In May of this year, the Lower Hutt Lions Club made a generous gift to Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s Autism Clinic to purchase new instruments for their music therapy programme. The $600 grant was secured by Aelyth Harrison, a Te Herenga Waka student pursuing a Master of Music Therapy, who is currently on placement at the clinic.
“It’s so much easier to adapt what you're doing in a session when you have the right resources,” Aelyth says.
Before the musical upgrade, Aelyth brought her own instruments into the clinic to use with her clients—an old guitar and a few percussion instruments. Now, their playroom is full of ukuleles, recorders, shakers shaped like fruit, boomwhackers, keyboards, drums, and other tactile sound makers.
“I've developed my practice quite a bit since the start of my placement, and the variety of activities that I can fall back on is much greater ever since we got a full set of instruments,” says Aelyth.
The Autism Clinic, which is located within the Autism New Zealand Resource Centre in Petone, provides a wide variety of free and paid services for whānau in the Wellington region who have children that are or are suspected to be autistic.
Aelyth works with kids under 12 years old through music and play-based therapy to assess their interests, gain insight into their development, and help parents create a supportive home environment for their child.
"I like to send parents away with observations that they can take back to their child’s school, or use at home,” says Aelyth.
“Sometimes families will come into music therapy with specific goals they want to work on, like increasing their sign vocabulary or working on oral motor skills. I'll then try to incorporate that into what we're doing through music and song.”
An affirming approach
Aelyth says that the ethos of the Autism Clinic, including her music therapy sessions, focuses on a neurodiversity-affirming approach that welcomes each child’s unique needs.
“Our approach is the antithesis of the idea that you must fix autism, or that you must stop the behaviours. We work from a standpoint of understanding the child’s differences and try to explain things from a strengths-based, person-centred viewpoint when sharing information with families or other people around the child.”
A typical music therapy session lasts 30 minutes, and each session is opened by singing the same familiar waiata to help establish a routine. Aelyth says they then move into different forms of musical play depending on what goals have been set.
“Say I'm working with a child who's really passionate about kapa haka. I might start with a favourite kapa haka song to get them warmed up and settled into the space. And then I’ll try to alternate with something a little more challenging. So maybe if we're working on guitar skills, I’ll bring out the ukulele at that point.
“If I notice a specific response that requires a little more examination, I might introduce some activities that kind of explore that area so I can get a better understanding of them. And then after we've done that more challenging activity, we'll go back to something fun.”
The skills that Aelyth helps kids work on vary widely from client to client, but she had a recent success with a child who previously hadn’t exhibited back-and-forth communication skills.
“At the beginning, they weren’t really aware of me. They would just play the drum without noticing what I was doing. Now they’re having direct back-and-forth interactions with me where we both play at the same time, watch each other closely, and then stop at the same time.
“Helping preverbal children understand cause and effect, and playful social exchange through musical sounds can be some of the most important building blocks of communication and interaction skills.”
Creating a sustainable programme
Apart from the one-on-one therapy work Aelyth provides, part of her placement involves training Autism Clinic staff on how to incorporate the instruments into their work once she graduates.
"So many of our children love these instruments and their music therapy sessions,” says clinic lead Hannah Waddington. “Aelyth has given our team ideas about how to use the instruments, and we are excited to continue using them in our practice."
From January 2025, Autism NZ will take on the delivery of programmes for autistic children that are currently run by the University’s clinic.
“Music therapy interns have been a huge asset to the Autism Clinic, as families absolutely love this service,” says Hannah. “We hope that this will continue in the future with Autism NZ."
Learn more about the Autism Clinic, including what community services they offer and how to donate to their programmes.