We recently connected with Shoba and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shoba, thanks for joining us today. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

I am a Music Therapist who works with children with special needs. The children with whom I work with have a variety of developmental challenges that interfere with their daily functioning skills such as using a spoon or a fork to feed themselves, the lack of ability to visually track what is written in a book or a piece of paper, as well as difficulties in areas of expressive or receptive language skills and several other areas that may potential be challenging for them in their daily lives.

I use music as a tool to engage each child in music activities which requires for the child to learn a variety of skills such as grasping mallets to hit a drum, to vocalize using a variety of speech sounds when they work on singing activities, among other areas.

I worked with a child who at the time was 5 years old and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He attended weekly music therapy sessions that focused on a variety of goals. One of the goals was for him to be able to grasp a mallet consistently each time he had to hit the drum for the duration of a rhythmic activity. This was a work in progress for about 5 months. Due to his challenge of not being able to sustain his grasp on a variety of objects, he was unable to feed himself independently with a feeding utensil.

I received a text one evening from his mother, telling me that as everyone sat at the dinner table to get ready to eat, she noticed his hand reaching out towards the spoon that was placed next to his plate. He attempted to lift the spoon, grasp it and perservered even when he kept dropping the spoon. His mother did not want to ‘rescue’ the situation and continued to eat her meal while quietly watching him. As she watched him finally accomplish holding the spoon and attempting to scoop his food, she shared that she could not help but hold back her tears, while watching him attempt to independently feed himself.

During our music therapy sessions, he developed a preference towards the bongo drums. His parents asked me if they could purchase something similar so he could have one at home. They also got him a pair of mallets to use but he preferred to use his hands in the beginning stages, to hit the drum. As he continued to work on this area in our sessions, he gradually started to develop the skills, confidence and motivation that was needed to use the mallets at home. And this resulted in him being able to apply this new found skill towards using a utensil to feed himself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Music Therapist with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Therapy. I played the piano since I was 7 and continued to do so into my late teens. I knew I wanted to pursue something in music that was not just focused on performance or teaching. I wanted to find a way to use music to reach out to children with special needs. I was exposed to this population when I was a teenager. I visited a facility that helped children with developmental challenges. My heart felt completely full as I observed these children work so hard to achieve daily tasks that neurotypical individuals take for granted. After some research I discovered that music therapy was an option that I would be able to pursue at an undergraduate level. After I graduated, I worked for the Down Syndrome foundation as a music therapist. After 6 months I started my private practice and ever since then I have never looked back. I have been in private practice for almost 28 years now. It is a career that I am very passionate about. I work with a range of clients from 6 months to 18 years of age. I use music as a tool to help them with skills such as fine motor skills, gross motor skills, expressive and receptive language skills as well as the ability to sustain their attention span when working on different tasks, among other skills. Each child is actively involved in making music with me using a variety of instruments to help a child achieve the different goals that are outlined for them. These skills/goals are worked on in every session as they are also relevant to daily tasks and living skills that the child is able to apply at home and in a school setting.

I am so thankful that I get to wake up every day and do my best to try and find the potential in each child whether it is to help them use music as a purposeful tool in their lives.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

To be able to continue to succeed in this field, empathy, understanding as well as the commitment to learn new and different things from a neurodivergent child, is crucial in my line of work. It is not always about trying to have an individual fit into a neurotypical world. Each individual has a unique personality and unique challenges that they may need help with. It is my goal to help them live life to the fullest their abilities even if I play a small role in their journey. and I am always looking to adapt my therapeutic techniques to suit their needs, strengths as well as helping them find their true potential.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

If I had to go back, there is no doubt in my mind that this would be the same profession that I would choose. I feel that being in this profession gives me a purpose in life and to be able to provide a service that is much needed to these individuals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shobasmusictherapyservices.com
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits

Shoba Ramanathan