Vol 4 • Issue 4 • Sep 2013

September 25, 2013

Only About the Music (OATM) is a grass roots organization that was created by music lovers to celebrate various musical genres. OATM supports musicians that are independent, unsigned or not yet known nationally and the organization is committed to raise funds for families affected by Autism.

Grafton is proud to announce that OATM is hosting a unique charity event—Artists for Autism that will raise funds through ticket sales, merchandise sales and private donations. All proceeds from this charity concert will go to Grafton.

The concert will showcase ten musicians from around the world and provides a unique opportunity for music lovers to not only appreciate music, but also to meet and interact with the artists in an intimate setting.

The musical event will take place on November 2nd and November 3rd at the Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, Virginia.For more information, please visit www.onlyaboutthemusic.com

“And here too, we see an edge effect—as music therapists know, by combining two things many don’t usually associate, music and healthcare. Music enhances the education of our children by helping them to make connections and broadening the depth with which they think and feel.”
Yo-Yo Ma

Music Therapy at Grafton
At Grafton’s Berryville and Winchester Virginia campuses, music therapy is offered both on an individual basis and in groups.

Individual music therapy sessions are designed and implemented, by a board certified music therapist or by music therapy interns directly supervised by a board certified music therapist, to address individualized goals such as improved emotion recognition, identification, regulation, and expression; improved gross and/or fine coordination and/or endurance; improved pro-social skills; improved nonverbal and verbal communication and self-expression; improved cognitive skills; improved activities of daily living; improved overall wellness; and increased options for independent recreational skills. These goals are all addressed during active music participation through singing, moving, listening, and/or playing.

“Music therapy has taught me to be me. I am more comfortable around others and have learned to trust others more. Most importantly, I have learned to ‘go with the flow’ and see mistakes differently. It is also cool to be in group (music therapy) to get other people’s perspectives on how you are coming across.” Grafton Client

What do Music Therapists do?
Music therapists also deliver co-treatments with other professionals such as speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, behavior therapists, individual therapists, and animal assisted therapists. Combining expertise, they work together towards improving a client’s motivation and likelihood of reaching their individualized, functional goals.

Best practices and various recognized music therapy approaches are utilized in both music therapy programs, including creative music therapy: an improvisational, client-centered approach; activities oriented music therapy: an approach that uses various music activities designed to help clients reach their goals; lyric analysis: an approach that uses songs and lyrics to aid clients in gaining insight into their lives, thought patterns, and therapeutic process; and music and relaxation: an approach that combines music with other recognized relaxation forms such as progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, and visualization. An emerging best-practice with adolescents in the field of music therapy is the use of performance in a therapeutic manner. This practice has been fine-tuned on our Berryville campus where the clients have engaged in facility-wide performances with an average participation rate of 97% over thirteen shows.

In closing, we are excited to announce the grand opening of Grafton’s Jazz Café on September 26th at the Berryville campus. The café will feature live musical experiences for clients and staff. While enjoying a wide variety of musical genres, clients will also have an opportunity to improve their cultural awareness, develop pro-social interactions and hopefully, think and feel differently about the impact of music in their day to day lives.

We have made some updates to our website! Have you checked out Grafton’s new Blog? Take a moment to read our latest entry and let us know your thoughts. http://www.grafton.org/teens-inc-provides-meaningful-vocational-opportunities-for-kids/
Grafton also has a newly established twitter account. https://twitter.com/GraftonNetwork
Jim Gaynor, CEO/President, Lisa Marshall, Director, Research and Outcomes and Kim Sanders, Executive Vice President and Chief Outcomes Officer presented “Technology Infrastructures for Evidence-Based and Person-Centered Actualization of Sustainable Positive Outcomes,” at the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) conference in Tokyo, Japan in August.
Lisa Marshall presented “Understanding the Effects of Trauma on a Child’s Brain” for employees in the Early Intervention Program. The training was hosted by Healthy Families Northern Shenandoah Valley (HFNSV). HFNSV is a program that was established in 1998 to ensure a healthy future for children in Frederick County, Clarke County, Warren County and the City of Winchester, Virginia. http://www.healthyfamiliesnsv.org
During a recent trip to Australia, Kim Sanders, Lisa Marshall, Shamsi Sadeghzadeh, Director of Outreach and Pam Martin, Training Support Manager facilitated two 2-day trainings entitled, “Fostering Quality of Life and Goal Mastery for Individuals with Significant Disabilities”.

Jim Gaynor, Lisa Marshall, Daryl Lang and Kim Sanders will present “Safe to Succeed: Importance of creating a trauma-informed environment to promote self-determination”, at the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability (ASID) on November 6th in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Jim Gaynor, Lisa Marshall and Daryl Lang will present “Reliable Evidence Based Outcomes Optimization Technologies (REBOOT): Technology infrastructures and decision-support to increase positive outcomes,” at ASID on November 8th in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.