In a world where therapy often feels like a shot in the dark, you don't know if what you are investing will pay off or be of support and the sacrifice of time, energy and money feels so momentous.  We have been so grateful for how well this has worked for our daughter.  Our daughter looks forward to them so much.  Another side note is that Lydia has such a gentle and unobtrusive presence in our family.  She makes eye contact with all of us, she knows our mother in law's name and genuinely sees each member of our family in a thoughtful and respectful way.  This is HUGE for an intercultural, interracial family.  Best wishes and thank you!

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-Parent of Client

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The client's word lists have been consistently tabled by his mother.  The list of words has increased over the time he has received Music Therapy intervention.  Observational reporting by mother confirms both the maintenance and generalization of language skills in the client's daily living environments.  The client increased his use of language for communication, and disruptive behaviors have simultaneously decreased.  Music Therapy is a valuable mode of intervention for children with speech and language difficulties.  It is applicable to both verbal and non-verbal children.  Hilary Fredenburg is an experienced and innovative Music Therapist.  I have found her to be an exemplary professional and would recommend her to future prospective clients.  Hilary has excellent interpersonal skills and provided written feedback regarding the progress of our client.

 

- Speech Pathologist, BAppSc Sp.Path, MA Comm.Dis.

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Alex has been working with my son for several months. Alex has a gentle light about him that shines when he’s working with my son.  My son was diagnosed with Autism 5 years ago and his behaviors were so severe I had to remove him from public school and homeschool him.  My son could not sit still for 1 minute to accomplish anything.  He would have violent outbursts and destroy property.  He was not able to communicate his needs and would even revert to non-verbal communication and growl and hiss at people who were trying to work with him.  Since working with Alex my son has been able to sit for at least 10 minuets at a time.  He is able to verbally communicate with Alex when he needs a break or would like to try a new instrument. We have had times when my son did not want to participate with Alex and would curl up in a ball and not participate, but Alex did not give up.  Alex sat with my son on the floor and played music for him.  Alex would ask him questions whether or not my son liked the music and how the music made him feel.  Having a son with Autism is an emotional roller coaster. You never know if he can handle certain situations and how people will perceive him.  Alex had truly restored my faith in people who don’t live Autism, who don’t know what it takes to feel the judgement and handle the routines.  Alex has the compassion, empathy, and understanding of Autism and the difficulty families face.  “It’s about meeting the child where they are at, not where I think they should be.”  Quote from Alex!  I am so glad to have met you! 

Alex is truly an amazing person.  We have worked with countless in home therapists, skills workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, 12 different schools.  Alex is the only person who doesn’t give up on on my son when he disconnects.  Alex is so inventive and understanding of my son’s mood on any given week.  He just gets it!  Not many people have the patience to work with a kiddo like my son but Alex does wonderful.

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- Parent of Client

 

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I wanted to take a moment and share with you how much we enjoy Lydia.  She has worked wonders for our daughter.  Our daughter is actually singing now - impromptu and with tone - on her own.  She loves music and can move to a beat and delights in hearing her favorite songs sung.  My husband sends videos of her working with Lydia and we are seeing more and more focused attention, attentiveness and response to cues and requests and increased vocalizations.  I give full credit to their working relationship.  We love Lydia!

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- Parent of Client

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Being a facility where we have many advanced residents with Dementia, they are unable to express themselves and share what it is they loved.  With music therapy we have seen their passion, we have seen their love for music, singing word for word to a song, giving genuine smiles and feeling those fond memories from a song.  This has not just helped the residents, this has brought so much happiness and joy to their loved ones.  We have noticed the residents behaviors have decreased during the day especially the day when we have music therapy.  There is minimal agitation, and we see more residents calm and settled.  This is a huge success for our secure ward. Hilary has the personality that you always want to have around, very bubbly and happy.  She has developed relationships with our residents and even with the families and staff, and I was very lucky to have her with us even if it was only for a small amount of time.  Building this program took a lot of effort and work for us all but with Hilary's experience, knowledge, and passion for music therapy, we have now got a very successful Music Therapy Program.  We all knew the goal we wanted to achieve and Hilary was just as enthused as we were to promote this.

 

- Lifestyle Program Manager, Advanced/Complex Dementia site

 

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Music therapy has helped my son to feel confident with his voice expression, he has even become more social, interacting and imagine playing with familiar children!  He is following simple instructions and appears to have a clearer understanding when we speak to him.  I would 100% recommend music therapy to others.  Music therapy has opened my son's world up to help him with speech and socializing.  I cannot express to you enough the value in the achievements my son has made with music therapy.  No other therapy has been able to get inside his head like music and song.  I would highly recommend Hilary.  She has a vibrant personality, very relaxed mannerisms, and really knows what she is doing.  Hilary was able to connect with my son and was happy to follow his lead at times as well as get him to follow hers.  Hilary connected with my son by using things he had an interest in and making up songs to go along with what he was doing at the time.  Hilary was always punctual and polite.

 

- Parent of client

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Our daughter is alert and engaged during music time.  She has signed hello during the hello song, which is new to her.  She enjoys the music immensely.  It is difficult for her siblings to interact with her and that is hard for me.  I suggest activities for them to do together, but it often feels like I make them do things with her.  Not during music though.  That is one of the only times where I feel like they like to interact.  I don’t see that often and I know that my daughter wants more from them.

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- Parent of client

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Residents that would otherwise feel excluded from activity or even the day to day routine obtained a feeling of inclusion, but more importantly, the music therapy sessions catered for specific tastes or memories  and evoked a myriad of emotions and reactions, in particular with residents with dementia who may not have surfaced for some considerable time.  Following a music therapy session, the residents presented as relaxed and less agitated.  During a therapy session, participation and reactions were quite often out of the ordinary for many residents, whereby they sang along to tunes where previously their verbal communication could have been limited or even not existent.  Social interaction increased.  Hilary's ability to engage and interact with residents of all skills and abilities, together with her peaceful, caring, and empathetic nature, make her the perfect individual to deliver a program such as this."

 

- Lifestyle Assistant, Advanced/Complex Dementia site

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We notice that our daughter is excited when she hears that Hilary is coming over to play.  She will smile to let us know that she is happy. Post therapy my daughter is always very relaxed and sometimes falls asleep at the end of a session.

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- Parent of client