Everybody Can Include and Everybody Can Exclude

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frustrating, and then therapists may respond to their frustrations by using unproductive interventions or reactions to clients that frustrate the clients. The therapists’ frustrations, in this study, had different effects on the therapists themselves, on the individual

participants, and on the group as a whole. Under stress, it became more difficult for them to perceive and think about therapeutic options when facing challenges. Their perception became foggy by not being able to clearly identify therapeutic options, and at times, clients were excluded. Unfortunately, when an individual with ASD experiences exclusion he/she can have his/her autism reinforced through a vicious-autistic cycle.

It is recommended that continuous engagement in supervision is important for the maintenance of necessary personal distance from clients’ content and a healthy ability to be available for the variety of therapeutic demands that emerge in the music therapy processes. This study demonstrated that personal work is an ongoing necessity for therapists. Although competent music therapy trainings can provide clinical skills, therapists have to deal with different human experiences and are constantly faced with their potentials and weaknesses.

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inclusion happened in this study, providing four different categories of this phenomenon. These categories are described below:

Internal Inclusion

This is defined as the inclusion experienced by the natural and inner potentials of a person demonstrating the drive to engage in an interaction. As an example of this category, in Session 12, Louie ran towards several parents who were playing with their kids (i.e., Donald’s and Gustavo’s parents), and looked at them, indicating a desire for contact. In the beginning of Session 14, Louie wanted to play on Chad’s keyboard and sat on Chad’s side. In that same session, Louie allowed his father to kiss him, not running away from him this time. At the same time, Valeria moved her body and smiled towards her mother, even hugging her.

External Inclusion

This is defined as the inclusion that is facilitated by an external elements such as a therapeutic intervention, music, or a parents’ move for contact. As an example of this phenomenon, in Session 12, Louie walked in front of his father, who pulled him and hugged him as if he was tired of being rejected. Other examples of this inclusion between Louie and his father include when his father helped him take off his pullover, and when they played an instrument together. In terms of therapists-parents

relationship, when Carly invited Joshua’s father to start an improvisation for the group using the guitar, this demonstrated external inclusion in Session 15.

Internal Exclusion

This is demonstrated when the exclusion is caused by an internal factor such as the barriers of the pathology itself. Examples of internal exclusion were illustrated from clients to parents when Louie and Valeria refused to play with their parents. They

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exhibited their exclusion through distance and body language. In Session 12, Chad finished the song with Louie on his side, because Louie refused to sit next to his father.

External Exclusion

This is demonstrated when the exclusion is caused by external elements that block a person from being included in any system, such as when content produced by the client is ignored or not perceived by the therapists. For example, at the start of Session 1, Chad closed the door and inadvertently left two of the clients outside the room. In terms of relationships between parents and children, in Session 12, Valeria’s mother entered the music therapy room chewing gum. She was not available to interact.

In relation to the relationship between therapists and parents, when Louie’s father played a rhythmic call on the Brazilian tambourine in Session 14, this was ignored by the therapists and he was excluded.

During member checking, Chad confirmed the interpretations of exclusionary forces operating in the therapists and said: “I have to confess to you – I heard Louie’s father at that time and don’t…[silence]. Now I’m admitting an almost conscious exclusion. It caught my attention when he did the rhythmic call. And I missed the availability to conduct something with it. I’m being as honest as possible.” Carly replied saying that she remembered that therapeutic moment but mentioned that it had not caught her attention.

The initial insights of the study data showed that inclusion and exclusion were present in the research process. Inclusion and exclusion can be thought of not as outside forces which belong to an outside world to where therapists and educators help people with limited conditions to engage. Potential to include and exclude may be present in any social environment. The ‘insights’ reinforced the importance of constant therapeutic supervision, understanding that these forces may not be completely avoided by

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therapists but can be managed. They need to be perceived, understood, and controlled because forces of exclusion, coming from the therapists, can be problematic.

According to Yalom and Leszcz (2005):

although core negative beliefs about oneself do not disappear totally with treatment, effective treatment generates a capacity for interpersonal mastery, such that the client can respond with a broadened, flexible, empathetic, and more adaptive repertoire of behaviors, replacing vicious cycles with constructive ones.

(p. 23)

Yalom and Leszcz (2005) believe that “nothing seems to be of greater

importance for the self-esteem and well-being of the adolescent, for example, than to be included and accepted in some social group, and nothing is more devastating than exclusion” (p. 57). Ruud (2004) states that music therapists use music as a way to bridge connection between individuals and communities, to create a space for common musicking and sharing of artistic and human values. According to this author, music creates community.