TRANSCRIPT - Recreation - Music with Dr. Anita Swanson

Hello, everyone. And thanks for coming today. Okay, Going here. Okay, so I am Dr. Anita Swanson. I am a board certified music therapist and I also work at the Texas Technology Access Program. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about that. Today we are going to talk about a lot about why we need to have music in our lives and the lives of our students because I think it often gets over looked because we're concentrating on so many other things. All the time. And then how we can make that happen. How can we help students access music? Add to enrich their lives. So a little bit about me. As I mentioned, I'm a born certified music therapist and so music therapy is a profession. And in the United States it requires a bachelor degree to practice. You go to school at a university for a. You have 1,200 h clinical hours before you graduate. Then you pass a board certification test to become board certified. Then you pass a board certification test to become board certified. In other countries it requires a master's degree, but here that's what we have. So, I've worked with lots of different folks over the years and, I went on to become a professor. That's where you see a picture of me with my sloppy professor hat on and while I was a professor I did research specifically in augmented and alternative communication within music therapy and then that led me to when here I moved here to Austin. To work at the Texas Technology Access Program, which is the assistive tech program for the state. So just a little bit about what we do. So that in case you haven't heard of us, our goal is to increase access for folks so that they can become more independent, have a higher quality of life. Our goal is to increase access for folks so that they can become more independent, have a higher quality of life, by providing them, helping them connect with technology that can make their easier and help them do things that they might not be able to otherwise it can give them more control over their environment and provide access different things like working, playing, going to school, all those things. So We say technology, but assistive technology also includes things that you don't always think of as tech. So it could be, you know, like pencil grips or it could be a wheelchair. Like, you don't necessarily think about it's being technology, cause it's not computer based, but. Anything that helps someone? Do something that they're not able to do on their own. Can be considered assistive technology. So. What we do is we have demonstrations centers throughout the state where people can go and try things out. And also talk to somebody about it. We recycle programs. We help people find funding. We have a loan library where you can check stuff out from our own bribery and we do have some music instruments in there that I'll be telling you about. Near the end. We have people learn about technology and of course provide resources. So on this slide, there's a picture of a magnifier in the upper right. There's a picture of a personal amplifier. In the middle and then at the bottom there is a picture of some communication systems. So those are like our 3 large categories that are often loaned out hearing. Vision and communication but we also are getting into other things such as recreational things which of course include music And we have like gaming and fishing and we're just constantly trying to expand. On different ways so that we can have assistive technology available for all quarks of someone's life, working employment stuff, school and living and having an enjoyable life. So. Okay, so. Go ahead. Oh. And I need, I'm sorry, before we go on, I apologize. I missed the doctor part by in your introduction, but TTAP also has a conference. Right, yes. Yes, and I have a slide for that with a QR code at the end. We do have a conference is in Austin and it is June, the eleventh and twelfth. So if you were looking for some more continuing education credits, it's a fantastic place to go for that and meet other people like minded people that are interested in technology. So yeah, thank you. Okay, so we're gonna start our trajectory into why music is so important for us and for our students. First of all, it is a universal human behavior that is found in all cultures. So it's always like the question is always like, why did we see develop? Well, there's gotta be something to it because it's everywhere and it helps us so much. And in fact, the entire person. Physically, which you can think of like just when you hear a song, you might start moving your body to it. She might start popping along or tapping your foot like that is a natural, We are naturally rhythm coming people. Emotionally, we often, connect things to music. So I'm assuming there's times in your life where you have heard a song and it like brings you back to a certain time when you had us heard that song, you associated it with it. You know, like when you're in high school or, you know, I have a side that whenever I hear it, it always makes me think about going to a football game when I'm in high school. But our musical memories are stored differently than other memories and it's like really strong and so we can use that for lots of different things. People that are losing their memory, the dementia or something like that, they still, have those music memories for a long time. So. And then cognitively our brain loves music so we can use this to our advantage in school and other places. The patterns inherent in music make it really easy to learn things too. I'm sure you've all learned your ABCs to the, you know, Twinkle Twake a lot of start, Melody, and other people there are lots of other things that capitals of states and all sorts of stuff. But if you put it to music. Your brain, we members that much easier. So, music greatly affects between people. You will see this probably whenever you go somewhere that there's music present. And I have an example of whenever you go somewhere that there's music present. And I have an example of this as far as being a. And I have an example of this as far as being a busy therapist when I'm working in like long term care. Oftentimes people wanna come visit their family members, but then they don't know what to do when they get there because their loved one doesn't remember who they are. All that stuff. But if you have music, you can structure and organize that time and they can interact meaningfully during that. You also probably notice the