Pinhal das Artes - 29 de Junho a 3 de Julho

O Pinhal das Artes é um Festival de artes para a primeira infância, num espaço dedicado à família, à sensibilização ambiental, e à educação pela e para a arte, com particular destaque para a música.

Integrado no Projecto de Berço da Escola de Artes SAMP (Sociedade Artística Musical dos Pousos), nasceu da necessidade de criar um espaço de reunião entre alunos, as suas famílias e os seus professores, num convívio musical e artístico em proximidade com a natureza. A primeira edição foi um sucesso. E todos passaram a palavra pelos familiares e amigos. Desde então o Pinhal das Artes não parou de crescer quer em variedade de oferta artística quer em número de visitantes, contando este ano a sua quinta edição.

Foi criado a pensar nos mais pequenos e tem como foco especial bebés e crianças dos 0 aos 5 anos. Como o principal objectivo deste festival é a fruição das artes em família, todos são bem-vindos e decerto que todas as actividades encantarão papás, mamãs, irmãos, tios e avós.

Durante a semana o Pinhal das Artes, para além das famílias, acolhe também instituições como infantários e creches (exclusivamente com bebés e crianças dos 0 aos 5 anos), no fim-de-semana este festival encontra-se aberto unicamente às famílias.

O Pinhal das Artes oferece, distribuídas por várias tendas temáticas, as mais variadas sessões artísticas (musicais e outras), destinadas a bebés e crianças dos 0 aos 5 anos. Ao longo do V Pinhal das Artes decorrerão mais de 400 espectáculos! Podem ainda conhecer-se os animais da quinta, passear a cavalo, de bicicleta, realizar um percurso pedestre ou simplesmente usufruir do pinhal em família.

Realiza-se ao ar livre e é composto uma tenda central onde decorrem espectáculos de hora a hora (incluído à noite!), 16 tendas temáticas com espectáculos que decorrem em horários pré-definidos de acordo com as faixas etárias, e ainda 5 tendas temáticas com actividades contínuas. As tendas temáticas estão distribuídas por 4 percursos perfeitamente identificados.

A V edição do Pinhal das Artes terá lugar de 29 de Junho a 3 de Julho de 2011, no Pinhal do Rei, lugar “as árvores” em S.Pedro de Moel, Marinha Grande, distrito de Leiria... a não perder por nada deste mundo!

Informação acedida em: http://pinhaldasartes.blogspot.com/

Can Your Child Benefit from Music Therapy?

Music therapy can be a rich and rewarding addition to a comprehensive treatment program. In fact, it is becoming a more common part of a comprehensive treatment program for children with autism. Many parents seeking out music therapy have children who have been receiving more traditional therapies for many years, but are searching for something that will bring joy and meaning to their child’s life. Music therapy often brings out a child’s inner spirit, laughter, and a twinkle in their eye as they find satisfaction in their participation and creative efforts.

Music therapy treatment with children on the autism spectrum often addresses the four main qualitative impairments: behavior, communication and symbolic play, socialization, and sensory issues. Impaired social interaction affects all areas of a child’s functioning. The most basic of these skills involves motivation to become and remain engaged with another person. Music therapy provides intrinsically-rewarding and motivating practice in appropriate play with objects and creating meaning with others. In addition to the socio-emotional and educational benefits, students receiving music therapy exhibit enhanced social skills, generalization of previously learned skills, improved sensory integration and motor planning, and expanded language and communication skills.

Music therapists use a wide variety of interventions developed to benefit children with special needs. These creative activities provide an emotional outlet of the greatest value which integrates a child’s emotional, physical, and mental experiences. Goal-oriented musical experiences may be receptive or active and may involve such activities as: singing, dancing, imitation and action songs, academically-oriented songs, musical games, or music listening.

