Internship Spotlight
Giant Steps in Lisle, IL:
Meredith Powers
1. What clinical population(s) and age groups are served at your internship site?(Feel free to describe how these # populations are distributed among various sites or among the one facility in terms of units, classrooms, # in caseload, )
Giant Steps is a therapeutic day school that currently serves 127 students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The students are ages 5-21 and are all in the same large building. In the elementary school, there are eight classrooms and on the Junior High/High School there are three Jr. High classrooms and three high school classrooms. Recently, Transition programming was added to serve the students ages 17-21 and to better prepare them for adult vocational programs. Each student at Giant Steps receives music therapy from one of six music therapists. All students receive two music therapy sessions weekly for 45 minutes each. Music therapists have a caseload of students from one ‘school.’ In other words, one music therapist serves the Junior High while another sees the High School. My caseload is with the students in Transition.
2. In what format is music therapy provided at your internship? (ie. individual, small or large groups- feel free to provide #s as an example)
The students at Giant Steps receive music therapy in a variety of ways. The format that they all have in common is that they each have one music therapy session with a small group of 2-4 individuals in the music therapy room. The other session weekly session is different for each student and could be a larger music therapy group, a group co-treated with another therapy or classroom teacher or integrated into a non-music setting. In many of these sessions, music is used as a strategy to help the students perform tasks more independently or successfully.
3. What is the theoretical orientation(s) of your music therapy internship program?
There are cognitive/behavioral aspects to many of the music therapist’s work, as well as client-centered, but the theoretical orientation of the music therapy program as a whole is in Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT). Each internship supervisor is an NMT Fellow and the other music therapists are NMT’s.
4. How many music therapists are on staff at your internship site? How many of these music therapists does the typical intern observe and train with?
Interns share an office with their supervisor along with the other therapists in that ‘school’. While an intern’s caseload is spread throughout Giant Steps, from the primary grades to Transition, the intern is part of that office’s team. For example, the intern who shares an office with me in the Transition program assists in helping the Transition students get off the bus, eat lunch, and is relied upon to be a support in this part of the school while he/she also treats students from all age groups in the building. Each intern trains with all six of the music therapists but is supervised by only one.
5. How is time divided up between orientation/training/observation/co-treat and leading sessions over the course of internship?
Each of the three internships throughout the year varies in schedule of training and observations. The intern who starts in August is trained with all of the staff for a week before students start school. After that, the intern spends one day observing each of the other therapies to see the breadth of speech therapy, occupational therapy, computers, art, special recreation and the classroom. The first and second months are spent observing and assisting in music therapy sessions and in the third month, the intern begins to gradually lead eight sessions from his/her schedule. The sessions don’t typically change in the school year so a therapeutic relationship is built throughout the six month internship. After the eight sessions are independently led by the intern, another session is created outside of the music therapy room, co-treated with another discipline of intern’s choosing.
The January and June internships vary in the scheduling of training. The intern who starts in June is present for the August trainings and completes all of the observations during summer school. The intern who begins in January is trained during with new staff in smaller groups that are spread throughout the first month.
Finally, the opportunity to co-treat with other disciplines is nearly limitless. For example, in my caseload of 19 students, I co-treat with occupational therapy three times a week and once with speech therapy. This gives the three interns opportunity to claim one or more on their caseload. The chance to co-treat with another discipline offers so much more learning than attending a training and this is one of the greatest assets of Giant Steps’ internship program.
6. What kind of a caseload can a potential intern expect near the end of his/her 6 month internship?
As mentioned before, interns have a caseload of nine weekly music therapy sessions. There is also the opportunity to co-lead non-therapy sessions such as Special Recreation and Opening.
7. Please describe the support that interns can expect to receive in regard to professional development and emotional support. (journaling, weekly supervision, grief therapy, etc)
As is true for all National Roster internships, interns receive one hour of direct, private supervision with the supervisor. In addition, there is a weekly department meeting in which NMT techniques or instrumental skills are shared. The supervision that an intern receives primarily happens informally within sessions. The caseload of an intern is created from sessions already on a clinician’s caseload so that clinician will always be available to supervise the intern. Only the last co-treated session established in the 4th month is unsupervised by another therapist.
8. What unique opportunities does your site offer interns that other sites may not? (i.e., opportunities to work as a member of an interdisciplinary team; co-treats with other disciplines; specialized training; exposure to a music therapy specific approach; expose to work within private practice; etc.)
As mentioned above, one of the greatest assets of the internship is the opportunity to both co-treat with other disciplines and to collaborate with a large, active and dedicated team. Another benefit is the expertise in autism, sensory processing and multi-faceted training that is ongoing.
9. What are the start dates of your internship? How many interns are taken at a time (or per year)? Is there any overlap between internship start dates?
Interns start in January, June and August and we accept 1-2 at each start date. Interns may be assigned to the elementary school or the high school teams.
10. Are any of the following offered to music therapy interns: housing, stipend, meals, reimbursement for driving, etc.?
We currently provide no housing or stipend.
I can be reached quickly by email at mpowers@mygiantsteps.org or by phone at 630-864-3888. Students who are interested in applying should email me and the application and information will be shared as an attachment. Applicants are strongly encouraged to spend an entire day at Giant Steps for the interview. While it is essential that we at Giant Steps interview students to find an intern who will be a good fit for our school, it is equally essential for students to find an internship that will be a good fit and this is the reason for the long interview. You may find information about Giant Steps on the website at www.mygiantsteps.org.