music will influence your mood whenever you are out somewhere. Your emotions. You have that, you know, you know, whether it be patriotic music or some kind of, or the graduation song, all those things, not only we have an association with it, but the music itself is affecting how we feel in that mode and it creates communities. So if you're part of any clubs like, the Rotary Club or Lions or I don't know. Fraternities, you know, everybody has a song and that helps people feel together. Feel like you're part of something greater than yourself. And connects you like gives you more of an identity. So the reason, why there is this whole profession of music therapy is that music affects the brain in so many different ways. Just talking or doing other things does and you can find videos about this online if you're really interested in it. I mean, just Google, you know, music by set the brain or different things like that. And you will see videos of how music effects all these different parts of the brain and that there's so much happening whenever you're listening to music or playing music. The more than one part of your brain is firing. And so of course we can use that to our advantage. When we're helping people. You know, do physical we have, helping to learn how to talk, walk. All those things as far as Many other stuff. And music has direct access to the limbic system. So if you remember back in your childhood days and learning about the limbic system. That is the part is sometimes called the reptilian brain or you know, it's our older brain, the brain stem. It controls a fight or flight response where your emotions are also controls your your things to keep you alive, your heart rate, your respiration rate, all of that stuff. And so that's really powerful, but there's direct access to that. So no matter what state somebody is in, you know, unconscious even or semi conscious they can still be affected by music because you don't have to have the higher brain activity going with that. And of course, music is motivating. I see some of you might use music when you do your exercising or maybe clinging the house or things that you don't necessarily love doing. If you put on some music, it makes it more enjoyable. It's also an exotic experience. And I think this is something we definitely need to think about for our students because whenever our students or someone else no, doesn't have as much access to life. They often get left out of these ecstatic experiences. And so it's really important for us to provide ways for them to still have that art enjoy in awe in their life. That other people could experience too. So it's I think it's really an important thing to remember. It's fun, of course, and another cool thing is it's predictable. Yeah, flexible, which sounds kind of strange, I know. Sounds like I'm saying 2 different things. But what I mean is that music is predictable because if you We all listen to music. Okay, so we may not always I'll be in the US. I don't know who all this to call but Western music. We're gonna say so that we're used to the patterns or used to how it sounds. So that's predictable for us. But yeah, we can also change it, which makes it really handy to use with some of our students. You might need some extra help, you know, schedules or maybe they get a lot of anxiety with something new, you can then use a song is familiar and then you know change the words in this situation to whatever is happening. Okay, comfortable and also be able to take on whatever's new. So if you have questions about that, we can talk about that. Separately, but it's just the music is such a great tool. For so many different reasons. And a bit of history. So just a little while ago I mentioned that music is present in every culture. And so there was an anthropologist, Allen Miriam who wrote a book, as you can see, 1964, the anthropology of music. And what he did is he went around and studied all these different cultures to figure out What things is music used for across society? So you came up with 10 different reasons. What music is used for in every culture. And so you can see it's a foster physical responses, communication to provide for emotional expression, to represent aspects of life and culture in a symbolic fashion to enforce conformity to social norms. To validate social institutions, contribute to the continuity of culture. And to facilitate social integration. Provide entertainment. And for aesthetic enjoyment. So, this is the music is used for these purposes of every culture on earth. And especially the last 2, I think sometimes we confuse the, enjoyment with entertainment, 2 separate things. So aesthetic enjoyment is actually, I don't know, like for me, whenever I go to an art museum or go to a concert, like I get this feeling of like, oh, you know, where's it? I'm just entertained, it's more, it's not that deep. It's not that profound. I guess I would say. But so just something to think about that, you know, music is present everywhere and we can use it. Positively for different things. So what are the easiest ones I mentioned was to foster physical responses. Moving dancing to music. Seemingly like we don't think too much about that one reason is as I said it's in made our body naturally moves. To music when we hear it. But also we can help students do these things. We can set up situations where they are being. Exposed to music and have opportunities to do this because it's really important. So, and you see on this side, it says rhythm and rhythm syncs and coordinated movements. So when we are moving in sync or the same time as somebody else, the same direction, the same time. Many other things happen. So there's some really cool research that shows this is just one example, but so say you have an adult pulling a And they are facing another person. And if they're moving, like they in sync, so they're both moving in the same direction. At the same time. Then they stop that. They don't close the tower down. A stranger comes into the room and drops something. The time I would go and pick up whatever's dropped and give it to the stranger. Yes, these go back to the movement part. If they're moving and they're not in sync, so they're either going opposite directions or they're not at the same time. Same things happen, they stop with the teler down, a stranger comes in the room and drop something. Were they likely to talk or would not pick it up? So this has been repeated multiple times in research and different things like this. So moving in sync with