Gulbenkian: 900 mil euros para 17 projetos de inclusão social pela arte

Dezassete entidades portuguesas vão ser apoiadas pelo projeto Partis - Práticas Artísticas para a Inclusão Social, da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, no valor de 900 mil euros, para a integração social de públicos desfavorecidos ou excluídos.

O programa foi criado este ano para apoiar entidades de todo o país que desenvolvam "projetos de excelência cultural com uma componente de integração social", até um período máximo de três anos, explicou à agência Lusa Hugo Martinez de Seabra, do Programa Gulbenkian de Desenvolvimento Humano.

Dos 17 selecionados fazem parte, por exemplo, um projeto de teatro pelo Conselho Português para os Refugiados, para o Centro e de Acolhimento da Bobadela (Loures), a criação de uma ópera para jovens reclusos da Prisão Escola de Leiria e um festival de música no Bairro da Bela Vista, em Setúbal.

À primeira edição do Partis candidataram-se mais de 200 entidades, um número que superou as expectativas, em particular pela qualidade dos projetos artísticos apresentados e pela dispersão geográfica dos candidatos, afirmou Hugo Martinez de Seabra.

Segundo o responsável, o objetivo da fundação não é ser uma mera financiadora de projetos que juntem a arte a uma componente social, mas sim uma parceira de uma rede de identidade: "Queremos acompanhar e saber o impacto real das práticas propostas".

Os participantes diretos dos 17 projetos selecionados serão crianças e jovens em risco, refugiados, reclusos, sem-abrigo, pessoas com deficiência e necessidades especiais e residentes em "bairros ou territórios sensíveis".

A Associação Filhos de Lumière terá um projeto de cinema para jovens e crianças em risco em Lisboa, na Moita e em Serpa, e a Associação EcoGerminar dedicará um trabalho de teatro, dança e música para pessoas isoladas das aldeias de Juncal do Campo e Freixial do Campo, em Castelo Branco.

Serão ainda apoiadas a Academia de Produtores Culturais, com um projeto para homens sem-abrigo, a Associação Histórias para Pensar, para jovens surdos, a Associação InPulsar, de dança, para jovens de Leiria, a Associação Sombra das Palavras, para jovens residentes em bairros senstíveis de Loures e do Seixal, a Associação Teatro Ibisco, com projetos para Loures e Setúbal, e a Orquestra Geração de Amarante.

A estes juntam-se ainda o Chapitô, o Movimento de Expressão Fotográfica, o Teatrão, o projeto Sou Largo, o Teatro Mala Voadora e a Terrafirme Oficina.

Uma nova edição do concurso deverá abrir em 2015.

Informação de Dinheiro V ivo

Speech-Language Therapy and Music Therapy Collaboration: The Dos, the Don’ts, and the “Why Nots?” - part I

Definition of collaboration: “The process of working jointly with others in an intellectual endeavor to bring about change, and it implies shared responsibility” 

As the number of cases of children being identified with communication disorders increases, so does the need for cost effective treatment. Therefore, many therapists are looking to collaboration and co-treatment as a way to meet this need. This is evidenced by a recent survey of 695 music therapists, as 44.6% said they collaborate with SLPs (Register, 2002).

Why utilize inter-, trans-, or multi-disciplinary collaboration between music therapy and speech therapy?

*It benefits the client’s overall well-being

*It is cost effective

*Language and music are structurally similar in many ways

5 similarities between music and language:

* Music and Language are universal and specific to humans;

* Both have pitch, timbre, rhythm, and durational features;

* Spontaneous speech and spontaneous singing typically develop within infants at approximately the same time;

* Music and language have auditory, vocal, and visual uses (both use written systems) and are built on structure and rules;

* Distinct forms of music and language exist and vary across cultures.

When You Collaborate with the Other Therapist:

Do…

…Communicate with one another on how to best address the needs of the client and what music interventions can be used to enhance and support communication areas the SLP is addressing with the client.

…Co-Treat!

…Collaborate on goal development (find a time that will work for both of you – even if it’s just for 10-15 minutes a week!). If meeting in person does not seem to work, try other technologies, such as email correspondence, using Skype, Twitter, or an instant messaging program. This may work better for both of your schedules.

…Understand your limits (do not overstep your professional training bounds)

…Have a clear understanding of the other profession’s scope of practice. MTs should look at the ASHA scope of practice and SLPs need to be aware of the CBMT scope of practice. By doing this, the professionals can avoid conflict, confusion, and misunderstandings.

…Understand each profession’s strengths and areas of training

…Educate yourself on the lingo of the other field (healthcare professions LOVE annoying, hard-to-remember acronyms)

…Be flexible!

…Share information with one another: therapy news articles, ideas, pamphlets, research papers, etc.

…Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

References:

- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (n.d.). Standards and implementation procedures for the certificate of clinical competence. 

- Cohen, N. S. (1994). Speech and song: Implications for therapy. Music Therapy Perspectives, 12(1), 8-14.

- Miller, S. (1982). Music therapy for handicapped children: Speech impaired. Project Monograph Series. Washington, DC: National Association for Music Therapy.

