Tag: LOVE

ways to improve motor skills in a cerebral palsy patient

Posted on by Escape Global

Last week was World Cerebral Palsy day and I thought to do a post that will be helpful to caregivers of Cerebral Palsy patients, children especially.

Cerebral palsy is a motor disorder that is caused by damage to the developing brain. It primarily affects an individual’s movements, balance, and posture. I want to show you practical ways to help a child who has cerebral palsy;

👉 Teach the child to play a musical instrument, this is what it’ll do, it will enhance flexibility and dexterity, which will in turn help refine gross and fine motor skills. A small drum with sticks for example or a small tambourine or a maracas. If you can not teach the child to play a musical instrument, you can employ a tutor if possible who is patient and capable of teaching the child.

👉 Encourage and model walking, dancing and doing exercises while listening to music, it will help strengthen the child’s muscles. It’s technically called Rhythmic auditory stimulation in music therapy, it is the synchronisation of sound and movement to facilitate improvements in biologically rhythmical functions. This rhythmic nature of music also helps to organize the child’s gait, it will teach movements timing to the beat of the music. For example modelling synchronisation of steps to lively music to improve walking speed, you can begin on a slow tempo and increase speed gradually if you are playing a live music and not a recorded one.

👉 The last but the most important is to engage in repetitions, when the results of the first try is pleasing, do not give in to the temptation of relaxing but keep on and on because the human brain is incredibly adaptable, but needs repetitive activities or exercise to become familiar with new functions.

I really looked forward to putting up a video that demonstrates what I have shared here but somehow I can not, please look out for it on my Instagram pages next week; @mercykaynimi or @escape_global. Don’t stop being grateful, I’m rooting for you always!

Kindly 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.

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.

HOW YOU CAN TEACH A SPECIAL NEED CHILD WITH NO Background in music

Posted on by Escape Global

I have no background in music and I want to teach a/my child with special need.
I know the previous post may have got you wondering how you can teach your child music with no music inclination. I will be sharing few simple steps on how to teach your young one in such a way that it is beneficial to both you and them.


The first thing I’ll like to mention which I mentioned in my previous post is to OWN YOUR JOURNEY, I apologize for reiterating it but if you must make the most of this journey then you will part ways with impatience, comparison, ingratitude and be companions of gratitude any day any moment.


Focus on knowing your CHILD(REN): When preparing to teach music to your child(ren), focus on knowing them, understanding their personalities, what they love and will tend to. Knowing them means you will have to recall the times when they engaged in music, what their response was like, if they love calm or fast music, if they enjoy rhythm, whether they have ever been fascinated by a musical instrument, if there is any genre of music that makes them aggressive or feel frustrated. All these are to let you know that you must be a keen observer, it will help you know which to tone down on and which to elevate. Ask them questions and don’t feel bad if they don’t like what you envisaged them liking.


Focus on learning a musical instrument, be it Voice, Piano, Guitar and so on. Do not dabble into too many musical instruments, you can download videos online to learn, explore yourself and all other spontaneous ideas that might come in the process and as you learn, try engaging your child with it. The goal is to learn while they learn.


Keep things simple with your child. your child isn’t an adult that you would want to please by being prim and proper, you can say things like “Honey you know mummy or daddy is just learning to figure this out so let’s just go with the flow”. Your child will appreciate the commitment, vulnerability and simplicity you put into it. I remember when I just started playing the guitar and was visiting the hospital, because I didn’t know much I always wanted to cringe, then I realized from my interactions with each kid that they didn’t care, they just wanted the simple thing I could play then.


As you grow in teaching them, avoid being rigid, kids love to play and explore a lot and sometimes you might have a bucket list of how you want to teach music but they are just concentrating on one. I used to ‘overprepare’ and then when I begin sessions, they just always have something else they love to do. Do not rush them, give grace and watch how they explore just the one you’ve taught them. the joy is not in how many lessons you can pump down their brain but in the journey that is moving steadily. Be grateful!


