocalize the song you just taught them.
  • Sing and ask that they imitate you, try to make it funny and creative.
  • Initiate the song and allow them continue, you can sing the first line and allow them continue
  • Take turns in singing, use words likes “whoever sings first gets a bowl of ice cream”. This is to motivate them.

Finally, be sure to go over what they have learnt in the music school with them even if you are not available. Don’t just leave the entire responsibility to the music teacher.

Be sure to check my Instagram pages for a video showing you an example of social skills you can teach your child with special need using music; @mercykaynimi, @escape_global.

You are doing so well and I am rooting for you!

Do let me know in the comment box if this post was helpful.

Need counsel? Need help or have questions? Feel free to drop them here or if for confidentiality’s sake you don’t want to, kindly write to me; mercykayt@gmail.com.

Thank You.

M E M O R Y

Posted on by Escape Global

Some years ago I had this patient who had seizure, truth be told you could hardly get him to converse but they say where conversations do not work, try Music and voila music was set to do the miracle.

I found out from his caregiver that he loved drumming so we started with allowing him drum, he drummed on anything and it just made him hyper active the more but trust me the sight was so beautiful to behold, he was fourteen years so talk about ‘teenage shyness’, he didn’t have it. He was just a free-spirited teen.

After series of drumming everywhere and admiration of my guitar for a long time we now needed to work. Talking about admiration of the guitar, he pulled it very well and I was so careful so he’d not distune it because at that time I wasn’t perfect at tuning a guitar, I knew it’d take me time to get it tuned. I helped myself by pleading with him in a friendly manner to take it easy. Lol

He calmed down a bit and we were getting started on the next phase of the Music Therapy Administration, this time I was going to make simple melodies on the guitar and he was going to replicate it. It was my first time trying such so I sang a simple melodious song and in 2 minutes this hyper active teen had picked everything and was eager to replicate, I had this look of what??😲
This kid didn’t disappoint at all,he replicated it so well and this time around he took the guitar to try it, I allowed him and it was beautiful even though he didn’t know how to play but it was beautiful in my ears.

This experience taught me two things people who are ill are not looking for anything complex, they already feel the sickness is complicated and they want something simple to brighten them up, this is majorly why I do very simple songs.

It also taught me that Music helps with easy retention no matter the kind of ailment or personality a person has, when it comes to music they’ll remember more than they remember words.

I am certain you learnt something from this story, do leave a comment below.

I always love reading from you.💚

S A L V A G E D

Posted on by Escape Global

Owonikoko Imisioluwa Olalekan my friend and dear colleague, we studied Music at Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife same year and if there’s anything I’ve always known him for it’s his ability to explore what you call abnormal and use this gift of music he has to influence culture.


I will say I learnt a lot from my conversation with him and it was so real, no airs, just two persons laughing and sharing deep stuffs on the power that music has to heal.


My friend, Koko runs an organization called Music for Development that is committed to driving positive social change through music, I have known his passion to communicate healing through music to the girl child for four years and it’s been such a joy to behold his becoming amidst the many ups and down that life throws at us.

Koko shared his music miracle with me and I found it humbling because I never knew he had been through something that painful that almost became an addiction.
When he was in secondary school, he lived with a family and what he was subjected to daily caused a damage to his tender heart, we know how life throws us stuffs but it’s always different with a child or teenager, it could leave them broken if not salvaged. Everytime he’d inflict injury on himself using a razor blade, because of the emotional trauma he was subjected to growing up, he’d weep uncontrollably.


One of those injury-infliction days, he listened to the song He saved me by R Kelly and it felt like someone could finally understand what he was going through. It felt like R Kelly was counseling him through his music and so he made it a habit to constantly listen to his song, this helped him to overcome the habit of inflicting injury on himself with razor blade. The flip part is that he was able to bring healing to others.

He also shared something that is worthy of note, not every music will heal you, some will make you sink into depression and it’s left to you to choose wisely.

