A Child in Time and Health

Abstract

Music therapists often speak of working with the ‘whole’ child, and of music therapy addressing the multiple needs of children with disabilities, disorders or ‘in crisis’. Since many music therapists work in settings that think of childhood within the developmental framework, and of pathology as distinct from health, how do practitioners fit their experience of the ‘whole’ with the developmental, educational or medical images of the child? In reporting our work to other professionals, how is this ‘wholeness' portrayed – and conveyed? This paper¹ explores ‘childhood’ and ‘pathology’ from various perspectives without aligning itself with any one at the expense of another. Rather, it offers various convergences to help conceptualise and describe the whole child in music therapy. Although the notion of the ‘whole’ applies not only to children but to all persons in music therapy, this paper focuses on childhood, which is especially susceptible to being viewed as a ‘developmental’ stage in life.