Watch sessions on YouTube where children with special needs are engaged in Music Therapy, it will boost your confidence and you’ll have lot of innovative ideas on how to utilize music in helping your young one.


Paste colourful postcards containing illustrative affirmations in your music space. Affirmations like; I am smart, I am well-behaved, I sing well, I play my musical instruments well and so on. Just be creative about it.


Finally, as you teach them the little you’ve learnt, don’t stop learning also. It’s never bad to learn on the job, some days might seem frustrating but please do not give up, give grace.
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.

HOW TO UTILIZE THE GIFT OF MUSIC IN HELPING CHILDREN LIVING WITH AUTISM- FOR CAREGIVERS (Parents especially).

Posted on by Escape Global

I have worked with a couple of autistic children and one common thing I have noticed is that caregivers wish children will just respond using force. Force has never guaranteed response from anyone, it might work when you are present with them but when you are not with them, they will follow what they feel is cool. Here are ways to utilize the gift of music;

 Own your journey; this is the most important point in everything I’ll be sharing with you today. Many caregivers, parents especially have a pattern in their mind of how things ought to be based on a number of information they have read, seen or heard. They are quick to forget that every child is unique and how they are related with is key in healing. Owning your journey means taking it a step at a time and being thankful all the way. Be thankful for your child, be thankful that you are their parent and above all be thankful that Jesus has beautiful plans for them no matter the disability.

 Engage them in music at every instance: Studies show that children with autism can understand both simple and complex emotions in music and are more responsive to sensory stimulation compared with other children especially in music, even over speech or noise.
Music can positively impact children with autism in diverse ways. You can use songs to emphasize speech in children with autism who struggle with language. One technique is to sing with vocabulary cards in order to teach vocabulary skills, you can also play music videos like COCOMELON that teach all these using music. Singing can considerably enhance language skills in students with a type of autism that has language delays.
Music can be used to help a child with autism recollect important information when it is linked with a musical sound, like a melody or rhythm.
One critical study found that music can be used to focus students’ attention, keep those with disabilities on track and decrease their anxiety from stress. I once had an autistic patient who could hardly focus but would pause at the sound of a rhythm made, master it and give you the exact way he heard it.

 If you are musically inclined, try engaging them using music elements in the simplest form.
Music elements such as pitch, melody, harmony, rhythm and so on. When children listen to a piece of music, the combination of musical elements are in it. However, some children with autism are auditory sensitive and it makes them experience a lack of forbearance for sounds.
You can help them by using separate musical elements to simplify their music. For example; start with a song, you as the caregiver can try teaching in stages by isolating pitches on the piano first. As they get comfortable with it, you can slowly introduce the other elements one at a time. be sensitive to know when they are not interested in one element and when they are interested in another.

 Compose songs with the child’s name as song title, it has a way of building self-confidence. For example, in this part of the world, many people have native names. If your child has a native name, you can make use of the name interpretation to compose a song and still mention his or her name in it. It gives a feeling of being loved, being known and all the god feeling.

 Employ music to help the aggression they feel. Autistic children are most times frustrated because of the difficulty they experience in expressing themselves but music can help as it can keep them calm by lessening their feelings of anger. Try different genres of calming and sensory music, see what works best for your young one.

This is not an exhaustive list on how to utilize music in helping children living with autism and like I mentioned earlier, it’s a journey you should take at your own pace encouraging yourself and your child as you walk through it. This journey will be both beneficial to you and your child.
You are doing a great job and I’m rooting for you always.

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.

LINKS:

T H E C H A I N

Posted on by Escape Global

Compliments of the season are in order because I’ve not been here since last year. I trust your year has been nothing short of beautiful.

This week I had the privilege of doing an interview with a one-time colleague and friend while I was in the University, Oluwaseyi Olusegun, he is a very skillful and talented drummer and he is also an excellent Music Producer who runs his own brand, Samsol Productions.
In this podcast I asked him few of the questions I always like to ask everyone I interview but a little different in some ways.

