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I am Umniat Abu Hamda, a special education teacher at al-Masar School for Child Development Services in Amman, Jordan. Before I took the Music as Therapy course, I used to listen with my students to my favourite songs or to the favourite songs of my students. Sometimes we played with some musical instruments, loud – soft, or start playing – stop playing. The teacher was always the leader of the session and the main focus would be on the teacher. The students who liked music were the only ones who really enjoyed these sessions and they would express their feelings verbally using words.
 
After I took the course, my music sessions became more organized. There is now a beginning, a middle and an end. Each session has various movement activities, and in between those activities we sit on the chairs. I am no longer the only person leading the group, I do many activities in which the children are the leaders, even if it’s for just a short period.
 
The feelings of the children started to change and at the end of each session, most of the students are happy. The students are helping by choosing the songs, distributing the music instruments, and stopping or starting the music on the music device.
 
One of the important things I learned during the course is to focus on body language more than using words, and to focus on calming the students down after the music session ends so that they are ready for the next activity.
 
When I see my student Ramzi he always asks me when the next music session is, and when he cannot attend the lesson because of another session in his schedule, he gets upset. I’m thinking now how to integrate what I learned in the course in my other classes as well, insha’allah. Thank you for this opportunity.

(The name of the child in this story is a pseudonym for anonymity reasons.)