FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Patients of music therapy clinic work through issues with song
By Louise Stauffer
lstauffer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Without music therapy, it is almost impossible for Joe Steffy, a 16-year-old who has autism, to answer the question, "Do you like basketball, yes or no?"
But set to music, he can say "yes."
Steffy is a client of the music therapy clinic at the University of Kansas, and his mother, Janet, said it changed the way her son expressed himself. Before attending music therapy, Janet said doctors told her Joe could not put a sentence together longer than two words.
She said that the third time they were at the clinic he put five words together: "I want to play basketball."
janet was amazed and thankful for the program.
KU has 47 undergraduate students,54 students working on masters degrees and four students working on doctoral degrees in the music therapy program, which began 50 years ago, said Cynthia Colwell, director of the program. She said the program was in the top three in the nation. It is found within the School of Fine Arts.
Music therapy helps people with social, mental, and cognitive problems, Colwell said. She said it could help clients of all ages reduce anxiety, study and work out problems with parents or peers.
Patients play drumming accompaniment with the therapist to work out aggression or practicing breathing to the rhythm of an instrument to reduce anxiety. Therapy can also help clients express themselves. If a patient is having problems with a peer, the therapist may instruct them to work on writing a song together, or playing in an ensemble.
Music therapy can help someone work through frustrating issues. Colwell said if patients were irritated with their parents, they could be instructed to write a song that expressed their feeling, have the parent listen to the song
and have the parent write a song in response.
Janette Harrison, Hoisington senior and music therapy major, is working on her practicum as a music therapist. Harrison has her own clients, including Joe, and is observed by a board certified music therapist. She said she often found herself explaining her major to the curious.
"When I tell them my major, I get this weird look," she said.
Harrison said she wished more people knew how legitimate music therapy was.
"There are so many different areas where it can be used," she said. "It's used in homes, schools, hospitals and prisons."
You don't have to play an instrument, or read music at all to receive music therapy. Colwell said. Janet Steffy said Joe participated by playing instruments that require no training, such as hand drums. But therapists are required to specialize in one instrument and play two more as accompaniment.
Both live and prerecorded
music, such as CDs, are used in music therapy.
Harrison said she preferred using live music with a client to adjust the tempo of the music to meet the clients needs.
When recorded music is used, the genre is up to the client. Whether the artist is Guns N'Roses or Enya (Joe's favorite), the therapist will find a way to make it work for the therapy session.
The therapist and client can set up techniques that can be used anytime to help with problems such as stress, anxiety, or studying.
Music therapy is not for everyone. Colwell said the clinic's clients were usually referred by a doctor or psychologist who prescribed social or cognitive goals.
Janet said the therapy program had shown her son's ability to shine.
"I have to commend what they're doing," she said. "These kids in the department are gifted and talented."
Edited by Amanda Sears
Janette Harrison is a music therapy major working on her final practicum. The 23-year-old Hoisington senior works weekly with an autistic child, teaching him to communicate in song and tone.
John Nowak/Kansan
Child killed, mother wounded in Missouri school shooting
The Associated Press
LIBERTY, Mo. — A man waiting outside his son's school shot his fourth-grader to death and wounded his wife after a domestic dispute yesterday, police said.
A suspect police believe to be the boy's father was arrested about an hour later in a liquor store in Kansas City, Mo. about 20 miles to the southwest. The
boy's mother was in surgery at a hospital, police said. They declined to name the hospital.
The shootings happened around 12:30 p.m. when the woman was picking up the child from St. James Catholic School, which serves 322 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The boy's sister also attended the school, but was not injured. Police were interviewing
the girl to determine if she witnessed the shooting.
Liberty police Lt. Mark Misenhelter said the gunman was the child's father and the husband of the woman, with whom he had argued in the parking lot. Investigators believe a handgun was used in the shooting, although no weapon had been recovered, Misenhelter said.
Kansas City police spokesman
Tony Sanders said the suspect was arrested after police got a tip that the man had said he was trying to get out of town because he had just shot someone.
The school is located near Interstate 35, and the suspect was arrested near an I-35 exit in Kansas City, police said.
Identities and ages of the victims were not immediately available. Police said the boy died at the
scene.
Rebecca Summers, spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said all students were accounted for and the building was locked downaftertheshooting. OtherLiberty schools were also locked down.
Students from St. James were immediately sent to a nearby movie theater to be picked up by their parents, who emerged from the theater hand-in-hand with their children
Ed Ludwig rushed to the theater to retrieve his 7-year-old granddaughter, a second-grader. He heard about the shooting on television.
"I just rushed up here as fast as I could," he said after walking out of the theater with his granddaughter. "I didn't even shut up the house."
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