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Brookline
TAB
By Susan Senator
November 2, 2000
The
healing power of fine art
The group of kids is small, about seven in all, 9-year-old boys, sitting
in a circle, singing along while an instructor leads them on the guitar.
They all get a chance to strum. They all get a turn to choose a Beatles
song to sing. The instructor gently but persistently encourages one
markedly quiet boy to sing. At last, he does. Then she tells another
very active boy that his turn is finished, and it's someone else's
turn; he needs to be told a few times before he finally relinquishes
the guitar. A group of parents sits on the outer boundaries of the
ring of children, yelling encouragement.
A typical morning music class for kids? It is for the Boston
Institute for Arts Therapy. For these are not typical children,
they are autistic. Yet there they are, participating as loudly and
happily in this sing-along as any other kids would.
This is what the Institute does best: music and arts therapy for children
with disabilities. The Institute, started 20 years ago, now runs music
therapy classes for children ages 2-14 throughout the Greater Boston
area, including programs in Newton, Concord, Chelmsford, Danvers,
Norfolk, Reading, Dorchester, and Arlington, with experienced and
enthusiastic therapists, mostly graduates of the Leslie University
Masters Degree Program in Expressive Arts Therapy or the Berklee Expressive
Arts Therapy program.
The primary goal of the Institute is to promote awareness of the therapeutic
use of music and the arts in a person's well-being and development.
"Music is such a primary souce of expression," says Dr.
Phillip Speiser, Executive Director. "Through breath and breathing
you have life itself. Movement goes along with that [as well.]"
The Institute sees its mission as bringing the joy and the developmental
benefits of arts and music first to the disabled, then their families,
and then to the community around them.
"Exposure to education, the arts, and recreation -- each of these
components is vital to well-rounded development," says Speiser.
"You can have fun [here] and at the same time develop social
skills, spatial skills, language ability, fine motor skills."
Most of the Institute groups offer music and movement, and a few of
the groups introduce visual arts and arts and crafts.
Although primarily a resource for the disabled, Speiser sees inclusion
of the non-disabled children as one of the long-term goals of the
Institue and its community music therapy programs, CHAMPS
- which stands for Children and Adults
Have Arts & Music Programs.
"We are naturally advocates for the arts for all children, all
families, all abilities," says Speiser, "[The Institute]
is a special place, for children with disabilities and their siblings."
However, as Speiser points out, "the need for after-school programs
is so great for children with disabilities," that the Institute
is committed first and foremost to serving this need.
People who are interested in joining a current art or music therapy
group or starting one in their area can call the Institute. Groups,
are typically limited to eight children so as to give the greatest
benefit. Some of the programs are offered through support agencies
like TILL (Toward Independent Learning and Living, for people with
autism) and are free to children who are eligible for respite services.
Other classes are offered through the local after school activities
program in conjunction with an agency, like the Charles River ARC
(Association for Retarded Citizens) in Needham, or like KOALA (Kids
of All Learning Abilities), or the Genesis Fund in Bridgewater and
Mansfield. The Institute also offers programs at its headquarters
in Dorchester.
The Institute serves a wide range of disabilities and age groups,
from toddlers to senior citizens, from ADHD to autism to Altzheimer's.
This highly successful program has a large and loyal client base and
is growing every year, mainly due to the participants who see the
need for music in their children's lives and who then make it happen,
to their great satisfaction. As Speiser puts it, "Art used in
the service of the child provides life skills benefits and a touch
of joy."
Creative
Arts Therapy Programs...
Visual Art * Music
* Dance * Drama
...That Can Make a World of Difference!
Boston Institute for
Arts Therapy
"Drawing out the
best in people since 1982"
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