Joe’s* story

One of our therapists describes her work with a child at Bristol’s Children’s Hospital.

‘When I first started working with Joe he was on the Intensive Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital having had three cardiac operations and his parents felt he needed some stimulation as he was becoming extremely withdrawn and showing little interest in anything around him. He seemed suspicious of most people and very frightened. He showed his fear and anxiety by biting his lip causing it to bleed. At first he was so unwell he was unable to focus on me or on the instruments but his blood pressure and heart rate decreased while I was playing to him, suggesting he was enjoying the music.

Over the next few months I worked with Joe three times a week and despite him being in a critical condition several times following two more operations, we gradually built a relationship through the music sessions. As I began to gain his trust he became more actively involved. He was able to choose instruments for me to play by ‘eye pointing’ and the rainstick and glockenspiel were consistently his favourites. For the first six weeks of his music therapy Joe participated in sessions by listening to a wide range of instruments and songs and this seemed to relax him. Later on, however, he started to show an interest in playing the instruments for himself and this felt to be a real breakthrough and was a moving experience for his parents, his nurse and myself. Firstly he reached out purposefully to play the windchimes and the bells. Over the following weeks, as he gained strength, he gradually explored the instruments more and more, tapping the tambourine and drum with his hands and progressing on to holding a beater.

He made such a good recovery that he was soon allowed to go home and having never smiled or vocalised during the time that he was on the Intensive Care Unit, he left the Hospital looking and sounding like a typical happy and chatty toddler. His parents believe that his music sessions played a part in his recovery, primarily by providing him with emotional support at the most traumatic times but also in developing his hand and arm movements and in helping him to find his voice.’

* names and details have been changed to protect confidentiality