somebody, these 2 more approach social behaviors. So I think this is a pretty neat thing that we can incorporate in our classrooms and other places too. You know, I know a lot of people probably have like circle times or things where you're already somewhat using music, but if we add this movement. Aspect to it, are you in dancing, you know, together, all these different things that can really contribute to more pro social behaviors within our environments. I know that sounds a little bit out there, but there is research to support that. It's a pretty cool thing. And it's replicated several times. So And of course we know moving in sync also helps make things more efficient. So if you think about people that are, you know, rowing and a rowing team, you're moving at the same time, you're getting through the water faster. We see that happening in also like people that work in factories or do repetitive manual labor. If you guys, if you're all doing it at the same time. Things go faster that way. We also have to see more cooperation and also more generosity. When people move together. So pretty neat. I think in a lot of times we don't think about that. Perhaps, but it's just something really easy that we could do to be implementing some more drastic effects. Other things, mentioned we're innately with like, we can also change our respiration and heart rates. With music and of course, that takes a little bit more skill, but when we see that our students, are having a hard time, maybe they're depressed and are not getting stimulated enough to do their work or the opposite where they're kinda we would make say like out of control and then we wanna call them down so that they can sit. So we can do this emotionally, but we can also actually help them as far as their body changing. So their body is affected by music. And remembering those things are controlled by your limbic system, which is directly affected. And something else. I have a gov skin response on here. That's like how much moisture is on your skin. Usually the more moisture is on your skin happens when you are anxious, such as another way to measure happy, affected by it, but also dopamine. So dopamine is something, it's like the feel good. Chemical. So when you listen to music, dopamine is released in your brain, which means it's gonna make you feel good and it's also like a reinforcer. So when we pair music. With some of the things that we might do throughout our day, we're being reinforced. Chemically with that and also, with every word center in our brain. So it's a really powerful thing. Okay, so we can use, to, to take communication. I use this a lot for some folks who might not. Have an efficient communication system yet and we're searching for it so you might be searching for just making a connection with a student. And, I've used music and how to, like, Teach that give and take and you know, I do something and something happens a stimulus response those building boxes of communication and then build on from there, you know, transferring them to a communication system, you know, such as like tactile symbols or something like that where they can use that beginning their attention. First with music and learning some of those basic concepts of communication. Of course we can use it to facilitate social integration, bringing people together. This is really helpful in our classrooms or anytime we have a large group of people, especially if they don't feel connected. Using music in different ways can help them feel as part of a group. It can motivate people to do things and then again reinforce them. For doing the things that we want, which sounds really controlling, of course, but we use this in an ethical way to, bring people together to motivate them to do stuff and then give them positive reinforcement. All that can be done with music. So, not only are you bringing people together, they will feel more connected to each other when you use music, but you're connected to them in the shared experience. And so often we don't have that anymore, particularly as our world is moving, you know, more virtual. But it gives us a sense of being part of something greater than ourselves. And it also gives us a sense of this group identity. So that I am part of. This group, we are doing the same things and I'm getting, you know, my body is rewarding me for that. But in my mind is rewarding me for that. And then I will also emotionally feel good about it. So. I think it's really important to really think about how we can use music effectively within our classrooms and within the different environments we are. And with that, also not playing music all the time. Because that is actually not effective. We want to like really choose different times when we might need the benefits of music. And then thinking carefully about how we're going to implement that so that it is effective. Because you just play music all the time, but you just. Buck it out, right? It's like that clock ticking. When you first walk into the room, you get a clock today and then after that you don't. Same kind of thing with music. Even though music is amazing and wonderful, it will use it, loses effectiveness if it's there all the time. So we really want to think about when to use it. And I think about our students, you know, that might be really struggling to find their way in the world or find out who they are or connect with people and find friends and find out who they are or connect with people and find friends and make fend groups, connect with people and find friends and make fend groups. Using is a really important thing. It can be helpful in groups. Using is a really important thing. It can be helpful in that situation too. It can be helpful in that situation too. So if you think about just like teenagers, you know, music is really a critical. Thing the team managers do together, right? They all have their music and and it's probably not the same music that you listen to, you know, and it might, it might seem strange, but that's how they like how we inform their identity. Is through some of their music choices as well as body with their friends and because it's creating that like this is us this is who we are and they're trying to figure that out. So it's pretty powerful that way and we can use that within schools and other environments. In a positive way to help kids form friendships and bond with other people. So. Something that's free. For many people that have a voice that you could that speaks itself would be singing singing is free for those of