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| Nolan Coats, age 4, and his mom Jennifer |
Children’s Music Fund provides Music Therapy that helps the entire family.
Music Therapy is a type of healing art whose
therapeutic benefits reach far beyond the individual patient. Not only does
music therapy benefit the patient, but family members consistently report its
many positive outcomes as well.
Music is one of the oldest, significant healing
tools in medicine. In the area of pain management, music provides distraction
and cognitive imagery to aid in relaxation. Therapeutic music can also help to
restore lost abilities such as speech, and expression
Just before his 2nd birthday, Nolan was diagnosed
with an autism spectrum disorder. “In addition, when he was young, he had fluid
in both of his middle ears and we decided not to get them drained because the
doctor said his muscles would be strong enough to push the fluid by the time he
was two.”
Nolan was very antisocial, wouldn't respond to his
name, was overwhelmed by too many people and would play by himself. His
parents didn't know if Nolan couldn’t hear because of the fluid, “but when we
had his ears checked and they were clear, his behaviors stayed the same.”
Nolan’s dad, Scotty Coats, produces music, when
Scotty would work on a remix, from the very start of the song, Nolan would stop
what he was doing and run to whatever source it was playing out of. He
only responded to music.
Nolan was non-verbal until about 3 1/2 years old.
Scotty and Nolan’s Mom, Jen started using the PECS system (Picture Exchange
Communication System) as well as teaching Nolan sign language and it was
working. They knew Nolan had the cognitive to communicate.
Jen and Scotty then reached out to Children’s Music
Fund (CMF) after hearing about the program from Miller’s Children’s and Women’s
Hospital where CMF provides music therapy 4 hours a week to inpatient children.
CMF matched Nolan to one of their Board Certified Music Therapist, Stacie. And
from there, the work began.
Like any other form of therapy, music therapy is an
active and creative partnership between a skilled musician/clinician who can
facilitate responsive therapy to meet certain goals, whether they are
physiological, emotional or psychological.
Since the brain is very complex, the verbal centers
are located in different part of the brain from the singing centers, when music
is performed and listen to, such as in music therapy, and not just in music
listening, almost all of the brain regions are lit up or active.
Stacie worked with Nolan on using his voice as an
instrument and making sounds, which eventually turned into words. Scotty
says, “I really feel she had a HUGE impact on his speech because of the
repetition and melody. Now when he speaks, his sentences are like little
songs with melody and dynamics.”
Because of his music therapy work over the year,
Nolan is able to verbalize his wants and needs, and actually communicate with
his family.
“I truly feel that Stacie helped with Nolan’s
anxiety of wanting to communicate but not being able to get the words out.
Music is the universal language and we are truly thankful for all CMF has
done for our family. I will never forget the first time I came home from
work and he looked at me and said, DADA!!”
This winter, at the CMF’s biggest fundraising gala,
Nolan and his music therapist, performed two of Nolan’s favorite songs, “The
Car Song” and “Rockin’ Robin”, in front of over 200 supporters. This sold-out
event gala was held at the Pacific Palisades home on Don and Sarah Griffin,
long-time CMF supporters. Mr. Griffin is the founder of West LA Music, and
former president of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).
The Children’s Music Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization whose mission is to provide musical instruments and music therapy
to children, adolescents, and young adults with chronic conditions and
life-altering illnesses, and to support research on the effects of music
therapy.
For more information please visit: www.thecmf.org
Photo Credit: Cynthia Lum