- Peters, J. S. (2000). Music therapy for individuals who have communication disorders or impairments. In Music therapy: An introduction (2nd ed., pp.170-188). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher.

- Register, D. (2002). Collaboration and consultation: A survey of board certified music therapists. Journal of Music Therapy, 39(4), 305-321.

- Rychener-Hobson, M. (2006). The Collaboration of Music Therapy and Speech-Language Pathology in the Treatment of Neurogenic Communication Disorders: Part II — Collaborative Strategies and Scope of Practice. Music Therapy Perspectives, 24(2), 66-72.

- Zoller, M. (1991). Use of music activities in speech-language therapy. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 22.

Info written by Rachel See Smith, from Explore Music Therapy

Music Therapy, What does it Look Like and How Does it Work?

While surfing the Internet I found this amazing explanation by a Music Therapist:

Written by Antoinette Morrison, BackMountainMusicTherapy

"Often, people who have not previously heard of Music Therapy hear that I am a Music Therapist and ask “So, what do you do? Play music to them?” (My clients). I think we are so accustomed to teaching methods that something other than that such as facilitating is hard to conceptualize.

Because music is structure over time, what one may see in my therapy room is not what some people may expect. It certainly does not look like a classroom scenario. In fact, upon walking by, glancing in, it may look unstructured or chaotic. A child may be hopping up and down or running back and forth screaming. So what is going on? How can this be therapeutic?

Any good therapist begins where a client is, and all behavior (once again) is communication. I may not know why my client jumps or screams but what I do know is that they are communicating something about themselves. I mirror musically anything they do. I do this to play back to them, giving them a musical portrait of themselves. It may not be by typical standards what you would consider “beautiful” music.

This a simple musical motif or phrase, something that the client is already doing or communicating that is not only being reflected back but being given structure through the rhythm. What is the point of that you may ask.

(...)

When a child can come in with what seems like chaos and have it fit into a structure (rhythm) just as the chaos exists (jumping, screaming, running) and it is okay as it is, we have the beginnings and basis for reciprocity. Life begins and development occurs with the give and take, the back and forth of relationship. What is it that these kids need most?

Music is the universal language. Music’s rhythm and repetition provides structural and predictable basis for reciprocity. Sound is vibration which does not make even hearing a necessary must in order for the brain to process music.. In other words music can be open enough to include the ornamental chaos and predictable enough to give it structural basis for back and forth relating."

Music, Language & Learning

One might ask, why do music, language and learning complement each other?

Without getting into the neuroscience of music and brain theories, the simple answer is that music involves or stimulates both sides of the brain, and when both hemispheres are engaged, we tap into more potential for cognitive growth or learning.

The other great aspect of music is that it’s auditory, visual, vocal, tactile and physical, and the more senses that are involved in an activity, the greater the capacity for learning and retention.

In a nutshell, one could say that music is an effective teaching strategy, and teaching strategies make learning highly transferable!

Music stimulates both sides of the brain, and when both hemispheres are engaged, we tap into more potential for learning. 

Music is a multi-sensory experience, and the more senses that are involved in an activity (e.g., hearing, seeing, doing), the greater the capacity for learning and retention. 

Music is universal and is accessible to anyone, regardless of age, gender, culture, intellectual or physical ability. 

Music is structured, predictable, and repetitive, and these components are all essential parts of promoting speech and language skills. 

Info from TheSpeechStop

Long-Term Benefits of Music Lessons

Childhood music lessons can sometimes leave painful memories, but they seem to carry benefits into adulthood. A new study reports that older adults who took lessons at a young age can process the sounds of speech faster than those who did not.

“It didn’t matter what instrument you played, it just mattered that you played,” said Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University and an author of the study, which appears in The Journal of Neuroscience.

She and her collaborators looked at 44 healthy adults ages 55 to 76, measuring electrical activity in a region of the brain that processes sound.

They found that participants who had four to 14 years of musical training had faster responses to speech sounds than participants without any training — even though no one in the first group had played an instrument for about 40 years.

Dr. Kraus said the study underscored the need for a good musical education. “Our general thinking about education is that it is for our children,” she said. “But in fact we are setting up our children for healthy aging based on what we are able to provide them with now.”

Other studies have suggested that lifelong musical training also has a positive effect on the brain, she added. Dr. Kraus herself plays the electric guitar, the piano and the drums — “not well but with great enthusiasm,” she said.

A version of this article appears in print on November 12, 2013, on page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Neuroscience: Long-Term Benefits of Music Lessons.

From NYTImes

What is Art Therapy?

What is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is the intentional use of art making to explore personal issues or concerns within a therapeutic relationship. Creating art and reflecting on the art symbols, people can increase self-awareness. Being artistic is not necessary to benefit from art therapy. No previous art experience or artistic talent is needed to participate in art therapy. Art therapy is used as a primary form of therapy or serves as an accompanying treatment to other forms of therapy.

