Empowering students with disabilities through music integration in the classroom: music therapy on student.

Empowering students with disabilities through music integration in the classroom: music therapy on student. ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to suggest ways in which teachers canemploy music therapy to encourage the cognitive, learning, perceptual,motor, social and emotional development of disabled children. The paperis organized into the following sections: (1) Background of music andchildren with disabilities; (2) The aims of music therapy; (3) Maincontributions to cognitive, biopsychosocial development of children withdisabilities, (4) Implications for learning, and (5) Implications forusing music to accommodate children with disabilities in an inclusiveclassroom. BACKGROUND Music therapy is considered a related service modality in specialeducation (IDEA, 1997). Music therapy can play an important role inspecial education because many students with disabilities need specialinstructional treatment. Music is an ancient method for healing. Itneutralizes negative feelings, increases stress tolerance level andharmonizes inner peace. The use of music therapy can help people who arecrippled by differing cognitive and biopsychosocial problems. It canalso help to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities ofvarious kinds. The IDEA (Individual with Disabilities Act) requiresschools to provide related services and equipment for a student with adisability to ensure a "free and appropriate" publiceducation. The reauthorization of IDEA (1997) mandates related servicesto be included into the Individual Education Program (IEP IEPIn currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Irish Punt.Notes:The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ). In 2001,with passage of the No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), commonly known as NCLB (IPA: /ˈnɪkəlbiː/), is a United States federal law that was passed in the House of Representatives on May 23, 2001 (NCLB NCLB No Child Left Behind (US education initiative)), the U.S. Departmentof Education is embracing evidence based research in order to improvethe effectiveness of educational intervention and in turn, academicachievement. Regular education and special education teachers are givenincreased responsibilities for students with disabilities in theirclassrooms. Recent research indicates that music therapy has a positiveimpact on students' cognitive development. AIMS During the past decade, there has been a steady growth in theresearch base on the impact of music to children with disabilities. Avast majority of the research has mainly focused on music and medicine(Pratt, 1991; Chaquico, 1995; & Weinberger, 2000), music therapy(Pelliten, 2000), music as the basis for learning (Collett, 1992),usefulness of expressive arts (Dixon & Chalmers, 1990), usefulnessof music to treat students with emotional and behavioral disorders(Houchens, 1983; Shennum, 1987; Gfeller, 1989, & King, 1994). Whilenumerous studies address the more different forms of disability, such aslearning disabilities, very few studies provided a comprehensive view ofdisability categories such as autism autism(ô`tĭzəm), developmental disability resulting from a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain. It is characterized by the abnormal development of communication skills, social skills, and reasoning. (Staum, n.d.; & Stambough,1996), mental retardation mental retardation,below average level of intellectual functioning, usually defined by an IQ of below 70 to 75, combined with limitations in the skills necessary for daily living. (MR) or cognitive delays, attention deficitdisorders (ADHD Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)DefinitionAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by distractibility, hyperactivity, impulsive behaviors, and the inability to remain focused on tasks or ), learning disabilities (LD) and physical and otherhealth impairments (POHI POHI Physical(ly)and Otherwise Health ImpairedPOHI Ponca City High School (Ponca City, Oklahoma)POHI People of Historical Importance ). The current review builds on previous effortsto examine research on the effects of music therapy to children withdisabilities. MAIN CONTRIBUTION Students with disabilities arrive daily in music classes fromkindergarten through high school. Effective integration of music in thecontent areas creates a learning environment that makes all childrenwant to learn. Collett (1992) reported a successful music integratedcurriculum which works well with bilingual and special educationstudents. Music integration provides children with concrete, hands-onexperiences that are essential to developing each child's abilityto reason, think, solve problems, analyze, evaluate, and enhancecreativity (Houchens, 1983). Several studies have investigated theeffects of music therapy on children with cognitive disabilities. Straum(n.d.), for example, suggested the use of music to assist students withautism disorder in the areas of social and language development.Autistic autistic/au��tis��tic/ (aw-tis��tik) characterized by or pertaining to autism. children have eliminated their monotonic monotonic - In domain theory, a function f : D -> C is monotonic (or monotone) iffor all x,y in D, x f(x) n.The rate of the pulse as observed in an artery, expressed as beats per minute. , and skin responses (Hodges,1980). Place an instrument at a strategically placed distance toincrease hand or arm movement. Swing a mallet mallet,n a hammering instrument.mallet, hard,n a small hammer with a leather-, rubber-, fiber-, or metal-faced head; used to supply force or to supplement hand force for the compaction of foil or amalgam and to seat cast to strike a drum to helpincrease the range of motion. Telling a student to hold a musicalinstrument may help the development of fine motor coordination. Vary theintensity of clapping, jumping, stamping, pounding, swinging, andsnapping, etc. according to the severity of the disability. Use slow andgentle music to increase flexibility and to decrease hyper tensemuscular contractions. COGNITIVE DISABILITIES Research in neurological functioning supports the associationbetween music and cognitive development. Music organizes sounds andsilences in a flow of time. It creates expectations which are thensatisfied. It raises a question and solves it. Use mnemonic Pronounced "ni-mon-ic." A memory aid. In programming, it is a name assigned to a machine function. For example, COM1 is the mnemonic assigned to serial port #1 on a PC. Programming languages are almost entirely mnemonics. devices forremembering sequences (the alphabet song). Use categorical structures todifferentiate (animal farm, color, etc.). Connect sound with a concept(a cow makes a "moo" sound"). ATTENTION DEFICIT /HYPERACTIVE DISORDERS AND LEARNING DISABILITIES Music focuses on accuracy and attention. Learning how to play aninstrument can improve attention, concentration, impulse control impulse controlPsychology The degree to which a person can control the desire for immediate gratification or other; IC may be the single most important indicator of a person's future adaptation in terms of number of friends, school performance and future , socialfunctioning social functioning,n the ability of the individual to interact in the normal or usual way in society; can be used as a measure of quality of care. , self-esteem, self-expression, motivation and memory.Connect a particular vocal sound with a particular body movement.Provide more than one neural pathway by using multi-sensory channels.Use visual, auditory and kinesthetic kin��es��the��sia?n.The sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints.[Greek k (striking a drum, clapping hands).Use the inherent structure in songs to reinforce a sense of internalorder. Use rhythm, steady pulse, and basic beat of music as a model tohelp student to experience order, sequence, and a sense of consistency. GIFTED AND TALENTED Music focuses on deeper psychological process and allows creativeexpression. Challenge gifted students to adapt their existing abilitiesin ways that enable them to produce music. EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS Music creates physiological responses, which are associated withemotional reactions. Music explains the tension release sequenceassociated with emotional arousal (Abeles, 1980). The speed andintensity of the musical beat creates the different feelings in eachtype of song. The opportunity to play an instrument can be used as areinforcer for on task behavior. Use small group music therapy tofacilitate socialization socialization/so��cial��iza��tion/ (so?shal-i-za��shun) the process by which society integrates the individual and the individual learns to behave in socially acceptable ways. so��cial��i��za��tionn. and interpersonal interactions. Encouragestudent to play different instruments in the songs. Allow students toexpress individually while participating as a group. Use the commonmusical beat to unite group cohesion and concrete group dynamic. Usemusic activities that require a member to imitate the body movement orrhythmic pattern of another member. Teach students to take turns whenthere is only one instrument available to share within a group. Use asharing space while playing musical instruments to control impulse. The effects of music therapy on children with disabilities arenumerous. This paper introduced the background of music and childrenwith disabilities, and the rationale behind music integration in aninclusive classroom. 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