Parents are Present in Session

Before Session 12 started, Carly and Chad arranged the room in order for the parents to sit near their kids. Chad started the session by singing hello with the song “A galera vai curtindo essa canção” (Everybody is enjoying this song; see Figure 16).

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Figure 16. Recapitulation of “A galera vai curtindo esta canção.” The black tag on the score covers where the name of the client was sung..

The parents were asked to wait in the waiting room until the session was started.

In the beginning of the session, Valeria danced in front of the keyboard. Louie was in front of Chad who was playing the keyboard. Louie and Chad made eye contact at the keyboard. Louie sat down on Chad’s side, picked up the tambourine, and brought it to play with Chad in front of the keyboard. These first descriptions about Valeria and Louie are important because both clients started Session 12 demonstrating an interest in interacting with Carly and Chad. In terms of both clients’ aggressive behaviors, the turning point occurred in Session 7 when Carly and Chad started intervening, aiming to stimulate all clients to become more active in the musicing. This helped Louie to not behave aggressively and helped Valeria to reduce this behavior to only once in the session, as opposed to Session 6 when she was aggressive seven times. In other words, Valeria and Louie learned that they could play with Carly and Chad as an alternative to interacting aggressively.

While Valeria and Louie were interacting with the music and with the therapists, Carly left the room to call the parents. All the parents were present, but Gustavo’s parents were late. Carly told the parents that they were free to participate however they wanted, such as playing instruments or dancing. Interactions between the parents and clients were immediately visible. Joshua was closer to his mom, and, Sonia held her mom’s face and gave her a kiss. Gustavo, Joshua, Sonia, and Donald all remained close to their parents throughout the session.

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However, Valeria and Louie had difficulty connecting with their parents. When Valeria’s mother entered the room she was chewing gum. She got closer to her daughter and kissed her but sat down when Valeria started dancing in front of her. She did not appear to be motivated to sing and did not seem to be connecting with her daughter. She remained physically distant from Valeria for the duration of the session. In addition, Louie’s father opened his arms to hug Louie, who did not return the gesture. He walked in front of his father to instead play the tambourine with Carly. Louie held Carly’s hand to play the tambourine. Louie’s father was playing the bongo while looking at his son, who was instead closer to Chad and Carly. When Louie walked closer to his dad, he invited Louie to join playing the bongo. Louie ignored the invitation. However, once Chad made the song more rhythmical and energetic, Louie played the bongo with his father for a few moments.

When the music ended, everybody applauded. Louie’s dad smiled and invited his son to sit by his side, but Louie refused. His father was clearly frustrated. It seemed difficult for Louie and his father to connect. Carly and Chad asked Louie to sit with his father, but Louie rejected it and returned to be closer to Chad on the keyboard. Together with the rejection towards his father, Louie was demonstrating the strong bond he had established with Chad. When the music started again, all the clients were seated next to their parents except for Louie and Valeria. Valeria and her mother continued to be physically distant, and when Carly sang close to them, Valeria’s mother continued to chew gum and remain seated. Valeria was dancing but her mother did not seem interested in connecting. When Carly went to sing with Louie and his father, Valeria pushed her, exhibiting an aggressive behavior that is of note. However, although Louie was ignoring his father for the most part, he did briefly play the tambourine that his

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father was playing. When his father tried to hold Louie’s hand, Louie sharply pulled his arm away.

At the end of the music, Chad instructed the parents to sit with their children.

Everybody was seated in silence, until Louie went to the keyboard and started playing.

Chad grabbed the guitar and joined him. Carly joined Louie on the keyboard, as well.

Then, Louie went closer to his father and put his hand on his father’s mouth. The therapists improvised based on Louie’s rhythmical pattern, creating a new musical theme. The other clients participated by playing instruments and dancing. Louie continued to mostly ignore his father, but allowed him to help remove his pullover.

Chad danced with Valeria while her mother remained seated. Carly sang that Louie and his father were playing by her side. From this, a strong theme developed, singing “Com o pai e com a mãe” (with dad and with mom) (see Figure 17).

Figure 17. Song 8: Com o pai e com a mãe (with mom and dad)

Carly held the harmony in the keyboard and Chad played percussion using the guitar’s wood. Louie sat behind his father. Then, his father turned to Louie and he did not reject him this time. When the music ended, everybody applauded.

Carly invited everybody to get together near the keyboard to finish the session together. There was meaningful eye contact between Louie and his father. Finally, Louie came and played in the tambourine his father was holding. When the session ended, everybody applauded.

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Session 13: Therapists’ Agreed to the Decisions Made in the Team Meeting Parents were not invited to attend Session 13. The music began when Carly, while playing the guitar, said to Chad: “let’s play a waltz.” She started improvising.

Chad changed the keyboard’s timbre to accordion, which is typical in the arrangement of this “country style” in Southern Brazil. The therapists tried to use a 3/4 meter. This may have been because the researcher-consultant had mentioned during team meeting that seven out of the eight most important improvised songs had been built in a 4/4 meter. That observation may have created some kind of idea that the therapists should try breaking this pattern.

However, it seemed that what the therapists were trying was not connecting with the clients. The therapists later expressed frustration and Chad blamed the researcher by complaining about the session duration.