Art represents a symbolic communication. The art becomes significant in enhancing verbal exchange between the client and the art therapist. With therapeutic guidance and support, art making can facilitate new insights, expression of emotions, resolve conflicts, and formulate new perceptions that in turn lead to positive changes, growth and healing.

What Art Therapy Can Accomplish?

* Gives another language to what cannot be easily put into words, a symbolic language

* Allows for expression of feelings including anger, rage, sadness, that can be contained in the art work

* Makes abstract feelings and memories concrete, the artist can now physically do something with the negative feelings

* Offers choice making with art materials, thus may bring new insights on how to manage the problem

* Assists in enriching the relationship with oneself and with others

* Allows space to develop a deeper sense of meaning and life purpose

* Can provide a container where unwanted feelings and thoughts can be held outside of the person

* Activates more of the brain than verbal therapy, offering additional coping skills and ideas to solve issues

Info from CarlySullens

Photos of children and animals that encourages therapy through animals

Photos of children and animals at a hospital in Michigan that encourages therapy through animals. 

In September 1956, LIFE photographer Francis Miller visited the children at the University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to document the hospital’s animal therapy program, which had already been in operation for over 30 years.

At the time, the hospital treated about 3,000 children every year, and the staff operated a “perpetual animal show” to help ease their pain and anxiety.

So wonderful, anything that can put a smile on the face of a kid in hospital is more than worthwhile!

A nurse brings a puppy to a child. Source

A nurse helps a child cuddle a duckling in a towel. Source

Nurses help the kids bathe a baby pig. Source

A little girl looks at a pool of ducklings while receiving tests. Source

A little girl is held up to pet and feed a kitten. Source

1956, by Francis Miller for LIFE.

How Music Can Reach the Silenced Brain

Words Spoken And Sung

There are several cases in which a patient has recovered speech through the systematic use of rhythmic patterning, leading first to recovery of familiar lyrics and words embedded in songs, then to self-initiation of normal, fluent speech.Image courtesy of Concetta M. Tomaino

Because music has parallels to spoken language, much research on music and the brain has zeroed in on the similarities and differences between them. The similarities could be clues to more successful methods of using musical cueing to stimulate similar language responses in people with brain injuries. One remarkable example of the functional difference between music and language, however, occurs in people who have suffered a left-side stroke, resulting in a type of aphasia where verbal comprehension still exists but the ability to speak or find the right words is lost. In these cases, the brain lesion is often located in what is called Broca’s area; speech is slow, not fluent, and hesitant, with great difficulties in articulation.  Yet, despite the loss of speech, many people with this type of aphasia can sing complete lyrics to familiar songs. This has usually been attributed to the separation of function of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, speech being dominant on the left and singing on the right.

Because many clinicians assume a complete separation of function between singing and speaking, they give little attention to the potential for using music to aid speech. But there are several cases in which a patient has recovered speech through the systematic use of rhythmic patterning, leading first to recovery of familiar lyrics and words embedded in songs, then to self-initiation of normal, fluent speech. In each case, however, this remarkable change had been attributed not to the music but to spontaneous recovery during the early months after the stroke.

A similarity shared by music and speech is what we call “prosody,” which includes the elements of stress, pitch direction, pitch height, and intonation contour, or inflection. People with nonfluent aphasia can perform a type of prosodic speech that includes the inflection and contour of previously known phrases. This speech differs, however, from propositional speech (which includes verbal expression of new thoughts and ideas) in its rate, discrete pitch, and increased predictability. Aniruddh D. Patel, Ph.D., a scientist at the Neurosciences Institute in California, theorizes that rhythm and song, which are inherently predictable, may create a “supra-linguistic” structure that helps cue what is coming next in an utterance.

Brain-imaging studies by Dr. Pascal Berlin, of the Service Hospitalier Frederic Joliot in France, and more recently by Dr. Burkhard Maess at the Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, used PET and MEG scans to determine that areas peripheral to the left language regions of the brain are involved in processing the singing of single words. Additional imaging studies suggest that some aspects of music and language are processed in both the right and left sides of the brain. In many patients who are able to carry over speech techniques from music, success seems to come from their increased ability to attend to sounds and to initiate them, perhaps because parallel mechanisms for these functions have been called into play by music and singing.

Info from The music instinct

Playing violin to escape from impoverished and crime ridden environments

The boy who cries in the photo is Diego Frazao Torquato, who played the violin in the String Orchestra of the Afro Reggae. Afro Reggae is a non-profit organization that gives kids hope and an escape from their impoverished and crime ridden environments. The occasion was the funeral of his teacher and social project coordinator, Evandro João Silva, who was murdered in downtown Rio. 

Diego contracted meningitis at age four, aggravated by pneumonia, and struggled with memory difficulties. He still managed to learn the violin. Diego, born and raised in the slums of Parada de Lucas, dreamed that the violin would take him to see the world. Sadly, shortly after this photo was taken Diego died of leukemia. At Diego’s funeral José Júnior, the coordinator of Afroreggae stated, “I think the legacy of Diego is hope, it is the willingness to change, to transform”.

Info from WorldFacts

Poetry Is Like Music to the Mind, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reveals

New brain imaging technology is helping researchers to bridge the gap between art and science by mapping the different ways in which the brain responds to poetry and prose.

