Stephan Betz PhD, Music Therapy

After 32 years working with special needs children, I learned how to discover their special talents. Often times their talents surface through music, dance, art and drama. Some children with autism have great rhythm and use it to enhance their speech and social interaction. Children with ADHD often use their dancing skills to increase their focus on a task.

As a Music Therapist I assess their developmental status and areas of personal strength, physical health, social functioning, communication abilities, and cognitive skills through musical responses. Children can learn to play the piano, drums, guitar, violin or sing. Together we use music performance to increase language, math, focusing and communication skills.

Outside the treatment session I participate with teachers, occupational therapists and doctors in interdisciplinary treatment planning and ongoing evaluation. Some medical insurance carriers cover music therapy. Some Individualized Educatio Plans (IEP) include music therapy for mainstreamed special learners. Music learning is used to strengthen nonmusical areas such as communication skills and physical coordination skills which are important for daily life and school participation.