Tampa Day School uses music as therapy

Kindergartners and first-graders at Tampa Day School are learning social and communication cues in an unorthodox manner.

Joanne Salmon, director of performing arts at the school, is using the music therapy program Tuned In To Learning to teach the children how to make eye contact and learn to understand expressions.

The school, which caters to students with mild to moderate learning disabilities, started the program in September.

"These are kids where socially they don't fit in, but through the music program it helps make them glow," said Salmon, who has worked at the school for six years.

Salmon starts each class with an overview of some of the program's learning techniques.

She then gives the students with a worksheet to go along with the song that will be featured in class. The worksheets provide animal, instrument and food examples that the children can implement when initiating a conversation. Then Salmon plays a catchy song while the students attempt to have conversation involving eye contact and asking what is the other student's favorite food or animal.

"It sounds simple for us," Salmon said, "But this teaches students to learn to respond."

After one song, Salmon will jump to another skill, such as learning facial expressions. She'll play another song as the students go through a series of facial expressions to help identify what a person who is sad or happy looks like.

"This (music) keeps them enraptured in what we are doing," she said.

The class sizes are small at Tampa Day School, which offers Salmon an opportunity to go over the skills with the students one-on-one to ensure they understand. Salmon said that since starting the program she has noticed a difference in the children. And, she said, their parents also have seen a difference.

"The joy that I have is that I can see where they were before," she said. "It's a little change, but it's huge in their life."