Scientists at the University of Exeter used state-of-the-art functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, which allows them to visualise which parts of the brain are activated to process various activities.

No one had previously looked specifically at the differing responses in the brain to poetry and prose.

In research published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies, the team found activity in a "reading network" of brain areas which was activated in response to any written material. But they also found that more emotionally charged writing aroused several of the regions in the brain which respond to music. These areas, predominantly on the right side of the brain, had previously been shown as to give rise to the "shivers down the spine" caused by an emotional reaction to music.

When volunteers read one of their favourite passages of poetry, the team found that areas of the brain associated with memory were stimulated more strongly than 'reading areas', indicating that reading a favourite passage is a kind of recollection.

In a specific comparison between poetry and prose, the team found evidence that poetry activates brain areas, such as the posterior cingulate cortex and medial temporal lobes, which have been linked to introspection.

Professor Adam Zeman, a cognitive neurologist from the University of Exeter Medical School, worked with colleagues across Psychology and English to carry out the study on 13 volunteers, all faculty members and senior graduate students in English. Their brain activity was scanned and compared when reading literal prose such as an extract from a heating installation manual, evocative passages from novels, easy and difficult sonnets, as well as their favourite poetry.

Professor Zeman said: "Some people say it is impossible to reconcile science and art, but new brain imaging technology means we are now seeing a growing body of evidence about how the brain responds to the experience of art. This was a preliminary study, but it is all part of work that is helping us to make psychological, biological, anatomical sense of art."

Image from Irene Sheri

Info from Science Daily 

Para diminuir violência, escola demite seguranças e contrata professores de arte

O que fazer para controlar um crescente aumento da violência dentro das salas de aula – contratar seguranças? Expulsar alunos? Solicitar uma assessoria da polícia na região? O diretor de uma escola pública de Boston, Estados Unidos, resolveu tomar uma decisão que para muita gente pareceu loucura.

A escola Orchard Gardens foi considerada uma das cinco piores do estado americano de Massachusetts. Chegou-se ao ponto de proibir que os alunos levassem mochilas por medo de que trouxessem armas escondidas.

Eis que, em 2010, a escola entrou para o programa Turnaround Schools, uma iniciativa do Governo Federal para recuperar instituições em dificuldade. O diretor Andrew Bott foi contratado e uma das suas primeiras ações foi muito corajosa: demitiu grande parte dos funcionários de segurança e, com a mesma quantia de dinheiro, reinvestiu na contratação de professores de arte.

As paredes dos corredores tornaram-se muros de exposição, os entulhos que se acumularam durante anos no estúdio deram espaço às aulas de dança e a orquestra voltou a tocar. De acordo com Bott, o contato com as artes deixou os alunos mais motivados e com maior espírito empreendedor. Foi uma grande mudança para uma escola que antes era conhecida como “matadora de carreiras” dentro da rede estadual de Massachusetts.

Andrew Bott, o novo diretor, ainda usou a verba para fazer com que os alunos pudessem ficar mais tempo na escola – em vez de saírem as 14h30, eles passaram a ficar até às 17h30. Além das matérias obrigatórias, os cerca de 800 estudantes passaram a ter aulas de teatro, música, dança e artes plásticas.

O resultado surgiu rapidamente - depois de um período de 2 anos, a escola saiu do ranking das piores instituições de ensino público do estado para se colocar entre as melhores. A violência diminuiu drasticamente e o sucesso da nova gestão trouxe o reconhecimento para a Orchard Gardens.

O vídeo abaixo conta a história desta reviravolta:

Texto adaptado de Hypeness

Cadeira que ajuda crianças incapacitadas a dançar

Uma professora norte-americana inventou uma cadeira que faz com que crianças com incapacidades motoras e/ou mentais consigam dançar. Para já, existe apenas um modelo no mundo.

 

Quando Merry Lynn Morris tinha 12 anos, o pai, Bill, sofreu um acidente de viação muito grave, que o deixou em coma, com mazelas cerebrais, na vista, na anca e no joelho. A paralisia parcial que tomou conta do seu corpo confinou-o, na maior parte do tempo, a uma cadeira de rodas.

 

A única altura em que Bill Morris demonstrava felicidade e evolução na sua condição era no salão de baile, onde fazia um tratamento à base de movimentos de dança, com o objectivo de exercitar o corpo. Merry Lynn cresceu com essa memória, dos tempos difíceis que o pai passou, mas também daquela terapia peculiar, que trouxe alguma alegria ao progenitor.

 

 

Agora, passados vários anos, Merry Lynn é professora de dança na Universidade do Sul da Flórida, nos EUA, e, ao aproveitar o conhecimento que tem na área com a experiência de vida que acumulou, criou uma cadeira que, actualmente, ajuda crianças com incapacidades motoras e mentais a dançar.

