Adults with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities & Music Therapy

Written By Anna Laura McAfee, MMT, MT-BC

Health services, therapies, and social programs for people with disabilities often focus on children and early intervention services. It can be difficult to find resources, programs, or social events after people become teenagers and adults. However, the need for these extracurriculars and/or therapeutic opportunities doesn’t diminish as they transition into adulthood; if anything it is more important than ever to continue to address social and emotional skills. 

Music therapy can provide a space for adults with disabilities who enjoy music to socially engage with peers and other community members and to practice autonomy, emotion regulation, and independence. In individual sessions, adults can work to develop their self-identity, autonomy, and self-determination through a client-directed approach where the client chooses songs and/or instruments, writes songs, and guides the session. This can be particularly beneficial to adults with disabilities who may not have many opportunities to practice decision-making or make choices in their day-to-day life. 

Group music therapy also provides a unique opportunity for adults to come together with peers and practice social skills, make music together, and practice making decisions and autonomy when there are other people’s opinions to consider. In an article by Ansdell (2005), the author mentions how group music therapy can be used to provide performative opportunities for adults with disabilities. Group music therapy can provide people with the opportunity to learn how to prepare and organize a group performance or project and then share those with the community, teaching individuals how to be their own advocate.

Overall, music therapy can promote overall quality of life by having a regularly scheduled activity where a person chooses and listens or plays along to the music they enjoy. It can be an opportunity for people to practice social skills by talking about, creating, or sharing music with each other. But most importantly, music therapy can provide a space for adults with disabilities to fully be and express themselves.

Anna Laura McAfee, MMT, MT-BC

Hiya! I’m Anna Laura, a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) in Nashville, TN. I’m from Western Arkansas, which is where I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of Central Arkansas with minors in interdisciplinary studies and psychology. During my bachelor's degree, I completed research on using music therapeutically with older adults with dementia and their family caregivers. In August 2018, I began the music therapy equivalency and master’s degree program at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. During the equivalency portion of my studies, I explored individual and group-based music therapy in older adult residential facilities, special education classrooms, after-school programs for teenagers, adult medical settings, and residential facilities for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD). In December 2020, I completed my internship at Opportunities for Positive Growth in Marion, Indiana, where I provided individual and group music therapy for children, teenagers, young adults, adults, and older adults with I/DD, autism, and neurocognitive disorders.

After internship, I returned to Appalachian State to complete my master’s degree in music therapy (MMT). During my graduate coursework, my focus was mainly on promoting self-determination and self-advocacy in teenagers and young adults with I/DD who communicate in extraverbally/nonverbally. I have taken courses in play therapy, special education, and child and adolescent therapy. I have also completed a graduate practicum promoting social skills with neurodiverse college students post-COVID quarantine. In December 2021 I completed my thesis titled “Promoting Self-Determination in Individuals with I/DD who Communicate Extraverbally: Reflections and Implications for Practice”.

I have professional experience working in public schools, assisted living facilities, and inpatient and outpatient psychiatric hospitals, focusing on academic, emotional, social, and communicative strengths and areas for potential growth.

I am passionate about disability rights and self-advocacy, and my main emphasis as a clinician is to help promote autonomy and self-determination, build a trusting and therapeutic relationship, and to help provide a space in the music for people to be themselves and express who and where they are.

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