us who can use our voices. If you can't use your voice, you can actually sing to technology such as some of the communication things you learned about like I record people singing and then folks use that, you know, switch, they hit the switch and then it sings, or also there have been some AAC, augmentative and alternative communication. Wires takes a little bit more planning and alternative communication wires, takes a little bit more planning, it's set up, but I have seen it work. So that's pretty cool that folks can you know, takes a little bit more work to happen, but it still has a lot of really positive effects. Of course, bringing people together. Having them sharing that experience. So singing, I use this a lot whenever, well, you know, when I'm talking about music there, obviously, but just bringing people together, like you go into this room and you don't know anyone there and there's like 200 people there and you're all by yourself. If we sing a group song, suddenly, you feel more connected to other people on there. And is going to call you and relax you in most cases. So I often tell teachers or parents or any who gets frustrated with other people that to consider singing to them like you've told your you've told your child, you know, 10 times they go clean their room or whatever and you know the 11 time you're quite frustrated perhaps maybe you have greater patience that could be. But then you start singing, please clean your room and suddenly it's just so much better. First of all, the child is actually probably going to pay attention to you and do it much better. First of all, the child is actually probably gonna pay attention to you and do it perhaps. I'm just gonna guess that they completion. But secondly, it is really difficult to be mad at somebody in seeing at the same time. So give it a try. And see, maybe you're the outlier that can be angry. Sing at the same time, but I'm singing it's gonna bring you that dopamine is gonna make you happier. And so it's automatically gonna call you down and make you feel better. Oh, nice. Thank you for putting that in the chat. Hillary, how you posted Dr. Colbert or orchestrating an agreement with Singh at the Getting in Touch with Literacy Conference earlier this month. Fabulous. So you probably have already experienced some of this effects. Wonderful. So singing, also there's a lot of research out there that singing for yourself can reduce your anxiety level and make you calmer. So if you seen just 10 min, I can't remember it's 10 or 15 min. One of those 2. I'm pretty sure, but, between 10 and 15 min a day, your anxiety level will be a lot lower. So if you feel yourself getting stressed out with the holidays at the end of the semester time. In your day, whether that be in the shower, the car, wherever you are. I think, Bring down your anxiety. So we're gonna actually gonna do a little bit of singing today. This picture is from the movie scene. If you haven't seen it, there's nothing to. Hello this movie. Yeah, it's really fun and so we're gonna just sing a song that I think you guys will know jingle It sounds, for yourself. And let's see what happens. Okay. Does she know? Hey, it's fair. It's fun. Oh, nice. We will do that one more time in case you guys somehow forgot jingo notes but it might have happened. Nice. We will need that one more time. In case you get it, somehow forgot, you know, I'm forgotten about, but it might have happened with you over time. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, She went back and Okay, so how are you feeling now? Compared to earlier, Anybody wanna put in their chat? Or if you had an association with that song. Yay. Yeah, so you know the 3 o'clock hour. I'm glad, Don't. I made this a tech T time because 3 o'clock hours typically an hour where you start going well at least. You might be getting a little drowsy about this time, really looking forward to the end of the day. Yeah. So yeah, thank you. Okay, so the, me,'s implementing some music and those times where you're starting to get tired, even just listening to it. Like if you're not able to fixing aloud, you could of course I think everybody would love to hear you sing. But if you even just do listen earbuds, like if you're in a cubicle or something. It's gonna help pick you up a little bit and make you feel better. Yes, thank you, Jay Perry. Make me feel better, happy, really great. So not only you want to, experience experience for our students and the folks that we work with, but also for ourselves because the better, happier we are. The more energy and enthusiasm we're gonna be will share with other people. So. Something to think about as you go through your day, maybe have some little music breaks. Kind of like some self care breaks for yourself. And then thinking about music again for our students so we could help them, you know, feel better. Make friends more easily, but it's also helps us music is structured and predictable, which I mentioned a little bit about before. So because it's structured, it can help people for common. Call or and feel more safe, secure. So like I will use music if I know that I have a student that's really anxious. I'm gonna use music in those situations. I have the phone call and I'm gonna use the song that's familiar to them and one that they like. So that they would know it and that they feel secure and have a positive relationship with it. You could provide structure so you can give that ground mean within ever this anxious time would be to help someone feel better. It's also Good. Sorry, Anita. This is Donna. I love that you've put in this out because that's I am the worst singer ever But some of my students. Huh? Loved it. And we used it as part of their, I was part of their schedule as part of the structure for their transitioning. To reduce some of that anxiety and prepare them for that next step. And it became an anticipatory activity. In there in their schedule and that song would help so much even though you know I just embraced the fact that I'm an awful singer and for some reason they liked it. But it made such an easier transition for some of our kids that are so stressed out with transition. Right. Yeah, I think I really appreciate you saying that, and I also appreciate you bringing up the fact that you think that you are not a good singer because I'm sure that you are just fine. But so the more we sing, the more we sing, the more we sing, the more we sing, the more we sing the more, we feel we're confident in it and get better. But I do wanna bring it, like