Today, I have two more simple ideas for quick and easy song writing in a music therapy session!
With some of my clients working on both academic and speech goals, Mad Libs are a great way to get them participating. I either look for free online Mad Libs I can print, use this online resource in my session, or create my own story. I then have clients fill in the appropriate type of word to complete the story. To make it musical, we keep a steady beat, add appropriate instrumentation, identify instruments that go with the story, or add a simple melody and chords. This has been a great way to work on articulation, rate of speech, and academic concepts with a couple of my clients.
Another simple thing we have done is writing out rhyming words on strips of paper, then arranging them in a way that makes some sense, adding filler words as needed. To make it musical we add a beat and simple melody. We then rearrange the words to create the second line of our song. Again, this was a wonderful intervention for working articulation, sequencing, rate of speech, and academic concepts.