Desert Sounds of Wellness understands how music reaches inside of dementia VERY WELL. Master Trained Licensed Music Therapist Teri Mock has been working with my clients for about 3 years now. One client she started with a few months ago has severe Alzheimers. When music therapy first started for this client, when asked how old she was the client responded that she was 14 years of age. Over time, when asked the question, she went to 18, then 20 in her mind. Just this week I was at a doctor appointment with the client and I asked her, Do you know how old you are? She surprised me by saying she was 30-something and, for the first time in nearly a year Ive worked with her, she not only remembered that she had been married, but was able to give me the (now deceased) husbands name. (Shes really 90-something, but we should always forgive a lady a little fib about her age. *grin*) This bit of information was one Ive been searching for for important reasons. Now that I have it, I can do a better job of honoring her burial wishes, using substituted judgment. In other words, I can safely assume she would want to be laid to rest with her husband. Now that I have his name, I have research underway to find where his final arrangements were handled. This is just one of the many benefits music therapy has brought this lady, and Ive seen comparable results with others. She barely ever talked before. Now she converses in an animated way and I even got a good belly laugh out of her when making a joke that day. Its amazing seeing this womans personality and humor emerge. I am a firm believer in the power of music; structured music therapy has yielded results I never would have believed possible if I had not witnessed it myself.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 04:31:15 +0000
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