Jackson’s story

Music therapy provides an empowering space for Jackson to feel heard, through music

Jackson is four years old and attends a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school. He has profound and multiple learning disabilities and complex needs including epilepsy. Jackson has several seizures a day which must be both physically and mentally exhausting for him. At school he is often either asleep, or in and out of seizures.

Jackson is non-verbal and his physical movements are severely restricted. He communicates through eye contact, vocalisations and facial expressions. And although he is very supported at school, the challenges that Jackson experiences in expressing his wants, needs and emotions, undoubtedly affect his sense of self and his social, emotional and educational development.

Jackson began music therapy sessions with the other children in his class when he started school in 2023. But after he was particularly engaged with the session on a quieter week with more one-to-one time, he began having individual sessions with music therapist Kate.

During music therapy, Jackson leads the session with his singing. Kate structures the music around his singing and she vocally echoes his phrases in response, matching his tone and pitch. By doing so, Jackson experiences the value of his musical contributions and he grows in confidence clearly understanding his role in the musical interaction.

Singing like this requires a great deal of physical energy and stamina from Jackson. When watching back a video of their session together, Kate comments on being “struck by the degree of tenderness and delicacy that Jackson and I share.”

During music therapy, Jackson really is singing a duet with me, and he really understands that. I’m so moved by his readiness to entirely commit himself and musical expression as soon as we discovered an accessible way for him to do this in music.

Jackson’s music therapist, Kate

Moments of closeness and connection like this may be quite rare for Jackson, particularly in a way where he has genuine control over the experience. It is this opportunity for Jackson to experience a sense of confidence and agency through the music that makes the sessions so important.

After watching a video of Jackson during one of his music therapy sessions, his Mum said, “That’s absolutely beautiful. In floods of tears, happy tears. Thank you so much.”