 

Designada de The Rolling Dance Chair, difere de qualquer outra cadeira pelo facto de o controlo ser a própria pessoa que se senta nela. Ou seja, se o utilizador se inclinar para a frente, a cadeira avança, e assim sucessivamente com as outras direcções. Além disso, é composta por um acento sintético transparente, rotativo, que permite à pessoa rodar sobre si mesma. A Rolling Dance Chair pode ainda ser controlada remotamente, com a funcionalidade "tilt" de um "smartphone".

 

A ideia de Merry Lynn só pôde ser materializada com a ajuda do departamento de engenharia da Universidade do Sul da Flórida, que pegou no conceito da professora e no financiamento proveniente de várias parte do país e tornou-o realidade. O único problema é que, para já, só está disponível um modelo.

 

 

 

 

Noticia de Daniel Cerejo - Público

 

Saúde com Arte - ConSentir o Som

Reportagam sobre Saúde com Arte - ConSentir o Som

Um programa da SAMP - Sociedade Artística Musical dos Pousos na Psiquiatria do Centro Hospitalar Leiria-Pombal (CHLP)
Reportagem RTP1 - Jornal da Tarde
2010

 

 

Oliver Sacks discusses changing the brain through meditation and art-therapy

 

Transcript

Question: Is it possible to change the brain with medication?

Oliver Sacks: From what I read, I think that’s all sorts of changes, at least temporary changes may be possible. One can certainly get states of calm and alter the brain rhythms and have states of trance.

Whether they’re permanent changes, I don’t know. But any learning experience changes the brain and nothing more, incidentally, than musical learning, so that the brains of musicians are visibly different and even grossly different from the brains of other people.

 

Question: Are you a proponent of art therapy?

O.S.: Yeah. Very, very strongly.

Most of my own work is with elderly people with neurological problems of one sort or another. And I can see how their lives could be transformed by music and sometimes by poetry and art.

But, say, people with Parkinson’s may be unable to move or speak unless there’s music. People who have Alzheimer’s are confused and lost and agitated or disoriented, can be focused wonderfully sometimes by familiar music, which will give them a link to the past and to their own memories which they can’t access in any other way.

And sometimes people who are aphasic and have lost the power of language can get it back through music.

I don’t have direct experience with young people, but from everything I read, I think that music and other forms of art need to be in a central part of education. This is an essential part of being human.

And although I wouldn’t locate everything in the right hemisphere, we  are not calculating machines. We need the arts as much as we need everything else.

 

Question: Is it possible to enhance your mental abilities by listening to Mozart?

O.S.: Well, this so called "Mozart effect" was described, actually, in a very modest way about 15 years ago and then got taken up by the media and hyped and exaggerated in a way which was rather embarrassing to the original describers.

I think there’s very little to suggest that, although Mozart as background will make any difference, on the other hand, real engagement with music, and especially performing music, or listening attentively, can make a great deal of difference.

And especially early in life.  You’d see this in people, say, who do Suzuki training. And one a year of Suzuki training can not only enhance one's musicality and alter the brain quite visibly, but the effect seems to leak over to some extent into forms of visual thinking and logical thinking, pattern recognition, and so forth.

So, a little musical background is not enough, but real musical engagement, I think, can be very important.

 

Question: Are we living in an over-medicated world? 

O.S.:  [Sigmund] Freud made a point, say, of distinguishing neurotic misery and depression from what he called common unhappiness. If the common unhappiness is what we all feel when we grieve, when we lose people, when things go wrong. 

Prozac has been and can be a life saver for people who are pathologically depressed. Depression is the main cause of suicide, and anti-depressants of all sorts have been very crucial. There are many different sorts, and so Prozac belongs to a particular sort.

But there’s all the difference in the world, having a medication for a pathological state and something which you want to enhance normal living. This becomes a huge issue, whether it’s steroids with athletes or whatever.

If Prozac can produce a bland, nonchalant state, the question is whether such a state is a good one or whether it’s morally responsible. I think one needs to have all one’s emotional sympathies and sensitivities and vulnerabilities out there. 

It sometimes seems as if childhood itself is being, it becomes the diagnosis, becomes a disease. Hundreds of thousands of children, I think, are probably improperly diagnosed as hyper-active or as having attention disorder of one sort or another, and are put on the amphetamines or Ritalin.

And I think there do exist genuine forms of attention hyper-activity disorder which, which may need medication. But I think, these are pretty rare. And I suspect that 9 out of 10 kids who were diagnosed as having this do not have any such syndrome, but are reacting to situations at school or it’s a normal stage of development.

Kids are impulsive. This is the nature of youth. It’s one of the wonders of youth. It’s one of the things one needs to keep all through life.

I think there are real dangers of over medicating children and of us all over medicating ourselves. And it may not stop with over medicating. Because sooner or later, we’d be able to have our genes altered or to have computer chips put in our brain. And the whole business of “an enhanced existence” as opposed to a natural one, is going to come up.

 

 

Fotógrafo brasileiro retrata sonhos de crianças com necessidades especiais

Jogar futebol, andar de skate e fazer piruetas foram alguns dos sonhos “concretizados” por estas crianças.
 

