Music therapy can make a difference for students with disabilities

From The Florida Times-Union:

Amanda Hunter, 11, is a typical middle-schooler, sporting a Jonas Brothers backpack and gushing over the group.

But for Amanda, music holds more meaning than a simple boy-band crush.

"Music helps me with multiplication," the wheelchair-bound Amanda said with a proud smile. "Music is awesome. I learn a lot from it."

Amanda is one of 250 special-needs students at Cunningham Creek Elementary School, the largest program for ESE, exceptional student education, in Northwest St. Johns County. She is also part of the music therapy program at Cunningham Creek, the only school in the county that offers it, said Principal Betsy Wierda.

Music therapist Minda Gordon (pictured) said this is the fourth year since she began the program at the school and she has seen drastic changes in students such as Amanda.

"There were students who we didn't even think could talk. Now they dance and sing," Gordon said. "We found that if you raise the bar for these students, they'll jump it."

The program is funded by Ponte Vedra Beach's Cultural Center and St. Johns County's United Way.

Leigh Rodante, Cultural Center program director, said that in these tight economic times she is hoping to continue to find grants for the program.

"If not, we have a very strong board at the Cultural Center," she said. "We do everything we can to support this program."

Rodante said the Cultural Center recently won a grant to have Gordon hold workshops at 13 schools in St. Johns and Duval counties, including Webster Elementary School, the largest special needs site in southern St. Johns County.

Gordon is also traveling the nation, having just come from San Diego, speaking at conferences to tell other music therapists of her unique program.

"We have not been affected at all by the economy because we have such strong support from the Cultural Center. Our funding is unique," Gordon said. "Other schools want to know how they can do this."

Gordon has been a music therapist for 23 years. She began volunteering with Cunningham Creek's special needs children when her son became a student at the school.

Wierda immediately took notice.

"She was like a Julie Andrews with her guitar and singing with the kids," Wierda said. "I thought, 'I've got to get this lady here fulltime.' "

Gordon now sees more than 100 students at the school whose special needs range from autism to Down syndrome to cerebral palsy. She also meets with mainstream students who have social and behavioral issues.

In her classes, students dance, sing, learn sign language and other skills, such as math, while Gordon plays her guitar and leads the group in a song.

"Music makes such a difference in these kids' lives," she said. "They are amazing to watch."