if you think that you sound really terrible, this is to everybody. Kids really don't care. I mean, they really, like you said, they the fact that you were singing to them. That is amazing, you know, and it's like I tell this to parents and kids and parents all the time. Like there, especially if they have a child that's having a hard time attaching sing to them. Doesn't matter if your voice sounds, if it truly sounds awful, it doesn't matter because seeing is just the special thing. And can you, I mean, just, we can't really remember this, but maybe you could, if someone ever sings to you. Oh my gosh. It's like, it's like having your name spoken to you, the same kind of thing. So, Nice, okay, so there's some good things. The chat as far as feeling, you know, singing and obviously I will say I'm a music therapist and I don't enjoy singing. For, they're not like, I'm gonna say, I would never seen like the national anthem. I gotta wanna do that. Like my singing has to have a purpose, you know, it's for me to feel better or it's for a national anthem. I gotta wanna do that. My singing has to have a purpose, you know, it's for me to feel Okay, so okay, we also have some good comments about rhythmic crapping nice to encourage transition of walking, death, using that over singing. Okay. Like that. Yes. So clapping with them, definitely. Great. And the really cool thing about that is that you were completely structuring that time. You're making it and you are actually not only structuring it but you are encouraging people to walk at the speed that you want them to do because it's really hard for us to not walk that way. Like if I love seeing this whenever like songs come on in the grocery store or something and suddenly in everyone changes their space because they just adapted to the beat of the music. So yeah. Oh, nice. Oh yes, okay, so yes, playing music in between periods and fast pace to keep kids moving and have the, very nice. So these are great ideas. Awesome. Awesome. Okay, so. Donna is already helped us with the, using music for transition transitions. So the cool thing is that you can take it anywhere you are. You know, because you don't have a singing voice. Whether you think that or not, you do. And it's really great for new situations, new places. Because you have this thing that you already know. As well as you can use it for carrying information for doing tasks such as, you know, Washing your hands, making sure you use this soap in water. And dry them off. You can put all that into a song and like help people. And that way, wherever they go and need wash their hands, they have this song to do it. So it's just a really great medium for lots of different things. As well as helping folks to remember to interact with others and gives them a way to do that. Gives them a little prompt to remind them that, oh yeah, I'm here to do that. Gives them a little prompt to remind them that, oh yeah, I'm here to make some friends or whatever. And then, you know, prompt to remind them that, oh yeah, I'm here to make some friends or whatever. And then, you know, we can go a step beyond by using music for your identity and all of that. So you experience this a little bit with just, your emotion might have shifted a little bit. And made a little bit more brighter. Well, that your emotion might have shifted a little bit, and made me a little bit more brighter. I'm not feeling as lethargic is perhaps you normally do at 3 o'clock. Maybe you're, why don't you, maybe you're, why don't you, but. We can use music for this reason to shift attention and shift people's emotions. Just in the way, it's a mimic system, but also because I mentioned earlier about how music is your musical memories are different than your other memories. And so because of those associations, your musical memories are different than your other memories. And so because of those associations, we can use it in different ways. So everybody is affected by music and we can use that to our students advantage. Whenever they are in classes. One thing I wanted to point out here and Hillary and I'm music there is this on this chat. And we also have known this word called the ISO principle. We use this lot of music therapy as far as changing people's emotions and getting them in a different place in place that they want to be. But you can think about it also when you're with your students and other people. So that what the answer is, is that if I had somebody who is like, We'll go with that out of control. And I wanted them to be calm because they need to take this test in 10 min. I'm in a match, they're out of control, this, their loudness, their erratic behavior, their energy. I'm gonna match that and I'm gonna gradually change it. To be calm and focused. And I can do this with music. But I, wanted to mention it here is because sometimes when our students might be playing this really loud or you know forceful music. That might be what they need at the top. It'll be like, oh no, turn that down. That's their way of not only expressing their emotions, getting that energy out, but then we can gradually help them transition to something more calm or vice versa. If we hit this 3 o'clock time and we're like super tired and we know that we still have to do the spelling test and you know we have to then we want to like use music to get people more excited, raise their awareness and get them be well ready to focus. So we can do both ways. And I know that we have lots of those things happening throughout our day where we need to be ready to do something. So yeah, so just to think about that. And then as far as school goes, and other things, I mentioned how your brain loves patterns and it loves the form. This music is in. So this is a way that it helps us remember things much more easily. It also is a great way to learn things because just like it's really hard to be angry and singing at the same time. The same kind of idea goes with music because it's music is funnier, not really a word, but more fun. You, you can do those repetitions of things that you need to learn the information that you have to have. If you put it to music, it's so much more fun. And allows you to be able to learn the information that you have to have. If you put it to music, it's so much more fun. And allows you to be able to do multiple repetition. Same thing with like PT. If you have to go to the physical therapist or anything like that, which is not, you know, super exciting or something maybe. Maybe your piece is exciting, but you have to do all