Oluwaseyi’s music life was majorly influenced by his family, at age 3 his dad who is also a music guru got him a drum which meant the whole world to him, he constantly played with it as a form of unconscious practice.
This act helped his musicality grow. He spoke of how his church was also a major influence in his music life especially in the excellence of delivery of music, sight-singing and so on.
From my conversation with him, it’s clear again that the family and environment is a major influence in the likes and dislikes of a child.

Of recent I had a conversation with someone who spoke of how easy it is to get a child to learn music and sports at a tender age and how it can improve other areas of learning. I found Seyi’s childhood story one that further emphasized that in this podcast.

Not to dwell long on this, he shared with me how the music activities he engages in has healed him at different times, ranging from playing the drums to song writing to Music production and one thing that stood out for me in this conversation is the fact that In our healing lies the healing of others and in the healing of others lies our own healing. It simply means that everyone must definitely find themselves giving and receiving music in one way or the other whether you see yourself as a professional or an amateur.

I wouldn’t want to make a too wordy documentation of our conversation, so check up the rest of this life-inspiring and enriching podcast here👇
https://anchor.fm/mercy-kay/episodes/T-H-E-C-H-A-I-N-Oluwaseyi-Olusegun-epgobt

Recommended song for the week: With Joy by Dunsin Oyekan. Click here to listen and download 👇

https://youtu.be/JaQl9bdBemE

You’ll be glad you did.
Have a great time!💙

G R I E V I N G W I T H H O P E

Posted on by Escape Global

Olayemi Afees Akanni has a strong Muslim background so the possibility of being immersed in music was quite slim, his background in music is one from learning lots of songs by listening to the radio. The radio and his school assembly ground was a major influence in his music life, then when he eventually went to church.

He shared how he felt cheated being the last born of the family for over 10 years until he was displaced😅, he always felt unloved because he wasn’t pampered. He started having thoughts of death in such moments, he’d somehow begin to hum a tune when those thoughts surged in, it helped him bounce back from such state.
He didn’t understand how music was helping him walk through dark questioning seasons until he got into the Tertiary institution.

In His words ‘I used to fear calls from home’, things weren’t okay at home and he tried to avoid receiving calls except if it came from his Father and this was because he knew that his Father had the ability to manage conveying a critical situation in speech.

His sister and Father were challenged health wise, His father had issues at work and his sister’s marriage was close to falling apart. Everything came falling like a pack of cards, he had to skip tests, was thinking of committing suicide at the thought of everything happening but thankfully he didn’t.

It was first his elder sister who died on New Year’s day and it felt like everything came crashing, he was numb and just couldn’t understand what was happening. You’d think that was just it, his father was ill and his leg was about to be amputated, his father didn’t want it, he backed his Father who once carried him, such painful sight to behold and that was the last he saw him. He died!
Olayemi had to walk through the season of losing two loved ones, he grieved with hope with music that reassured him and made him see the bigger picture.

He also shared with us how Songwriting helped him through tough seasons.

I think his story is one worth listening especially if you are walking through grief. Kindly click the link below to listen 👇👇

https://anchor.fm/mercy-kay/episodes/G-R-I-E-V-I-N-G-W-I-T-H-H-O-P-E-ek17qf

I always look forward to reading from you.
Thank You 💚

S H E W R O T E

Posted on by Escape Global

One experience that stood out for me in a mental health hospital was that of an autistic child who I would love to give the fictional name, Amina. Amina was a child of 10 years who had lived with autism since she was a year old. Week-in, week-out, she came with her mum to the Hospital to see the doctor, get medications , attend educational therapy and what have you.

So this day, she came in sobbing and I had so much empathy on her that I would have shed a tear. Her mum said to me, “She likes covering her face whenever she steps into a room filled with people but I discouraged her from doing this which led to an outburst of tears”. This scenario is common with children with this disorder because of their poor social skills.

