SENIOR PROJECT VOLUNTEER/ Feb. 13/Client C

For purpose of client's confidentiality, client C's name will be changed to Caden. Ian introduces me to Caden and his mom who also leaves Caden alone with Ian and I. Caden just does whatever when introduced.

With Caden, who also has a form of autism, Ian tries to teach him piano. From what I have observed, Caden can play simple scales. He has three types of learning books, all in the level of 1A. While being taught how to play, Caden is always preoccupied with his fingers. He always looks at it and bites his index finger. He constantly yells, loudly and is too distracted by his index to learn how to play the piano. Ian repeatedly tells Caden to use his "quiet hands" by saying "quiet hands" and wiggling his fingers in the air or placing his hands on top of Caden's on top of the piano to prevent the finger fiddling. In the end of the lesson, Caden was assigned some pages in his learning book to study at home.

Time: 3 hours

Total: 3 hours

SENIOR PROJECT VOLUNTEER/ Feb. 13/Client B

For client confidentiality, client B's name will be exchanged to Theo. Ian introduced me to Theo and his mom, who leaves Theo to privately have sessions with Ian and I. Theo says hi to me.

Instead of playing all the instruments, Ian just works with the piano for Theo. Once again, being new to music therapy without any sort of training, I just observed. Well, Ian starts off the session with playing an introductory/exercise song of saying hello to everyone. After that, Ian will play some Blues improv on the piano while Theo, who is also autistic, presses random piano keys as Ian plays. For the majority of the time, Ian and Theo just jam together on the piano. They would also sing, they would sing lyrics with a Blues type element similar to "bee bah, dab adoo." Now, Theo is not able to clearly articulate the words, he is only able to say with an incorrect pronunciation like, "ee ah dah oo." However, he pronounces it with great easy and happiness.

When asked about what song he would like...Theo doesn't know what song he wants.

SENIOR PROJECT VOLUNTEER/ Feb. 13/Client A

*Ian Wilkerson is a music therapist in CMC, a nonprofit organization that provides music opportunities for people of all types, whether they are old, young, autistic, or just interested in learning how to play instruments. Usually, Ian takes on interns who plan to pursue areas similar to music therapy but since I am only a high school student, I will slowly be integrated into the music therapy sessions. First, I will be playing an observable role during the time, and will gradually become more involve in the therapy with the autistic kids. These sessions are not of a clinical setting.

For purposes of client's confidentiality, the client's name will be changed to "Lucas." On the first day of my volunteer work, I just watched Ian trying to play instruments for Lucas. But Lucas seemed tired and agitated. He did not want to play with the instruments. He would constantly lay down on the floor, hitting the ground with his bum and yelling a bit. This could possibly be because of my strange and unfamiliar presence in the room but the father who stays and watches his son during the sessions says that Lucas was just tired. He said that Lucas was showing some signs when driving to CMC that Lucas could possibly be tired. Well, Ian plays a variety of instruments that Lucas can also play with. Surrounding the room, instruments such as the xylophone, the tamborine, congo drums, the piano, and a pair of maracas are distributed around the room for use. Later on in the hourly sessions, Lucas plays the instruments and then goes running to his dad. This repeated and went on during Lucas's hour session. I just sat at the side of the room and observed Ian and Lucas play together.