Music Therapists as Team Collaborators in Special Schools
Arns, B. & Thompson, G. (2025). Music Therapists as Team Collaborators in Special Schools. In The Oxford Handbook of Special Music Education and Music Therapy (pp. 309-320). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197757192.013.0022
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Authors
Abstract
Abstract Music therapists in special schools often work in teams delivering programs blending knowledge from curricula and different therapeutic disciplines. For students with highly complex needs, collaborative teamwork can bring together collective wisdom and experience, reducing the need for an individual to hold all the answers and offering better learning outcomes for students. This chapter draws on findings from a phenomenological study with a music therapy team in a transdisciplinary school for autistic students. Through interviews, the therapists revealed how collegial relationships built within a transdisciplinary school presented both joys and challenges to their work experience. The qualitative themes are illustrated through vignettes from the authors’ everyday music therapy practice with students in K–12 special education settings. The authors contend that a transdisciplinary perspective, where “everyone does everything,” offers the potential to bring school staff, students, and families into a shared understanding of what constitutes quality programming for the school community.
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