Therapy Tools Tuesday

Today's post is another (hopefully) helpful tool you can use for therapy.
The tool itself actually falls in the organization and storage category for therapy.

Take a look at these:















You might wonder, "How can these be used as a tool in therapy?"

I use these little bags, called makeup bags, as storage for picture cards (also known as PECS). I work in many classrooms that serve students who are nonverbal (for a variety of reasons and diagnoses), so we use pictures to help the students communicate. With pictures, students can say Yes/No, More/Finished, and can have a choice of objects. The picture cards are definitely helpful when giving the students choices of rhythm instruments to play during music therapy sessions.

I also include number cards, color cards, sometimes alphabet letter cards, and pictures of objects that are mentioned in songs we are currently singing (for example, in our fall song, students are shown pictures of red apples, fall leaves, pumpkins,etc.). Some students even learn to sequence objects in a song with the picture cards!

So, there you have it. Makeup bags can be a great tool for storing picture cards that aid in communication in music therapy sessions.