I’m sure you might be curious as to what happened next, how I was able to manage an autistic child who was sobbing, knowing the struggles of children who live with this ailment…

Research on music therapy shows that listening to music engages sub-cortical and cortical areas of the brain. Music has been shown to stimulate the brains’ primary engine of human capacity, exercises attention, evokes emotional response and stimulates the central nervous system. It also appears to activate the human mirror-neuron system, supporting the coupling between perceptual events (visual or auditory) and motor actions (leg, hand, or vocal or articulatory actions).

At one time, theories of human brain development argued that there was little or no growth of brain cells after age 30 but recent studies of music and the brain have shown this view to be erroneous. The brain is a plastic organ and music has the power to shape the brain’s development into later life. The implication of these findings is huge. Providing opportunities for people to experience music in many settings can have a profound impact on their healthy development.

Music has long been recognized as a powerful force in rehabilitative treatment, used clinically to address impairments in motor function, language, cognition, sensory processing, and emotional disturbances that can result from brain injury. It has been used successfully to induce cognitive repair in patients with stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, or traumatic brain injury. Indeed, music has the potential to “fix” the brain, by providing an alternative entry point into a “broken” brain system to remediate impaired neural processes or neural connections.

Back to my story, I went on to administer music therapy to this young girl. I switched on the music on my phone and she began loosening up, then I picked up my guitar and started singing. Before I could say jack, her eyes were dried and she reached for a pen and began writing. For autistic children, writing is usually a challenge so you can imagine how much my heart leaped with joy when she began writing herself.

You can imagine that her mum tried using non-musical tones to communicate what she wanted her to do and it turned sour but at the sound of music she not only did what she wanted her to do but she did more by writing.

Amina returned home happy and I returned curious about this aspect of Therapy and eager to raise an awareness of it’s potency.

This is #TheDiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist, Episode 10

In view of what has been happening in recent weeks across the nations of the earth and the instruction to stay indoors to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, #TheDiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist will be on hold. We strongly believe this will end soon.

Please remain obedient to every rule given by our individual government authorities.

I look forward to reading from you and catch you soon!

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 ❤️

C A R E G I V E R S

Posted on by Escape Global

This past week was eventful for me, it challenged my mental capacity and ability to be creative on the spot.

I was in the Paediatric ward again with my musical instruments and I met what I didn’t prepare for. I had just stepped into the ward only to find that a nurse whom I had promised to do music for some weeks back was on duty. When she spotted me, she reminded me of my promise to share the joy of music with her, this time around adding that I share with everyone in the ward, she said to me “You know they didn’t have valentine with their family”.

I thought through this and decided I was going to do it, I have been so used to bedside music that this was sort of a challenge that I needed to surmount. When administering Bedside Music I could engage a patient in a conversation while trying to figure out his or her interest or the ailment thereby creating music of hope, joy and love but this was a lot different, it meant that I had to address every parent in the ward.

For some minutes, I was just running through chords on my guitar and thinking of Music that will suite the atmosphere, how to address them and so on. I finally got my balance and stood up to address them like a Choir Director (lol), told them of the song we were going to sing and of course taught them. They learnt so fast and in few minutes, I was on my guitar accompanying the music. For me this was so beautiful because initially the ward was echoing with cries from the babies but I noticed that as we sang together there was this calm from the babies.

We were soon done with the first song, Yes you saw that right, first song! They requested for another song because they felt it really lifted their spirits, so I taught them another song and boom! they were singing it so well. I again accompanied the singing with the guitar, it was everything refreshing.

In that moment, it became more real to me that the families of patients need the therapeutic effect of Music also, many of them are walking through very depressing season watching someone dear to them fade away due to an illness, It would interest you to know that some have seen their loved ones die in the space of 1 year, few months and weeks, I mean in succession yet they still spend their earnings and income to make sure this very one’s life is battled for.

I dedicate this post to them and I hope for opportunities to bring soothing relief to what they feel via Music.

This is the #DiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist Episode 5.
Kindly drop your comments and feedback, I always love reading from you!