But, how does one begin to determine if music therapy may be appropriate for a child with disabilities? The answer may be “yes” if the child:

• easily learns words to songs, but has trouble remembering more “simple

information;

• is more animated and engaged when involved in music activities than when not;

• spends time humming, singing, or vocalizing to himself;

• has his/her first words emerge in song rather than speaking;

• demonstrates improved attention when engaged in music;

• has limited joint attention skills and/or poor imitation;

• needs practice in any of the following:

- organizing sensory information;

- sequencing events;

- being more flexible within a structure;

- generalizing skills;

• rarely engages or interacts with others in a meaningful way;

• has not yet established purposeful communication

While most music therapy services are paid out of pocket, there have been recent advances towards getting reimbursement. In Michigan and Indiana, music therapy is a covered service under the state’s Medicaid Children’s Waiver program; and North Carolina is considering new Medicaid Waiver language that includes music therapy coded as a therapeutic service for support and comprehensive services for individuals with developmental disabilities. And, finally music therapists in several states, including Florida, are actively pursuing state funding for their clients. If your child participates in music therapy, you are encouraged to support these efforts by talking to your Medicaid support coordinator, getting a prescription for a music therapy evaluation or services, and/or discussing the possibility of incorporating music therapy into your child’s educational plan at your next IEP meeting.

For more information about music therapy or finding a music therapist who specializes in working with children with autism can visit the AMTA website at www.musictherapy.org.

by Michelle Reitman,

in Autism Newsletter (June, 2011) from http://www.autismresourcecenterofsouthflorida.com/

Reportagem sobre musicoterapia

No passado dia 23 de Maio foi disponibilizada on-line uma reportagem sobre as finalidades terapêuticas da Musicoterapia. Nesta, é retratado um Workshop realizado pelo musicoterapeuta João Laureano, em Castelo Branco.
Aconselho a visualização! :)

Musicoterapia ajuda pessoas com Alzheimer em Lisboa

A Alzheimer Portugal melhora a qualidade de vida das pessoas com doença de Alzheimer através da música, promovendo sessões gratuitas de Musicoterapia, no Centro de Dia, em Lisboa.

As sessões de intervenção de Musicoterapia da Alzheimer Portugal, resultantes de um dos projectos da SIC Esperança, têm carácter semanal e podem decorrer de acordo com diferentes vertentes.

Maria Gabriela Nicolau, Musicoterapeuta da associação, constata que “os cerca de 15 utentes que já participaram nas sessões apresentaram melhorias cognitivas e motoras visíveis, bem como, a atenuação dos sintomas ligados à perda de competências comunicacionais.”

Durante as sessões os participantes desenvolvem técnicas activas de criação e improvisação, tocando instrumentos de fácil manuseamento e através do canto, com o objectivo de aumentar a comunicação, a socialização, os funcionamentos cognitivo e físico, e, diminuir a ansiedade e a agitação, para a melhoria da qualidade de vida.

“A musicoterapia apresenta benefícios visíveis nas pessoas com competências comunicacionais diminuídas e quanto mais cedo for iniciada a intervenção maiores são os benefícios alcançados, independentemente da idade ou do estágio da doença”, acrescenta Maria Gabriela Nicolau.

A Alzheimer Portugal disponibiliza sessões de Musicoterapia individuais, destinadas a pessoas com Doença de Alzheimer que apresentam necessidades muito específicas, sessões de grupo, com um limite de 15 participantes, e sessões que promovem as relações intergeracionais, promovendo o convívio das pessoas com doença de Alzheimer com crianças em idade pré-escolar.

Fonte: http://saude.sapo.pt/noticias/saude-medicina/musicoterapia-ajuda-pessoas-com-alzheimer.html

Sandplay therapy

Sandplay therapy is a creative form of psychotherapy that uses a sandbox and a large collection of miniatures to enable a client to explore the deeper layers of the psyche in a totally new format. By constructing a series of “sand pictures”, a client is helped to illustrate and integrate his or her psychology condition (Malchiodi, 2005)

Music + language = Musilanguage

“Language is seen as a cognitive mode, its capacity deep in the mind, while music is not essentially cognitive, and extends beyond mind, beyond the body.”

