In this April 17, 2020, photo, Lowell Havener, right, a resident of Rising Mountains Assisted Living, smiles and sings along with music therapist Kirsten Wells in Bigfork, Mont. She played songs like"Take Me Out to the Ball Gpame,""When It's Springtime in the Rockies" and"King of the Road.
Adout said the four-week program, which launched on May 18, is serving a five people, and other clientsare signed up for private music therapy sessions. She plans to start another program once this one is complete. In an attempt to slow down the inevitable progression of the disease and try to engage her father, Sonshine introduced him to music therapy sessions about a year ago, with a therapist coming to see him once a week. Sonshine said she noticed the positive impacts almost immediately. “Music therapy has been incredible for my dad,” she told CTVNews.ca Sunday by phone from her home in Mississauga, Ont. “He’s basically non-verbal. The only time he uses words is through music therapy,” she said.
About a month ago, Biggs began private, virtual music therapy sessions for her mother twice a week, and said she noticed some immediate changes in her mother’s mood through simple exercises that test her memory and keep her engaged. “They’ll sing Irish songs to her, put up pictures of Ireland, and ask her if she remembers things like the statue of Molly Malone,” Biggs said.