Chi-Ho Lam, MMT, RMT, Pan Ho, MSocSC, MT-BC, MTA, and Angel Leung, MM, MT-BC, MTA – “Think Creatively- What Can We Offer to Students with Severe Intellectual/Multiple Disabilities?”

Carer is often being neglected by the society across the globe, especially for those who take care of people with severe intellectual/multiple-disabilities. This presentation aims to help attendees to understand the framework of community music therapy through a multi-phase music therapy program at a school for severe intellectual/multiple disabilities students and their parents in Hong Kong. Presenters will review information from related research regarding community music therapy and share how the multi-phase music therapy program was developed and implemented in the past 3 consecutive years. This community music therapy program included a music therapy support group for parents, a parent-child music therapy group, and a parent-child performance/product group. Collaborative work between the teacher, two music therapists and social worker will be discussed. This included navigating adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was designed within a progressive group process to maximize therapeutic outcomes. Music experiences will be shared through participants’ artifacts with corresponding goals and objectives in different phases. Challenges and triumphs of this program will also be discussed. It is hoped that through information sharing and video demonstration that attendees will better understand and be able to gain skills in program development for different clienteles, collaborative work, as well as navigating the disability culture.

Biographies