Music for Memory
About Dr. Alice Cash, PH.D
For close to two decades, Dr. Alice Cash has devoted her professional life to the promotion of music for healing. Dr. Cash combines her Masters in Social Work with her PhD in Musicology to educate people in the art and science of music’s unique properties.
In 1996, Dr. Cash launched Healing Music Enterprises as a vehicle to offer her expertise to health care professionals, educators, students, organizations and people at large. Her services are in high demand across North America and more recently, at an international level.
Dr. Cash grounds her seminars, workshops, clinical and private practice work in well-established research and theory.
An accomplished musician, she is wonderfully skilled in both the demonstration and application of the most current musicology and music therapy concepts and principles. Her warm and dynamic nature helps make her workshops informative, timely and enjoyable for participants at large.
Healing Music Enterprises offers services and products for individuals, couples, families, groups, communities and organizations. Virtually everyone can benefit from the knowledge and experience that Dr. Cash offers. Music is a non-invasive tool that anyone can learn to use to help to energize, relax and heal themselves.
Helping people to use music for Healing and Wellness. Dr. Cash stresses the use of music for health, learning, motivation, relaxation, energy building, or well-being. She is known internationally for her work with music and pregnancy, surgery, addictions, and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Cash can be reached for speaking engagements through Healing Music Enterprises.
Music Stimulates Memory
According to Dr. Alice Cash:
The well elderly as well as the impaired elderly are among the populations with whom music therapy has been the most effective. Everyone loves the music from their youth and ‘courting’ years. This music immediately brings back memories of a time when most of us are at a physical peak and emotionally happy and hopeful. Patients I have worked with love the music from their childhood and youth as well as Hymns and other sacred music.
Research has documented the fact that when patients with Alzheimer’s disease can no longer recognize their family members to stay oriented to time and place they can often times still hear familiar music, enjoy it, and even sing along. Afterwards these patients are calmer, sleep better and eat better.
For helpful healing musical ideas and products to support memory or to assist in healing during and after surgery, click the picture below:
Can Music Help With Aggressive Behavior in Alzheimer’s Patients?
By William G. Hammond, JD
Can music help aggressive behavior in a person with Alzheimer’s Disease? It depends. The disease progresses a little differently for everyone…some persons become agitated, and that agitation can lead to aggression. Others may never show any signs of aggression throughout the course of the disease.
Music is the “universal language” and can continue to many areas of therapeutic intervention. Most individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease respond well to music. Their responses may depend on the type of music. There is a commonly-held belief that this population will only like “old” music, music from their era. However, any music from the time they were born is now from their era. One downfall we have when working with individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease, or the older population in general, is that we tend to limit their possibilities.
If your loved one is agitated and you try playing music they once enjoyed but it’s not helping, try a different kind of music. Some music, even classical, can be very “busy” and can tend to overstimulate persons with dementia and cause more anxiety or agitation. If they feel overstimulated and become extremely agitated, they may become aggressive and lash out as a response. They can’t always tell you how they are feeling, so they lash out instead.
White noise is often calming to a person with Alzheimer’s Disease. Actual white noise machines can be purchased, but an example of this is the noise a fan makes. Just running a fan may help them to relax. Another example is a water fountain .You may try one of these types of noise to help calm your loved one. There are CDs or cassette tapes that you can purchase with calming noises such as the ocean, birds, and wind. Once again, the birds can be over-stimulating, so if you notice your loved one becoming increasingly agitated, turn it off. Sometimes those with Alzheimer’s need complete silence, so when all else has failed, just try a quiet room!
For more information on caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease, please visit our Kansas/Missouri Elder Law web site and request your FREE copy of The Kansas and Missouri Alzheimer’s Survival Guide. It contains a number of strategies that smart families are using to protect their loved ones.
William G. Hammond, J.D., is the founder and owner of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, P.A., in Overland Park, Kansas. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (B.A. Govt. 1977) and the University of Notre Dame Law School (J.D. 1980). Mr. Hammond, licensed to practice law in Kansas and Missouri, is an author and lecturer. He is co-author of The Kansas and Missouri Nursing Home Guide and the Alzheimer’s Legal Survival Guide. He also writes Elder Law Today, a monthly publication for professionals. Mr. Hammond lectures frequently on Elder Law issues as well as on the legal issues faced by families who have a loved one with Alzheimer’s. He is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=William_Hammond Re-printed with thanks to Article Source: EzineArticles.com
