Sound Therapy

Now that the new Decoda website is up and running at www.decoda.org with news updates, there seems little point in continuing this blog. There are films of the equipment, and the Music Gym, on the new site and if you want information about the Music Gym sessions in Hastings, there’s a link to www.musicgym.org
You can […]

At Learning Disability Today on Wednesday we ran a draw for Unlocking Music software, a webcam and training. After all the problems with TV companies we didn’t want to be accused of corruption so we asked one of the exhibitors to make the draw and we filmed him doing it, including a close-up of the […]

 Welcome to Julia and Michaela, our new employees at the Music Gym.
For regular visitors, who think they look familiar, you’re right. Julia and Michaela started with us over a year ago, as volunteers, but as of last Friday they’re now employees of Decoda.
They’ll carry on their previous jobs - Julia as receptionist and Michaela as […]

This picture captures so well the moment of two people communicating. For some this ability to connect comes very easily and others might struggle a little. With that in mind, Angela Lane, the East Sussex Project Worker for Intensive Interaction (what a mouthful) is now at the Music Gym whenever she can be, simply to […]

 
After the success of the Music Gym zone at Learning Disability Today in Manchester in July, Decoda’s been invited to do the same thing at Learning Disability Today in London next month.
The exhibition will be happening on Wednesday, November 25 at the Business Design Centre in Islington. There’s always a full programme of seminars plus 100 […]

 Despite our best attempts to think of another name (Boogiecam? Musical Squares?) we still come back to “Dancing Squares” as that’s what they are - squares on which you dance and trigger music. We used to have them in the Music Gym as wooden boards covered in furry fabric. Through trying them out at Learning […]

Here’s the Music Gym team, delighted after winning the award for Innovative Health and Social Care Technology at a dinner in the Grand Hotel, Brighton, on Tuesday evening.
As described in the last post, the Decodamaze was developed from the feedback of service users at the Music Gym. It’s taken longer to finalise than was originally […]

We heard last week that Decoda’s reached the regional finals of the NHS Health and Social Care Awards, in the category of innovative technology.
Our inflatable, interactive maze  grew out of the weekly sessions at the Music Gym. We were aware that not all the members could access the bouncy castle that plays music and looked […]

Angela Lane is the local Intensive Interaction Project Manager and last Friday she visited the Music Gym to see how it fits into what she’s doing.
If someone with severe learning disabilities and/or autism is still at an early stage of communication this is a valuable approach to passing on the pre-speech fundamentals of communication. It’s […]

I only discovered this publication recently and it’s a mine of useful information. It describes itself as “the bulletin of news and information for everyone working with people with profound and multiple learning difficulties”. It’s an informal journal aimed at carers and practitioners working with people with PMLD of all ages and in all situations.
It […]