Chris Pauline Rachel Alison Sally

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Sally

BACKGROUND - Sally is a lively-eyed lady with Rett Syndrome. I had known her for some years before I was asked to start music sessions with her. At the time of writing (2003) it is still only a year or so ago that we first started meeting, which for one-to-one music sessions of this kind, is still very early days ! As Sally has very rigid limbs, no speech and very little movement, I was very unsure as to whether playing an instrument would be an option for her, but she had been coming to a group music session that I ran for some years, where she wore wrist bells, which were strapped to her wrists, and they made a noise whenever her excitement caused her to clench her muscles and jerk her arms, so that was a start. I figured that just the one-to-one attention would be a good thing for her, whatever the outcome.

SPECIFICS - I knew from my work with Chris that a long term approach was best. Sally had always enjoyed listening to CD's in her room, so I found as varied a selection from my own collection as possible and resolved to patiently observe her reaction to these, as well as playing her, on my guitar, some of the songs I knew she liked from the group music sessions she attended. As she was used to wristbells, I strapped a pair on each time we had a session, both to give her an instrument she was used to and comfortable with, and also to emphasise any reaction she might have to the music she was hearing - when Sally is excited, her arm movements set the bells off a treat. After a month or two I tried getting her to hold a maraca - her fingers are generally very tightly clenched, but I managed to get her to relax her fingers enough to slide the handle of the maraca into her hand, then when her fingers re-clenched her grip on it was perfect. Once again any excitement or shaking of her arms made a noise - combined with the wristbells, Sally was starting to make quite a sound ! Though it is too early for me to be sure, it seems that not only does Sally now relax her fingers more quickly to hold the maraca when I show it to her, but she also seems to me to have shaken it in a 'proactive' rather than 'reactive' way a few times - in other words shaking it deliberately to make a noise when prompted.
To me, Sally is already playing an instrument now, even though it may be years before any recognisable progress is visible, if ever. But then I have learnt that 'recognisable progress' or goals are not what this sort of work is about - it's more about raising the quality of peoples' lives by giving them access to the acquisition of skills easily obtainable by them, with just a little support and patience.

MD 2003