Assess the communication needs of your client first. Conduct an interview with the individual and make note of communication efforts. Check records and charts, if available. For school-aged children, interview teachers and parents to find out what is lacking. Consider areas of communication such as social communication, language acquisition and speech disorders.
Prepare a treatment plan. Include goals and objectives for the client. Write down baseline data acquired from interviews and records. Set up a time line and a regular schedule for music therapy sessions. Discuss the plan with all individuals involved.
Conduct music therapy activities that target the needs of the individual. Sometimes you may have to gear these activities toward a group of clients and their needs. Provide a broad range of activities such as singing (learning and performing new lyrics, call-and-response songs, and improvisation), chants, movement, composition, socially interactive music, and playing pitched and nonpitched instruments. Emphasize vocalization, articulation and pronunciation. Gather and record data during each session.
Evaluate and analyze gathered data after a set period of time. Evaluation and analysis are crucial to helping an individual meet his goals. Don't wait until the very last session to analyze the client's progress. You may want to evaluate after each session or after two to three sessions. Compare data to the initial baseline data and to the goals that were set in the beginning of the treatment process.
Revise your treatment plan accordingly. If your client isn't making much progress, you may need to slow down and revisit some of your previous activities, or you may need to change your types of activities entirely. If the client is ahead of schedule, you might want to accelerate your activities to meet the individual's progress.