João Matheasi tem 29 anos e é um fotógrafo brasileiro do sul de Minas Gerais que retratou os sonhos de crianças com deficiência em diferentes cenários, com o lema “se nós podemos sonhar juntos, pra quê sonhar sozinho?”

O projecto “foi inspirado no trabalho ‘Le Petit Prince’ do fotógrafo esloveno Matej Peljhan”, que retratou um menino de 12 anos com distrofia muscular numa série de actividades impossíveis de realizar por este na vida real.

 

A sessão fotográfica prolongou-se durante um dia, e contou com a ajuda de uma Terapeuta da Fala e uma fisioterapeuta da APAE (Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais) do Brasil.

Inicialmente, as fotos seriam apenas utilizadas para uma exposição da APAE, mas têm sido fortemente divulgadas na imprensa brasileira. Veja aqui algumas das imagens que João Matheasi tirou a Luizinho, Luiz, Nara, Núbia, Pri e Vivi, as crianças que participaram neste projecto.

 

Informação adaptada a partir de Sábado

Concertos para Bebés vencem prémio europeu

Projecto português da companhia Musicalmente distinguido na categoria inovação do YEAH! Young EARopean Award.

Concertos para Bebés, projecto português que trabalha na sensibilização de crianças muito pequenas para a música, venceu, na categoria inovação, o prémio YEAH! Young EARopean Award, que foi entregue aos vencedores numa cerimónia sábado em Osnabrück, Alemanha, e que tem o valor de cerca de 6700 euros.

O objectivo do YEAH!, dirigido a orquestras, grupos, salas de espectáculo, músicos, compositores, autores, pedagogos e artistas, é distinguir “mentes criativas e ideias musicais que desenvolvam o entusiasmo das crianças e dos jovens pela música para além da cultura popular jovem”, lê-se no site.

Para Paulo Lameiro, director artístico do projecto que é desenvolvido pela companhia Musicalmente, o mais importante neste prémio é o facto de "reconhecer que este público pode ter uma fruição artística de nível superior, que não apenas a que está ligada ao serviço educativo". Isto é particularmente valioso num mundo, o da música para bebés, em relação ao qual "ainda existe muito preconceito".

 

E essa é aliás, segundo explicou ao PÚBLICO, a característica principal dos Concertos para Bebés: "Partimos do pressuposto de que não há intenção pedagógica no acto performativo". O bebé é aqui "entendido como público" por inteiro, o que distingue este projecto de muitos outros que existem nesta área.

 

Além disso, o que fazem são concertos. "Há uma dimensão plástica e dramatúrgica, mas fazemos concertos", explica Paulo, sublinhando que abarcam a música erudita desde a antiga à contemporânea. Mais uma vez, isso distingue-os de companhias que são em primeiro lugar teatro musical. Também aqui o prémio vem ajudar. Apesar de o Musicalmente já ter uma grande actividade internacional — os Concertos para Bebés fora de Portugal representam 30% da actividade da companhia, que toca habitualmente por toda a Europa, mas também na Ásia e América — a visibilidade que agora ganharam poderá abrir portas diferentes. "A maior parte da nossa actividade é ainda em festivais de teatro e não de música. O prémio veio abrir essas portas ao legitimar um trabalho nesta faixa etária fora do domínio da pedagogia".

 

A faixa etária com a qual trabalham vai dos zero aos cinco anos, o que significa que desde que existem, há 15 anos, os Concertos já acompanharam várias crianças — e foram conquistando pais e avós. "Há oito anos tomámos a decisão de abrir a bilheteira a adultos sem crianças", conta o director artístico.

Para o seu público em Portugal — são residentes no Teatro Olga Cadaval, em Sintra, e no Teatro Miguel Franco, em Leiria, onde estão baseados — apresentam um programa novo todos os meses, que pode ser inspirado num país, um compositor, uma época, um instrumento, uma pessoa. No próximo domingo vão apresentar em Sintra um programa com música do Japão, em colaboração com duas solistas japonesas, e para o qual vão ter no palco um aquário com carpas koi. Em Outubro vão estar a tocar jazz com Mário Laginha, em Dezembro vão ter um coro infantil com 40 crianças dos 6 aos 14 anos a cantar para bebés, e em Fevereiro de 2014 estarão dedicados à música tradicional.

No palco são, como núcleo base, oito pessoas: quatro instrumentistas e quatro "intérpretes de tapete", o que inclui uma bailarina, dois cantores e um maestro. A presença destes é fundamental para fazer a ponte entre os músicos que estão com os instrumentos e os bebés, que começam geralmente sentados ao colo dos pais, instalados em almofadas, mas que depois se aventuram pelo palco e exploram os instrumentos.

Os únicos limites são os da segurança, de resto os bebés são livres de andar pelo palco. E, para que se sintam confiantes, os músicos começam por tocar-lhes ainda antes do início do concerto. "O bebé sente-se mais seguro e consegue viver momentos musicais intensos".

