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Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.

Music Therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, clients’ abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their lives. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Research in music therapy supports its effectiveness in many areas such as: overall physical rehabilitation and facilitating movement, increasing people’s motivation to become engaged in their treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for expression of feelings.

What is Music Therapy at Helping Hands Center?

At HHC, students receive music therapy in a variety of settings, including individual and group sessions and multi-modal sessions with psychologists or speech language pathologists. The music therapists assess each student for the setting that will be most successful based on their abilities and challenges, and each student receives a group music therapy session. Social and pragmatic language and communication skills, articulation, receptive and expressive language development, fine and gross motor skills, and cognitive skills may be targeted during a student’s music therapy session.

What is Large Group Music Therapy at Helping Hands Center?

All students at Helping Hands Center receive 30 minutes of music therapy in their classrooms as a large group. There are 2 15-minute classroom music therapy sessions per week in the Early Intervention classrooms and 1 half-hour classroom music therapy session per week in the preschool through middle school classrooms.

The classroom music therapy sessions target many of the skills our students find challenging. As they participate in songs, chants, finger plays, dances, and clapping games, students become a part of their class and school community, focusing on positive social interaction. There is an emphasis on joint attention, thus promoting an awareness of the environment. Research shows that during group music therapy experiences students exhibit an increase in following directions, conversational skills, responsiveness, and eye gaze and eye contact. Other skills that are targeted during large group music therapy are eye-hand coordination, problem solving, creativity and choice-making, persistence, self-control, keeping a steady beat, and listening. Almost all of these skills are targeted during one half-hour or 2 15-minute group music therapy sessions, and all of these skills are targeted using fun, playful activities that are easily remembered and reproduced in various settings.

If you have any questions about music therapy at Helping Hands Center, you can contact any of the music therapists on staff at the school. They can direct you specifically to your child’s music therapist(s), or they can answer any general questions you may have.

Tanya Corso, MT-BC, NMT, Department Supervisor:tcorso@helpinghandscenter.com
Alyssa Graber, MME, MT-BC:agraber@helpinghandscenter.com
Kristin Kummer, MT-BC, MA:kkummer@helpinghandscenter.com
Pam Richardson, MT-BC:prichardson@helpinghandscenter.com
Valerie Robinson, MT-BC:vrobinson@helpinghandscenter.com
Liz Woolley, MT-BC:lwoolley@helpinghandscenter.com

 

Together, we’ve spent the past ten years building an organization of which we can all be proud. We are who we are today thanks to the professionalism and exceptional dedication of our staff, the hard work of our students, and the faith each family has placed in us to provide educational and therapeutic services for their children. We begin the 2015-16 academic year with over 140 students enrolled in the Education Center, and in September, will open our 18^th classroom. We will celebrate all of this, with old friends and new at our Homecoming Family Festival on Saturday, October 3^rd!

During the first half of 2015, we underwent a thoughtful, complex process in order to plan for the future of Helping hands Center. As many of you know, part of this plan includes changing our name to Bridgeway Academy. Arriving at this decision was a long and emotional process as we worked to find a name and a brand that represents the important work we do while allowing us to grow in the future. Most importantly, we sought a brand that was mindful of the hard work and compassionate community that helped to define Helping Hands Center and honors the attachment that we all feel in our hearts to our original name. We will officially switch to the new name and brand in the first week of January 2016.

We will use the first half of the new school year to reassure our community that this is a transition in name and logo ONLY. Our mission remains unchanged. Our leadership will not only be the same, but will be reinvigorated by this evolution. We are more ready than ever to continue building on the great work that we’ve done together in the past and chart a bright course into the future.

Here are some exciting highlights of things to come:

• For the first time, we will have 9^th graders in our building and will continue to build and strengthen the Middle School Skills program.
• We will embark on a year-long artist residency with visual artist Keo Khim, thanks to VSAOhio and its program, “Adaptation, Integration and the Arts.”
• We will partner with Local Matters and adapt their “Food Maters,” curriculum into every classroom. The curriculum will provide children with an understanding of what healthful food is, where it comes from and how it grows and will create unique opportunities for students to explore our school garden.
• Our October 3^rd Homecoming Family Festival will welcome students, staff, friends and families, old and new, back to Helping Hands Center to conclude our 10^th anniversary celebrations.

Please join us as we embark on our second decade of meeting the educational and therapeutic needs of students with autism and other developmental disabilities. Just as we all, together, have built this organization, we all, together, will build this bridge to an exciting future.

Sincerely,
Abby and Erin

It’s summer camp time at Helping Hands Center. On June 9^th, over 100 students, preschool through grade 8, will return to Helping Hands Center for eight weeks of fun, recreation and academic review.

Helping Hands Center organizes camp thematically, with special activities and guests scheduled throughout each week. A preschool classroom might read and explore a book about the theme while a school-aged classroom might go more in-depth on a particular topic or activity. Each week, all classrooms participate in an organized sport and every day, splash in pools and waterslides. This summer, the Wallaby, Bears, Bison, Cardinals and Blue Jays will take weekly trips to the pool.

In 2015, themes and activities include:

• Barnyard Palooza – classrooms explore farm animals and get a visit from Fuzzy Friends. Yoga is the sport of the week.
• Under the Big Top –faces will be painted and this year, Columbus Juggler Dave Kaplan will visit Helping Hands Center to perform for students (http://www.davidkaplanshow.com/movies.html). Gymnastics is the sport of the week.
• Parks and Rec – students will explore their community. From kayaking to meeting the Columbus Mounted Police and exploring a camping station, Helping Hands Center’s students will discover all things recreational. Kickball will be the sport of the week.
• Party in the USA – Helping Hands Center’s annual 4^th of July celebration will take place with a family gathering on the grounds and a parade around the block. Basketball will be the sport of the week.
• Music and Arts – for the third year, Helping Hands Center will explore the arts, from taiko drums with Eric “the Fish” to making art with Katy Sanford, the halls will be filled with music and artwork. T-ball will be the sport of the week.
• Around the World – This week, classrooms have the opportunity to learn about and share a new culture. Soccer, the most popular sport in the world, will be the sport of the week.
• Sensational Science – students will explore all things science, including the new garden on Helping Hands Center’s grounds. A naturalist from Sharon Woods will visit, and Track & Field is the sport of the week.
• Wacky & Wonderful – our last week of camp, it’s a time to revisit favorite activities or try something new. Coach Chris, a camp perennial favorite, will visit, and we’ll end summer camp with camp-sing-a-long!

We are always looking for new guests and activities, so if you have a special talent to share, please let us know!

Camp begin June 9^th and ends July 30^th. For more information about all of Helping Hands Center’s programs, please visit www.helpinghandscenter.com or https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helping-Hands-Center-for-Special-Needs/140882449291032.