How are you? It’s a question we often say or hear in passing, but sometimes we don’t give much time to the answer. It seems like life is pretty challenging these days and with school back in full force, our schedules just seem to be hectic at times. As a music therapist, no matter what age group I am working with, it’s always important to me to ask my client(s) how they are doing in that moment of time. Because life can be so hectic, kids don’t often get to share just how they are feeling at any given time. Or sometimes I hear how my client is doing from a parent so it could actually differ from what the client would say. Even though I see my clients virtually, there are ways that kids can share how they are feeling, without having to use words, but this can be challenging. I actually incorporate the questions, “how are you?” into my hello song so we cover it right at the beginning. The majority of my hello song has a good amount of movement to it to get my client up and moving, so I wanted to incorporate another way the client could physically share how they are feeling. As a result, I thought of an outline of a face with the question, “how are you feeling?” at the top. During my telehealth session, I can share my screen and allow the client to draw how they feel on the screen. It’s a fairly simple approach, so it’s not overly complicated for the client to follow. I hope this can be of use in your sessions, both in-person and virtually! As always, let us know how it goes. We love to hear from you!

Sara Chigani, MA, MT-BC