these repetitions. Oh, do that 20 times. Okay, great. But if I put music, all right, now I can do it 20 times so much easier. And then we won't go into why that is the case, but it is the case. So there you go. Yes, Donna, thank you. Upbeat high speed music. It's how much you get done clean so much faster than if you were not using music. Yes. That's the only way I get help around my house. That's clever. There you go. You're also, you're bringing people in. Nice. Yay, way to go. Okay. Okay, so music grabs people's attention. That's also something I say a lot for if you're trying to get someone's attention and they're not responding to you, you know, you've said their name, they said their name, they're not looking at you, they're not engaging with you, they're not engaging with you, sing their name. Sing to them and see what happens when that happens. Okay, so going back to this list of the 10 different ways that music is used in every culture of the world. What are some of these? Maybe one or 2 ways that you already use music in your life or in your classroom? If you just want to pop it into the chat. Or maybe he thinks like, oh, I want to incorporate it this way. I want to do something. Help me out in this situation. John has mentioned it for cleaning. Does anyone else like go to an exercise class or use music at home when you're exercising? We're being very private about our uses and music. Okay. It could be different things for different people, that's for sure. Yes. Okay, so some tips and tricks about, oh, here we go. Here we go. Help students learn a routine. Awesome. Communication, wonderful. Yes. Yeah, and is that you know that famous quote about how music, communicates what cannot be said. And so it's a great way for people to connect. And so it's a great way for people to connect. They might not have the words for how they're feeling or what happened or whatever, but you can relate to music. Playing this for your daily walks, very nice. Assign to teach the dots for each ground letter. Whoa! That's great. To go time, singing, Matt, nice. Oh, you guys are so good. I bet everybody's gonna want that song for the Braille letters, so that's great. We can definitely use that. Perfect, thank you all for sharing. I appreciate that math. Yeah, and it's not everyone's friend, so I appreciate that. Making how people feel better at it. Okay, so some tips and tricks. One would be tactile markers. I'm assuming you're all familiar with these already, but they're just like plastic like little stickers that you can attach to different things to help you locate and tell you what they are. You can also get those markers that, you know, speak out loud to tell you what things are as well. Are we probably use that with some of the stuff. As far as there's a picture of an auto hard on the screen. A picture of an auto hard on the screen. I'll be sure to share an auto hard on the screen. I'll be sure of our. And then here's that too. So I wouldn't put my tactile markets and then different core things because the way in auto how markets and the different core things because the way in auto hard works as you push down the corn button and that makes only the strings that are in that cord. Sounds. So when I push this, down, and I strum at the same time, it's gonna give me, you know, a C chord or a or a different chord and nice in music. So I love the auto harp. I put this under instruments with lots of feedback. I often use this with kids who are both blind and deaf. That's it on the web. And they can feel the feedback through this. Of the instrument as well as the strings. And it's easier to play because there's not so many you have to, you know, you just have to. Use your finger to push the button or you can I could do that and they can strum while I'm doing it. And then you can strum, either with a regular guitar pick or, I mean, there's like some huge picks you can use or even a doorstop. Like there's rumbling doorstops that you can get for like 97 cents. I use that a lot for folks who have trouble grasping things. So that's one thing. You can find, probably at a fifth store. I mean, you can actually buy them for real, they're still making them of course, but you can also find them at a thrift store, you know, or as a little shops sales people might have, you know, maybe the grandma had one and they don't know what it is and they're getting rid of it and you're like, oh, you can get a really great deal on it. That can be the case. Here's another way, instruments, it's called the Kabasa. You might have heard these before. So I love this instrument because it gives you a lot of feedback on your hands. Great sensory input. I would like to use it. For folks who need sensory input other places like their arms, their legs, their backs, wherever. But you can use separate drums, of course, we know about drums, drums give a lot of feedback. Easily and people generally like to play them. Past and then. Very loud sound for something that's so small. And it's easy to pull, you know, you just do this and do it. Other things that I Right, to Maraca's even? Easy to do. Good sound. This is the ocean drum coming. Whenever you carry an ocean drum in your car, you hear the entire trip, so be aware of that. This is Donna. I would rather the ocean drum than the switch penguin. Wow! That's sings the hello hello hello song. Oh my gosh! That sounds That going that going off in your trunk every time you hit a bump is traumatic. If you're awake, that's for sure. I don't, I don't, we don't have an auto, program, but that is a great idea. We can maybe, I can see it back in and I have one right here that. Hmm. I ideas, of course we saying jingo bells, but for kids that and I have trouble holding on to something. This one has Velcro. There's other things like this too. We could, to their wrist or their ankle especially if you're doing that synchronized movement or dancing. Also, like if you're already playing the drum or the auto harking, it's like this. No shaker. It's on your finger to go with that movement. We missed turkey time, but little shakers like this. Sounds silly. Get people's attention! Hey, can you very motivating? Like if you get to be the student in your class, you get to do it. Oh yeah, suddenly everyone wants to be you. And then here's another one I think it gives them really good feedback and has a nice vibration. This is a different version of a euro. You can see it is screens along these. But there's often different versions of this. So I just look for things that are easier to play. And