Analogs Between School, Music Study and Occupational Therapy

Learning in school, learning to play an instrument, and receiving occupational therapy are all processes that develop, refine or improve upon skills that support a child’s success, confidence, wellbeing and independence.

All three contexts involve the child’s participation in structured learning activities under the guidance of a skilled instructor. Structured learning activities (SLA) are activities with guidelines and a goal. SLA’s typically a require specific set of skills or preparatory methods to complete, and the goal of the activity itself is to support a higher, more complex or difficult, functional goal.

An example of an SLA for young, school-aged children would be to identify and print all the letters of the alphabet. This is an activity designed to support writing later in the child’s academic career. To be able to write, the child first needs to learn each discreet letter. Then, to form each letter with a writing apparatus, the child needs to develop the fine motor skill and strength necessary to hold a pencil. The dexterity, hand strength, visual recognition skills developed by repeated practice with printing letters are applied to more complex and difficult language tasks in the future.

An example of an SLA in piano would be playing Czerny’s finger exercises. Czerny exercises build fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, necessary hand strength and dexterity necessary to play more difficult pieces later in their musical training. To be able to play songs by Beethoven, the child needs to know how to play different sequence of notes efficiently. Playing Czerny’s exercises pieces and etudes by other composes build the skills that allow the child to advance to more technically challenging pieces.

An example of an SLA in occupational therapy would be completing an obstacle course. This is an activity that develops body awareness, balance and gross motor skills necessary for navigating the world safely. By doing obstacle courses children develop muscle strength, endurance and balance whilst developing awareness for their body in relation to their surroundings and learning how to identify potential hazards. These skills allow a child to play without injury, ride their bike on the street, and participate in sports.

All three contexts (school, music lessons, occupational therapy) are led by a skilled instructor with extensive training. For school, it’s the teacher/tutor. In music lessons, it’s the music teacher. In occupational therapy, it’s the occupational therapist. The skilled instructor’s job in each of the contexts is to facilitate the learning of necessary skills and guide the child towards achievement of a series of goals.

School Classes, Music Lessons and Occupational Therapy Sessions all follow a similar process that can be broken down into the following parts:

1)     Gather information on what the child needs to do, wants to do, or is expected to do. This information can come from a variety of sources, the child, the parents, other teachers, medical professionals, etc.

2)     Observe/evaluate what the child can/(not) do.  Make note of the skills and abilities that the child does have, skills and abilities they currently do not have or could improve upon

3)     Create custom goals based on the information gathered from 1 & 2.

4)     Create/design a custom lesson plan/treatment to address the reasons why the child cannot do certain things. The lesson plan/treatment plan should be based on, and take advantage of, the skills the child does have.

5)     Execute lesson plan/treatment during the lesson/treatment session, guiding the child in the process to optimize learning.

6)     Assign homework for the child to practice with at home, outside of lessons/sessions. Teachers/Tutors assign homework. Music teachers assign specific pieces (or segments of pieces) to practice. Occupational therapists assign a home exercise program.

7)     In the following session, review the assignments with the student to observe what skills they have improved, what skills they have gained, and what skills still need to be worked on.

Adjust the lesson plan/treatment as necessary to advance towards goals. Modifications include increase/decrease/maintain difficulty, add extra components.

8)     Repeat 5-8 until goals are achieved.

9) Set new goals

The ultimate objective of school classes, music lessons, and occupational therapy is to improve a child’s quality of life by imparting them with useful skills through structured learning activities with clear objectives.