Lawrence Teachers & Paraprofessionals


• Promote Wellness
• Manage Stress
• Alleviate Pain
• Express Feelings
• Enhance Memory
• Improve Communication
• Promote Physical Rehabilitation
• and more*

Within sessions, music is utilized to address social, emotional, cognitive, communication, and physical needs.

*American Music Therapy Association, 2005

Music Therapy in the Lawrence 
Public Schools

For the 2024-2025 school year, our team at Roman Music Therapy Services is providing music therapy services to approximately 125-130 classrooms in 22 buildings in the Lawrence Public School District. Groups run for 30-45 minutes once per week for all students in programmatic services from Pre-K through age 22. Goals are individualized for each classroom or group, utilizing group process to work toward goals that support the educational and overall wellbeing of all participants.

Goals in music therapy sessions can include:  

• Promoting social skills
• Providing opportunities for shared joy
• Learning coping and self-regulation skills
• Increasing attention
• Providing opportunities for self-expression
• Building confidence
• Promoting classroom community
• Emotional expression
• Support and/or reinforcement of academic goals

How Music Therapists Support Teachers

Music therapists at Roman Music Therapy Services are available for consultation throughout the school year and are committed to supporting generalization of skills practiced within the music therapy group throughout a student’s school day. Consultations can happen in person (before/after a session), over email, or scheduled via Zoom or a phone call.
Music therapists can also support:

• Curriculum-based learning
• Adding variety to a school day
• Facilitating transitions
• Track and identify individual needs and goals within the group
• Get to know students through music
• Support generalization of goals and skills

How Teachers & Paraprofessionals Support Music Therapists

Instrument Playing 

• If your students are able, allow them to engage with an instrument in any way possible, as long as it is safe. Even if their playing stands out from the group or is personally displeasing to you, try not to discourage any exploration of the instruments.
• If your student needs assistance to engage with an instrument, first provide space for them to try independently and then provide hand-under-hand assistance. Hand-under-hand rather than hand-over-hand support, encourages the student to feel a sense of autonomy and potentially access the instrument independently.
• Play along! Having you play along not only can be enjoyable for you, but is a great way to model and encourage participation without physical or verbal intervention. While playing along, try to tune in to how the music therapist is playing and follow their lead (ie. Music therapist is playing a quiet “Goodbye” song which can be accompanied by quiet instrument playing)

Music Listening / Song Sharing 

• Encourage students to request their preferred music or make a choice from familiar options presented by the music therapist.
• Try to notice what music/songs participants respond to outside of music therapy sessions and relay the song titles to the music therapist for it to be incorporated into the experiences of the session.
• Be present! During music listening, stay present within the session and to the students. In the same way that modeling instrument playing is helpful behavior, being on your cell phone or attending to other tasks can distract the participants and decrease involvement. Ask questions and keep personal opinions of shared music to yourself. Song sharing can be a vulnerable task for many participants and unsolicited, negative feedback may discourage them from speaking up and participating in the conversation.

Singing

• Sing along! Having you sing along can demonstrate vulnerability, add auditory stimulation and greater group cohesion to the experience while encouraging participants to sing along as well.
• Musical line fill– in opportunities are presented to students to encourage a solo moment within a song, encourage attention to the music/ following along and to get a sense of engagement from the students. If the music therapist leaves out a lyric or phrase within a song, allow time and space for students to fill in the lyrics.

Behavior Plans and Classroom Management

• Identifying behaviors that may arise in sessions and how to handle them to the music therapist
• Creating an environment more conducive to student needs
• How music therapists can support teaching styles
• What behaviors are considered appropriate or inappropriate for music therapy groups

Communication and Collaboration

• Planning for the school year
• Regularly checking in about updates on behavior plans and goals
• Aligning music experiences with curriculum-based learning

Transitions

• Planning ahead
• Adjusting the session plan to meet student needs
• Creating a session arc that is optimal for transitioning out of music therapy
• Informing the music therapist of what is going on outside of the music therapy group
• Communicate what follows after music therapy
• Provide additional assistance to transition successfully

Knowledge

• Paraprofessionals quickly get to know the students they are working with and can share their expertise with music therapists
• Student interests
• Expected communication styles (PECs, AAC device, visual aids, etc.)
• Support with language for English Language Learners