Music Therapy and Autism: Does it Work? Yes! Here’s Why (and How)

by Patty Shukla  In my more than 20 years as a children’s educational music professional, I have found that one question gets asked over and over again. “Miss Patty, do autistic children love music as much as your other students do?” Yes. The fact is that nearly all children have an inherent love of learning about and making music. From singing to dancing to playing musical instruments, kids of every description and from every walk of […]

We Don’t Treat a Diagnosis

by Nicole Kolenda As a parent of a child with special needs, you will ALWAYS remember the day you received your child’s diagnosis. You will always think back to THAT conversation, with that specialist, who sat you down and discussed with you their “findings”. Many of you, in this precise moment, wanted so badly to be fully present and listen that you made yourself nauseous trying. Others just blanked out—asking your significant other a litany of […]

What to do if your child’s therapist is not a “good” fit?

By Nicole Kolenda, M.S., CCC-SLP, P.C. As a supervisor in a graduate clinic for Speech Pathology students, the first goal we instruct our students to write is to “establish rapport”. We encourage our students to cite research to “back-up” this goal—and there is a plethora available. I always tell these budding clinicians, “How can you expect the client to work for you—and in many cases on challenging treatment goals—if they do not feel comfortable with […]