 

 

 

Informação acedida em Público

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life

Art Therapy Fundamentals II - Elements of art therapy

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Music Therapy for Children with Language Impairments

“I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”

Plato

 

Music as a therapeutic intervention is effective in healthcare and educational settings for children and adults. Music interventions can promote wellness, improve communication, and engage cognitive functioning. Children who had received musical training were shown to have improved speech segmentation abilities, according to research published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

 

Speech segmentation is the process of identifying boundaries between words and syllables, and the ability to extract words from continuous speech. Recent research has found that musical expertise facilitates speech segmentation in adults. Musicians were shown to score better in both musical and linguistic tests compared to non-musicians. The results from this study were taken as evidence that musical training facilitates improved speech abilities, and led researchers to examine whether there is a similar correlation between music and children with learning impairments.

 

In this study, a longitudinal measurement was designed to follow 8-year-old non-musician children over the course of two school years. Children were enrolled into three experiment groups; none of them had been involved in music or painting lessons before or during the study. One of the experimental groups consisted of painting lessons rather than musical training to understand whether music training had any advantage in improving speech abilities.

 

Each group went through an initial “test session,” in which participants listened to 5 minutes of a sung artificial language. After listening to the song, participants were presented with two spoken items and were asked to decide which item sounded more familiar. One group of children were assigned to music and the other to painting classes for 45 minutes, twice a week in year one and once a week in year two.

 

Music training was shown to improve children’s speech segmentation abilities while children in the painting group did not exhibit improved abilities. The findings are important in understanding children’s language development, because speech segmentation is one of the building blocks of language acquisition.

 

Parents and teachers should consider the implications musical training has as a therapeutic method for children and the encouragement it can provide in the acquisition of new skills.

 

Journal reference: François, Clément, Julie Chobert, Mireille Besson, and Daniele Schön. 2013. “Music Training for the Development of Speech Segmentation.” Cerebral Cortex 23(9):2038–43.

Educação pela arte

“Uma (educação artística) é a única que dá harmonia ao corpo e enobrece a alma... devemos fazer Educação com base na arte logo desde muito cedo, porque ela pode operar na infância durante o sono da razão. E quando a razão surge, a Arte terá preparado o caminho para ela. Então ela será bem vinda, como um amigo cujas feições essenciais têm sido há muito familiares.” (Platão in Fedro)

Metaphase: um super-herói com Síndrome de Down

Criado pelo guionista Chip Reece e desenhado por Kelly Williams, Metaphase é a história de um filho de super-herói, que, apesar de ter Síndrome de Down, deseja ser “super” também.

Ollie vê a oportunidade bater à sua porta quando a Powers Inc. anuncia estar à procura de voluntários para testar seu controverso e experimental tratamento de cromossomas, um processo que promete dar super poderes a quem os quer. Porém, os objetivos da Powers Inc. são malévolos, e podem destruir o pai de Ollie.

Chip Reece criou a banda desenhada baseando-se na força de vontade de seu filho Oliver. Oliver nasceu em 2010, com Síndrome de Down e dois defeitos cardíacos congénitos. Necessitou de fazer três cirurgias e uma traqueostomia, passando sete meses no hospital, onde se alimentava através de um tubo inserido no pescoço.

Metaphase será publicada pela Alterna Comics, em formato digital, e em breve estará disponível no ComiXology.

Notícia adaptada a partir de aqui

Arts proven to combat Alzheimers

A soon-to-be-published study, Reawakening the Mind, has confirmed that the mind-body benefit of artistic stimulation. UK organisation Arts 4 Dementia offers statistical proof of the transforming power of the arts in treating patients suffering from memory loss. This latest discovery affirms the health benefits of arts therapies when applied to early dementia sufferers.

A sample group of 41 early dementia sufferers, aged between 66 and 91, participated in workshops in music, drama, poetry, dance, photography and painting. The study assessed the effectiveness of each arts activity in improving cognitive function and wellbeing. Enhanced cognitive ability, stress relief, and a decrease in memory problems were just some of the reported benefits. With each individual participating in at least one activity, the 93 assessments were condensed into the following heartening findings:

• 94% of people with dementia were energised, unstressed, happy and alert for at least 24 hours after an arts session.
• 89% claimed to feel more confident.
• 84% of people with dementia recognised that they had learned new skills.

As a result of the sessions 97% of patients recognised that creative activity overrides memory worries and an impressive 99% of participants planned to develop their art further.

Results of the evaluation, overseen by Professor Paul Camic, Professor of Psychology and Public Health at Canterbury Christ Church University, indicated many positive effects for people with early dementia. “The results from this large-scale evaluation of many different arts-based projects strongly support that participating in the arts in group settings – in different ways and through different media – benefit people with dementia, the people who care for them, and the organisations that offer these programmes, in a significant and profound way”, he reported.

While visual arts generated the greatest immediate sense of achievement it was music and dance that demonstrated a significantly longer energising effect than other art forms, with the results concluding that art practices can combat many of the most difficult effects of early dementia. The results also suggest that arts activity can delay onset.

Reawakening the Mind is one of the first studies to develop a multiple art form model of stimulation activities for people in the early stages of dementia. Arts 4 Dementia Chief Executive, Veronica Franklin Gould, says: “Once dementia has set in, the creative part of the brain can continue to function for many more years and artistic stimulation is a powerful, sociable way to open up communication channels.”