then not only are gonna have some sound, this is gonna be fun, but it might also give some vibration. That. Tactile sensation. It's helpful. So. Yeah, that was when I saw a frog. There's so many different things out there for sure. So that's like instruments instruments that you would find in an instrument store. But if we also go online, so oops, oh no, this mouse just gets away from me sometimes. So here's a couple of things. People love to play guitar and guitar is such an instrument, especially for folks in the teenage years or twin years where you really can make a lot of friends if you play guitar. But it might be a little bit hard, you know, so there's a couple links here will take you to the easy cord, which is a device you can put on your. Your guitar to make it easier so you don't have to do all the chord changes you just can do it with like pushing a button or 2. It's like 4 balance I think total, that will help with that. So someone who might have limited hand motion could do that as well as maybe it's, you know, when you first learning guitar, usually people are looking at the strings. Eventually you'll have that muscle memory so you don't have to look at the strings. Oh, look at Donna is. On top of it and putting the links in the chat. Thank you. Donna. Alright, and record buddy is another way to make playing guitar easier. So of course, everyone you can learn to play a guitar as is too, but. You know, back in the days when rock band or the we was really popular, I was trying to teach guitar to some kids and they were very frustrated that, you know, learning actual guitar takes much more work. So sometimes these other ways are just, you know, good things to have in your back pocket for sure. Okay. These 2 that I listed here are available from our own library. And so they're I think I'm gonna click on that link. Let's see. Is you could use this. Okay, are you seeing the Arcanna website? No, you're not. Oh, I did not share correctly. Okay, well. Never mind, then. So there is, this instrument that you can use. It has like a knob that you would use instead of strumming on a guitar and it has buttons to push so it's really simple. Yeah, click on the link yourself. Sorry I shared my screen incorrectly. So we're taking to from here. But there's lots of different ways that you can adapt that to lots of different numbers that you could use. I'm just say like a handle or not, however you want to say. And you can also get some buttons. So it comes with like 3 buttons, but you could do it with just 2, adoption for that. So, And you can, make it sound like a guitar. You can make it sound like a piano. We can sounds like something else, I think, but those are the main things that I've used. And then, Scooby is first of all fine to say. Secondly, super easy. So this is, it's just essentially, it's kinda like if you're familiar with switches, it's kind of like that. So it's about one thing with these different buttons on the side. Bar so people can push them easily. Yes, electronic. So lots of, you, it's also a great way to kind of work on using switches as well. I would say because you get some really good immediate feedback from that musical feedback, which is going to reinforce you for doing that. So you can check these out from our loan library. I think you Donna for putting all those links in the. Chat. I'll remind you that anyway in the state of Texas can check out stuff from our loan library. We go ship it to and from for free, which in these days. It's a lot of money, so. Yes, use our loan library because your tax dollars are paying for it. Your federal tax dollars are paying for it. And you can have it for 35 days. So it's really great because you know, you can see if you, if this is really gonna work for any of your students. In that way they don't invest their money, but doesn't work. So see if it works for one of your students or yourself and then see if you want to purchase one. We don't sell anything. We only connect you to it and then, you know, tell you where you can buy it if you want to. Check this out from my library. You may be thinking how in the world am I gonna learn how to play music if I am have some visual issues. If I can't, you know, we always think of music as being like sheet music and that's not really the case, right? But music is what we make. But sometimes people learn by this sheet of paper like notes on it. So how are we gonna do that? So I often teach people just by rote about learning things and or playing for them and then they listen with their ear and play it back and we will go back in short phrases to do that. And do a short phrase, and then eventually put more of those races together. And do it. Listen to recordings and playing that way. You can also help people by physically prompting them. Like helping them show where their fingers are supposed to go or if they know like say they're playing in an ensemble and how are they supposed to know when it's their turn? Because usually the conductors in the front of all of these people and it might be very hard to see the conductor. So might just have somebody else just, you know, maybe touch in their elbow or their shoulder, giving them a prompt when it's their turn to play when it is they're supposed to play. I've also seen this happen. In a group like where people had like. So same bell choir, maybe you're familiar with a bell choir where everybody rings a bill. A different bill. So you can have a light ball, a small white ball in front of that person if the present can see the light. To know when is their turn to play that the white ball comes on. Again, as far as advanced planning, of course, and then you have to have somebody running the light bulbs. But same idea as far as like you could have a little something for them to sit on that might shake. That would end then that it's their time to play. You know, lots of different ways to work it out. It just requires some thought. And what does that person respond to? What's going to track their attention and then getting it done in time so that they can play when they're supposed to play within the group. Other things that you might try, these are, apps that you can download. As you can see, I listed 5 of them. The last 4 are free, but you know, they have the free within app purchases. So Just say, you know, how they do that. So the first one now is $4 now. And I think this is a great app for people. They just wanna have fun and just relax because what happens is you have your screen, you can hit anywhere on the screen and it