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Making music, making friends: Long-term music therapy with young adults with severe learning disabilities

This collaborative practitioner research study emerged from music therapists’ concerns about the value of improvisational, music-centred music therapy for young adults with severe learning disabilities (SLDs), given the long-term nature of such work. Concerns included the relevance, in this context, of formulating, and reporting on, therapeutic aims, development, change; and working in ‘goal-oriented’ way. Focus groups with the young adults’ families and a range of professionals suggest that, rather than leading to developmental change, long-term shared therapeutic musicking provides young adults with ongoing opportunities for experiencing confidence and self-esteem, with feelings of shared acceptance and success, and also provides young adults and their families with opportunities for developing and sustaining friendships. In addition, families experienced meeting other parents and carers in the communal reception area as supportive and countering their isolation. Focus groups assigned intrapersonal, relational and social values to long-term music therapy for young adults with SLDs.