DV
is a very thin and short 16-year-old
girl with Cornelia deLange Syndrome.
She is nonverbal, with physical
and cognitive limitations.
Last Tuesday, Julie (board-certified
music therapist) and I had a
breakthrough fifth session with
DV. It usually is difficult to
engage DV in direct interaction.
She resists hands-on assistance
and many times pushes things
away from her when presented.
It also is difficult to engage
her attention as she tends to
fixate on specific objects to
which she relates individually,
preventing others from entering
her own personal space.
However, on this day, DV exhibited
apparent enthusiasm from the
beginning of the session. She
approached the guitar immediately,
and, with minimal prompting,
began strumming it. She also
grabbed my hand and led it to
strum the guitar. We interacted
this way for approximately 25
minutes.
Noting DV's interest in the guitar,
we worked to stretch her physical
activity by moving the guitar
up and down, and having her reach
it, which she did. DV's attention
was focused on the session and
the different exercises presented
throughout. She allowed more
physical contact so we engaged
in movement / dance to Julie's
music. DV even led my hands to
clapping after I had demonstrated
a couple of times with her hands
over mine. DV initiated the movements
by pushing my hands toward each
other.
Several times during the session
DV smiled and laughed audibly,
always a beautiful thing. DV
also likes affectionate physical
closeness and spontaneously gave
hugs that day. She appears to
enjoy a sensation of being pampered.
This is so cute, it is impossible
to resist.
One such demonstration of affection
occurred with perfect timing.
As I ended the hour-long session
by singing the good-bye song,
DV surprised me with one of her
embraces—a touching close
to a very successful session.
View
the other five
Patient Highlights
A
C
D
E
F