will, it will make a sound. And it will also create this little like artwork display, you know, like, or whatever. So it's, it's a relaxing thing to do. But also you can't go wrong with this. Whatever you do is going to sound good. So. Might be something creative to try. When you're, you know, making a long car trip or something. Magic Piano, is a way for you, you know, like play piano, but with your iPad or phone. Same thing with your iPad or phone. Same thing with Air Harpard or phone. Same thing with Air. HARP is going to look a little bit like that on a Harper's iPad or phone. Same thing with Air Harp. Air Harper is gonna look a little bit like that on a harp, as far as the strings going. Beat wave, is a way to make some beats. So pretty popular with kids. So pretty popular with kids. You know, everyone wants to have their cool beats to perform too. So pretty popular with kids. You know, everyone wants to have their cool beats to perform too. So Beat Way is free as well as drum pad machine. Oh, I'm pretty sure that's free as well as drum pad machine. Oh, I'm pretty sure that's free and I put free on here, but I think it is. But anyways, so, J, machine, you can do beats, but you can also make different sounds for the beats and then it like loops over and over again. So you can create this really cool sounding. Piece of music or it's musical experience very easily just by your hands and you can't go wrong like nothing's gonna sound bad on the DREAM HAN machine or I'm bloom like those are actually the 2 that I'd recommend the most out of the ones that are this on this line just for things that people can use to make a really cool sounds. That are, virtually, you're not able to make a mistake. So. There are no mistakes to be made, I should say. Yeah. So check out this app if you are interested in some apps. And here is the information on our conference. You're definitely welcome to come join us. It is at the pickle research campus which is right across from the domain. So if you want to get your shopping in also. It remains upon place to be in Austin. June, eleventh and twelfth, we have multiple CEUs available for, so basically whoever you are, there's probably a CEO available for you. And Also, please submit a session. Our theme this year is transition. But of course we'll take anything related to assistive technology, particularly in regard to transitions. So make your session by February, the first. And if you want an early burn rate, that's also February first. And if you have groups of more than 4 or more people from the same school or whatever, then you get a discount. So. All that information you can find out by scanning that QR code or going to our website. So here's my contact information, my email and also our website for TTAP. Feel free to contact me. We will be going on break for sure between Christmas and New Year's. But otherwise should be able to get. Through easily. I'll come back to the slide a second, but I will tell you that, we are funded as I mentioned earlier by the Assistant Technology Act and so every state in territory of the US has a program like ours. So if you have family members living in other states, they should have something that's like TTAP. But respect to their state. Sorry. Yeah, thank you. What questions do you guys have? You're welcome. Awesome. Thank you so much, Anita. Appreciate that. Yeah, I went to the conference last year. I'm on the committee with you guys so it's awesome. Thank you. Yay! So yeah, it's a great conference. So excited for this year's conference. You see, I'm going to share my screen here. Okay. If you could drop for me. And we will wrap up our stuff because I know everybody's waiting for that. Favorite code. First, I wanted to share with you guys a new thing that went up for Perkins. Is the, Perkins compass. It's a 9 month virtual program. For college inspiring. High school students with visual impairments. To help them proactively explore and develop a plan for getting those critical skills they need for post-secondary goals. So this is a great new resource that's that has come down. So excited about that. Check it out at the Perkins website. Got to do a shameless plug here. TAER 2024. You'll see this. I didn't mean to put that this is what I posted on the Facebook page, but this is what I posted on the Facebook page that we are now taking nominations for TAER O words. This for our folks that are in Texas. So if you're not in Texas, so want to come visit us at our conference. Welcome to it. It's going to be April fourth through the sixth in San Marcos at the embassy suites. Please. Goodness gracious, I just lost words. Please. Nominate someone for a scholarship or an award for our TA ER conference if you have somebody that you want to recognize. Alright, here's our mark the calendars really quickly. We're in any up the year with Stephanie Walker, she's going to give our AP H. Just going to be our APH update. Have a got to the code yet and and is my screen not sharing? The. Presentation link I will put in the. Chat right now, you can get it either from my website. Or by direct download. After the holidays, we are looking to have. A CBI month. So we've got January eleventh, CBI with our outreach staff. I've seen the preview of their presentation looking forward to it to definitely mark your calendar for that one January eighteenth is new tech feature with the Envision glasses and Bob B from Envision. This our new AI technology that's been added to our envision glasses, which are amazing. If you haven't checked out the new coming since sensibility. There will be an article in there about those. January 20 fifth, we're going to have parent. A parent TSVI perspective. So this is a TSVI who is a parent and I don't have names on here for everything yet, but I do have names of all our presenters. In February we are going to talk behavior so we have laying peth coming in, Emily leaper with proactive behavior strategies. February 20 s is Texas focus so we will not have a session and then on the 20 ninth You'll definitely want to mark your calendar. We have Dr. Tina Hertzberg, Susan Oscar House, Sarah Larkin and Dr. Penny Rosenbloom. Coming in to talk about math, nymph code step by step guide. So all the good. Stuff that goes into teaching nymph. So. So excited about that one. Your code is. 1 5 3. 6 7 9 that is the end code for today's session. Everybody have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you next week for our last tea time for this year. And be safe. Take care of yourself. Enjoy some music.