Sound Therapy

Here’s the second of our occasional films showing in more detail what goes on at the Music Gym and how we set it up.

We call this section the Dancing Boards because we use wooden boards to locate the “hot” areas and that’s where people dance - so it does just what it says. Movement on the boards triggers music and also images, creating a club-like atmosphere. We find it becomes a social area where members of the Gym play together.

It’s particularly good for those whose disabilities requires them to use a wheelchair. Where their wheelchairs are motorised they have a lot of fun spinning themselves on and off the boards.

If you’d like more information please email us or phone us on 01424 444322.

Apologies - we’re currently experiencing a glitch in directly accessing the youtube films. Please bear with us for the moment - copy and paste the link - I know, it’s so tedious and low-tech, but it’s a bit of exercise for the fingers……

Before we became Decoda we were Count Me In, taking musicians into local day centres and homes. Count Me In was born one evening in a pub in Hastings. Everyone in the pub was watching Rag Mama Rag, the acoustic blues duo but I was watching Dave,(not his real name) at a table next to the musicians.

I knew Dave through work, a young man with learning disabilities who could present a challenge if not understood. There he was grinning and clapping with sheer delight and I was wondering - Why don’t more people with learning disabilities get to hear good, live music? The rest, as they say, is history…………

I was reminded of this today when I was sent information from the Stay Up Late campaign organised by Heavy Load. What struck me that night in the Hastings Arms was not just how much Dave was loving the music - it was also the fact that he was there at all, not for the whole evening but certainly until after the break at 10. Because of shift patterns even that simply wasn’t possible in any home I knew of then and it must be unusual now or there’d be no need for this campaign.

Dave was very fortunate in living in such a relaxed home, geared to the needs of its residents. It was 2000 - was Valuing People even a twinkle in Rob Greig’s eye? Yet this home got it so right. The staff had body piercings, tattoos and a history of animal-rights activism, and the residents had full, active lives doing things we take for granted. I was sorry when the owner sold up and moved away.

So, it can be done.The Heavy Load, a punk band of ten years’ standing, made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities, got fed up of people leaving their gigs at 9pm. They’re putting a lot of energy into the Stay Up Late campaign. Posters, T shirts, postcards, a CD, Green Cards to show staff if a late night’s planned, and finally gigs to promote it. They’re calling to Make Staying In History.

To find out more there’s a lot of websites - the main Heavy Load site or their MySpace profile or you can send an email to Paul Richards at Southdown Housing where they’re all based.

For more information about Decoda, email us, look at our website or phone us on 01424 444322.

Apologies for the delay in adding more information about this year’s SwanFest.

As you can see, there are some great local musicians playing. We’re living in trust that over the next few weeks these clouds will lift, the rain will disappear and by July 22nd summer will have arrived.

Tickets go on sale shortly and will be available from Decoda or from the Smugglers in Hastings.

Before then we’ll also have a stand at the St. Leonards Festival in Warrior Square Gardens on July 14th, at the Kick-Start Communication Event at The Hastings Centre on July 18th and at the Well-Being Festival in Alexandra Park, Hastings, on July 21st. So, there’s a busy time coming up. Did we plan well in advance? Did we get the licence forms filled in or the badges and balloons ordered? Of course we didn’t so we’ll have the added adrenalin rush of wondering whether anything will arrive in time.

We hope you’ll come and see us at one or other of these events and try out just a small part of the equipment that makes the Music gym such a wonderful facility for those with profound disabilities.

For more information email us, visit our website or phone us on 01424 444322.

We’ve just heard that the popular music festival, the SwanFest, will this year be supporting Decoda and especially the Music Gym for the opportunities it offers to those with profound and multiple disabilities.

It takes place on Sunday, July 22nd at the beautiful Swan in Lamberhurst, near Tunbridge Wells. Lamberhurst is also easy to reach from Hastings, just off the A21 near Scotney Castle.

This was voted the best freehouse wine pub and beer garden in South East of England. The Swan has also featured in the Guardian newspaper’s top 150 gastro pubs, the Telegraph Diners Club, Alistair Sawdays ’special places to visit’, the BBC and Waitrose Food and Drink magazine and the AA Good Pub guide, where it appears on the front cover.

I’m telling you about the food and drink on offer because as yet the line-up of bands isn’t quite finalised. The whole thing’s being organised by Four Seasons Events and more details will appear on their myspace page and here as they’re confirmed.

Besides the bands there’ll be a chance to try out some of the technology we use in the Music Gym.

So, a huge thank-you, Gez, from Decoda for doing this.

You can email us for more information about the festival, the Music Gym or Decoda, or phone us on 01424 444322.

The search for the perfect T-shirt began with Kim, our designer, not wanting to wear the little black number the facilitators prefer. A trawl around the internet later she has a tasteful purple logo on white.

Thinking that others might prefer to mix their favourite colours our cafepress shop is now up and running. The T-shirts are good quality and the service is fast. Besides clothing there are bags, mugs, baby’s bibs………If there’s a colour combination we’ve missed that you’d like just let us know, or if there’s an item you’d like to see with the Music Gym logo on it - a fridge magnet? a clock? a T-shirt for the dog? At cafepress it seems many things are possible.

All the sales go towards people with profound and multiple disabilities accessing the Music Gym.

If you’d like to know more about that, email us or phone us on 01424 444322.

May 8th 2007:Did anyone else see the recent report that the Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis has admitted that the government is losing the battle to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities?

He has told the Association of Directors Adults Social Services spring seminar that because of the struggle with achieving the Valuing People goals there’ll now be a refresher document produced by a cross-government group later this year. The refresher document will aim to “re-energise” the implementation of Valuing People which has “slowed down in many areas”. Apparently the document will contain a cross-government target to improve the life chances of adults with learning disabilities. Continue reading ‘Valuing People - what’s happening to services for people with learning disabilities?’

If you’re looking for ideas to extend a sensory room this is the first of a series of short films showing how we use Soundbeam in our work with people with profound disabilities. We include switches for those who can use their hands - they encourage manipulation and introduce the idea of making something happen.

The Soundbeam, switches and vibro-accoustic seats are contained in a gazebo. People enjoy sitting in there and watching the activity in the rest of the hall.

Apologies for the background noise - it’s the pump of the bouncy castle across the hall.

If you’d like to know more about the Music Gym or using Soundbeam please get in touch by email or by phoning 01424 444322.

According to an article in today’s Irish Medical Times, wanting to walk is one of the most common challenging behaviours. Doctors were discussing the treatment of elderly patients in hospitals in Ireland and Dr. Cillian Twomey, consultant physician in Geriatric Medicine, Cork University Hospital, gave the example of a man with dementia who liked to walk around. This bothered other patients so the response was to confine him, rather than to transfer him to a facility where walking would be possible. Too often, Dr. Tomey continued, the response is to sedate patients rather than answer their needs. Continue reading ‘Walking is a challenging behaviour!’

Is it any coincidence that very helpful organisations have been set up by parents of children with disabilities, seeking to plug the gap they’ve experienced in the help that’s available. The Henry Spink Foundation is one (see the last post) and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation is another. Continue reading ‘The Challenging Behaviour Foundation - invaluable help for parents and professionals’

I just happened to hear Henrietta Spink talking to John Humphrys in On The Ropes on Radio 4. Listening to her story I was amazed that I’d never heard of her before. She’s the mother of two severely, but differently, disabled sons now in their late teens who has battled for the rights of carers. In one article a few years ago she wrote that the only things they’d been given without a fight were two plastic mugs and a toilet seat! Continue reading ‘Henrietta Spink talks about raising two sons with profound disabilities’