Sophia
Aston
Student Music Therapist
West Virginia University School of Music
Sophia Aston is a fourth year Music Therapy Student at West Virginia University. She has been involved in music all her life and is thrilled to be able to transfer those skills into a means of helping others. She hopes to complete her internship at the end of her degree at a facility that works on rehabilitation and maintenance goals, similar to our Parkinson’s group. She would like to go on to collaborate with a variety of professions to form many more interprofessional relationships like she has with OT.
Presenting at the Nexus Summit:
Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with Parkinson’s Disease, a neurodegenerative disorder affecting mobility, muscle control, and vocal strength and stability. As there were limited opportunities for group programming for Parkinson’s patients in West Virginia, we began to provide free weekly sessions with Music Therapists (MT) and Occupational Therapists (OT). The three aims included maintaining upper extremity range of motion, improve clarity of consonant enunciation, and improve gait pattern. o Design or methodology MT and OT students collaborated to offer hour-long…