I believe Koko’s life story in general is very inspiring especially for those who have struggled with acceptance, he’s someone you should listen to. Here’s the link to the akara song he shared with us on the podcast, it is worth listening to 👇
https://fanlink.to/the-akara-song

Do share with me one or two things you learnt from this blog. Full story on my podcast, kindly click  here to listen 👇https://anchor.fm/mercy-kay/episodes/S-A-L-V-A-G-E-D-ejmhkl

I look forward to reading from you💜
Gracias💜

C O N C E N T R A T I O N

Posted on by Escape Global

I was at the hospital last week and it was closed down because the management thought to fumigate the hospital.
Every disappointment is truly a blessing, I have been wanting to share with you one of my experiences in the hospital where I had a patient who almost dislocated my arm.

I have this strong love for autistic children. I remember feeling the warmth of the embrace of a particular autistic child in my church, I must tell you I loved her immediately. There was this aura of peace she carried.

Well that’s not even the gist, I had a session with an autistic child in the hospital and honestly I was lost for songs or activities.
He was one child that had a very strong grip, you couldn’t just beat him to getting his body calm, he’d struggle with you.

If you know children living with autism, you’ll know that this comes with aggression that is common with the mental disability.
He also had difficulty in concentrating, so I could hardly get him to focus because it felt like something else needed his attention.

I figured out that I was not going to get his attention easily so I started by beating a rhythm because I was told he loved drumming, I did this repeatedly and honestly you will think he wasn’t listening or paying attention until he played the exact rhythm back to me without me asking and that was the bonding point for us.
He did the rhythm repeatedly and we transited into singing.

I did a song in his name letting him know that He is a gift from God and it was beautiful, he slowly calmed down and gave me his full attention. His mum was with him and she was so impressed, the song sent a message to her thatsaid regardless of the health challenge of her son, it doesn’t change the truth that he is a gift from God to the family and the world.

One thing I learnt from this session is this; producing a simple rhythm and hoping for him to reproduce it helped him concentrate. If this is continuous and consistent, he would be able to concentrate always and learn concentration in other aspects. Asides from the administration of Music Therapy helping patients calm down, it helps focus and concentration.

I am committed to doing this anytime and any day because the transformation I see always is priceless.

This is the #DiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist, Episode 9

You mean a lot to me and I love reading from you!

T R A N S I T I O N

Posted on by Escape Global

Transitions are beautiful yet they come with new challenges that are surmountable.
Last week when I wrote about sharing music with caregivers, I sort of knew deep within me that it was going to be my last time in the Paediatric ward of the hospital but didn’t know how it was going to happen.


The next time following the period that I did my last post on Caregivers (by the way if you’ve not read it, it’d be good to ‘cos it’s an enriching read).
To my story, the matron on duty gave me a warm welcome and took me to this new ward which was also Paediatric but this time for Emergency cases, there were a number of babies and as she introduced me to the nurse on duty, I was all there smiling and thinking of how to engage babies in Music but nothing was coming. In that moment, the only thing I knew to do was to jump into the waves.

I walked up to the bedside of this baby boy who was 4 months old, his mum was obviously perturbed and worse of all you could tell that having her baby in the hospital was not just her only problem, she seemed to shoulder a lot yet trying to be sane through it.
For some minutes I engaged her in a discussion, she told me of how her baby started teething, had been coughing, running temperature and hasn’t been eating. I was really emotional in this moment, I was on my feet still thinking of what to do when the nurse on duty came to tell the mother that she should get her baby milk so he could eat that was when I knew that her breasts hadn’t been bringing forth milk. I felt for her deeply, she was up and about leaving the baby and his sister with me, so I was left alone to share music with them.


Hmmmm I began singing because of course I couldn’t engage the baby, I just sang while he cried and was yet in pain.
I sang these words I shared today in my video, you can watch the video on Instagram: @escape_global.
These were the lyrics;
Peace through it all
Joy through it all
Hope through it all
You are never alone.
Peace through it all.

I sang this song repetitively for about 30 minutes or more and I couldn’t see visible improvement, maybe only the fact that it lessened his tears. I yet continued singing it over him.

I’m not one to easily give up when it comes to this but I came to a conclusion that the music I did lightened the burden that was in the atmosphere and it also made me accept the challenge of thinking unique approach to be used in administering music to babies in the hospital.

Over the next few weeks, I’d be in this ward so I’d unearth golden lessons that would be useful in Music Therapy administration with babies.

This is the #DiaryofanAspiringMusicTherapist Episode 6

I never get bored reading your feedbacks ❤️