Whilst acknowledging the need for training accreditation in these fields, Arts 4 Dementia are calling on arts organisations to provide practitioners and appealing to doctors to recommend arts activities for patients upon diagnosis.

Info at LimeLight

Beamz: Interactive Music System

Beamz is an innovative and fun musical instrument that enables special needs kids and individuals of all ages to interactively create and play music. It is a great tool in a variety of special needs and rehabilitation applications, most notably including physical and recreational therapy with children and senior citizens, building inspiration without discouragement.

Beamz is universally designed so it is accessible to students of all learning and physical abilities—it’s switch accessible too! Beamz’ versatility in its application context is unmatched—you can work on cognition, processing, sequencing, cause and effect, motor skills, memory, literacy, math concepts, collaboration, music therapy, music education and so much more. Or, you can simply leverage its “cool factor” to engage students and reward productivity.

How it works?

Performance

Info from The Beamz

Echolilia: A Father's Photographic Conversation with His Autistic Son

"Echolilia" is an alternate spelling of a more common term, "echolalia," used in the autistic community to refer to the habit of verbal repetition and copying that is commonly found in autistic kids' behavior. I liked the idea of it: photography is a form of copying. Kids are a form of repetition. And looking at my kid with photography allowed me to see myself a new.

Archibald, Eli's father 

Eli's parents always knew he was different, but they couldn't explain how and certainly couldn't answer why. It was his younger brother's development that shone a light on Eli's circumstances. When little brother, Wilson, turned 2 and Eli was 5, the mystery of "What's up with Eli?" seemed to “take over everything,” Archibald told.

The father and son started doing photo shoots together around that time. But, Archibald says, he wasn’t trying to create a masterpiece - "Echolilia" happened completely by accident. Taking pictures together was “just something to do,” something to fill the time. None of the shots were planned. Eli would be doing something quirky around the house (for example, blowing into a tube) and dad would shoot in different locations, make lighting adjustments and experiment. Each session only lasted about five to ten minutes before Eli got bored, Archibald said.

Midway through kindergarten, while the shoots were already underway, Eli was diagnosed with autism. His parents were surprised because he’s “so high-functioning,” but they weren’t sad. They already knew and loved their son who Archibald describes as curious, loud, mechanical and larger-than-life –- the diagnosis didn't change who he was. If anything, the autism label “explained some things,” because Eli was different from the other kids, Archibald said.

Letters that Archibald received in response to "Echolilia" showed him that Eli is not alone, not unusual per se. He often receives notes from other parents who say, “That looks like my kid.” The words are surprising and comforting. “I thought it was just us,” Archibald said.

At a recent photo festival called Look3, Eli, now 10, explained what "Echolilia" has meant to him. “It kind of looks into my mind a bit,” he said. “It can kind of show what the autistic brain is like and what autistic kids, or maybe just normal kids in the ages of 5-8 years old, would do.”

Archibald told NPR that Eli’s awareness of his autism is important - he wants his son to see his individuality as an asset. But as a father, Archibald ignores the diagnosis - he told that it doesn't change how he parents Eli. “Building the relationship is your key to everything,” he said. 

More info at Huffington Post

Dementia & Art

I Remember Better When I Paint: Dementia & Art 

We wanted to share this fantastic video as an example of how art is making an impact for individuals living with a variety of dementias in various stages of the disease. While the mind and memories fade, their imagination remains intact. Engaging with art through dialogue and painting allows people to tap into their non-verbal, emotional side and make meaning in the moment. This aliveness and focus is really at the core of quality of life. 

From Sound Options

Alive Inside

Alzheimer’s and dementia are a reality for an increasing and often unseen population. Though well intentioned, many nursing homes are not equipped to fully meet the needs of these residents. We are left with several questions without any real or comforting answers: How do I want to age? What can we do for our loved ones? Can we do better?

Alive Inside investigates these questions and the power music has to awaken deeply locked memories. The film follows Dan Cohen, a social worker, who decides on a whim to bring iPods to a nursing home. To his and the staff’s surprise many residents suffering from memory loss seem to “awaken” when they are able to listen to music from their past. With great excitement, Dan turns to renowned neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, and we follow them both as we investigate the mysterious way music functions inside our brains and our lives.

Besides telling a moving story, it is our hope that this film will encourage widespread adoption of personalized music programs in nursing homes and outpatient therapy in homes. We hope that our film will inspire and educate the millions of people burdened by diseases that affect memory, and create a grassroots demand for this kind of low cost treatment, which could help not only patients but also caregivers across the globe. Like many films that concentrate on a simple story but echo into larger stories, we feel this film raises questions about how we as a society care for the elderly and afflicted.

Alive Inside focuses on one man’s journey, but it raises many deep questions about what it means to still be Alive Inside. It questions when we stop being human, and what it takes to re-start a life that has faded away. It asks questions about how we see our elderly, and how we are going to treat an epidemic of these degenerative diseases.

Info from Alive Inside