Peter Fletcher

Although the origins of music and language remain largely theoretical at this juncture, it is clear that there is a connection between the two. The likelihood that both of these faculties are functionally related, and may have developed out of a common ancestor is strongly supported both by characteristics of the two systems and shared pathways in the brain. A number of studies suggest that, although music and language are produced independently of one another, the syntactic structures of both are processed together. The correlation between the two opens the possibilities that music and language be of similar values in understanding the worldview and experience of a culture.

Charles Darwin postulates that before the onset of either music or language in their modern incarnations, humans communicated via a system which exhibited characteristics of both. From this primitive system music and language emerged as separate entities.

Steven Brown, musicologist, made a similar proposal naming this protolanguage “musilanguage”. He proposed musilanguage exhibited the shared features of language and music, including phrase units and formations, as well as functional purposes on both a phonological level and a meaningful one. Musilanguage evolved out of the vocalizations of primates which he names “referential emotive vocalization”; these vocalizations were calls, not songs, which communicated emotive responses to environmental stimuli, and are exemplified by the alarm call system of the African vervet monkey.

Brown developed another conceptual model for the development of music and language, which he called “HMMMM” communication, an acronym for a communication system that was “H”olistic, “M”anipulative, “M”ulti-modal, “M”usical and “M”imetic in character. Again, this model proposes a sort of musical protolanguage from which capacities for language and music both evolved.

Information borrowed in: Mannion, C. (2001). The Human Spirit Speaks Through Song: Exploring the application of the theory of linguistic relativity to music.

Pediatric Therapy Corner: How Drumming Helps Children with Special Needs

Kat Fulton wrote: I utilized drumming at a camp for kids who have parents with cancer. We sang, chanted, and drummed. At the end of it all, I invited each child one by one to come to the center whenever they wanted. When they got to the center, they could cut off the drumming and share something they are thankful for. Then we’d continue drumming. After drumming and singing, and playing rhythm games for an hour, you can imagine how supported and safe these kids felt among their peers. One little 6-year-old girl came to the center and said “That my mom can still be happy.” Her father had passed from cancer.

This little girl experienced what many other children and adolescents have experienced before: group support and the feeling of safety that allowed her to share a big feeling. All facilitated through drumming.

How Does Drumming Help Children?

Music therapist Bill Matney shares that there are many reasons why drumming can be useful as a therapeutic tool. Drums and percussion instruments are progressively accessible, physical, sensory, portable, socially interactive, expressive, cultural, and offer a unique aesthetic experience. Someone who has never played a musical instrument in his/her life can pick up a shaker and participate in a drumming experience.

For children with special needs, drumming can be a powerful tool to help them address:

• Social Needs: Drumming often occurs as a collaborative, interactive process. If facilitated correctly, participating in drumming experiences can help a child work on skills such as turn-taking and sharing, as well as help them feel they are part of a group contributing towards a group process.
• Communication Needs: Playing a drum or percussion instrument can be a useful way to communicate nonverbally and to “listen” to another person’s nonverbal communication.
• Fine and Gross Motor Skills: This may almost seem self-evident, but different playing techniques can be used to help work on different fine and gross motor skills. This can even be true for developing lower extremity strength (e.g. imagine standing and playing a large congo drum).
• Emotional Needs: As with the girl Kat Fulton worked with, participating in a drumming activity can help a child feel safe enough to express his/her feelings. Additionally–and speaking from experience–there’s nothing much better for releasing anger than banging on a drum.
• Cognitive Needs: By participating in a drumming experience, children can be working on attention, impulse control, and decision-making skills.

As with many interventions, there are contraindications involved. Too loud a volume, playing with poor technique, and using instruments with a high vibrotactile response can potentially pose problems. This is why getting trained as a facilitator is important.

More info here

Image from http://rhythmkids.com/photos/1/11/DMN_1192/image_vault/110124014657867_1.jpg