“When I first brought M (child’s name) to Ms. Kana, I did not know how far he could go; he was 3 years and 11 months old, was extremely impulsive, and could not engage himself in any activity for more than 2 minutes. He could not play one key at a time with his finger.
But Ms. Kana made a miracle happen! Immediately after M started to work with her, I was impressed by her enormous effort and extraordinary skills to improve my son’s skills. She carefully observes M’s behaviors and tries to understand the reasons behind them in order to decrease inappropriate behaviors and increase proper behaviors. It was impressive that M’s attention span greatly increased within 8 sessions and he was able to maintain his focus and fully participate in a 30 minute lesson with no problems.
After a few months of working with Ms. Kana, it was obvious that M started to make tremendous progress. When I watched a video excerpt she sent me of M’s playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the color bells, my heart was beating fast and, at the end of the excerpt, it was jumping out of my chest. I was amazed by his progress and realized that he has great potential! He continues to develop his skills and now he is able to play more complicated songs such as Ode To Joy both on the bells and piano with both hands and fingers alternating – before training with Kana, this would have been an impossible feat for him.
Another miracle to me is that M improved his cognitive skills through his work with Ms. Kana. He learned to play music games Kana introduced in the lessons. I just could not believe that he one day could put seven solfege cards in order, descending and ascending. She has also introduced him to reading rhythms in a way he can understand. Ms. Kana always designs musical games and activities that are just right for M and gradually makes it more challenging. In this way, M feels secure to explore himself in learning and grow his self-esteem and motivation in learning. I have noticed that those learned skills have transferred to his activities outside music lessons; M is now able to follow directions better, learn and play games successfully, demonstrate willingness to try new and challenging tasks, and communicate better with me.
Furthermore, Ms. Kana closely working with me has helped me understand the therapeutic and educational process. She sends me weekly lesson report and describes my son’s progress and learning process. She shares my son’s accomplishments in the lesson through video and audio clips as well. These help me understand the therapeutic purposes of music activities and how I can help him at home. Moreover, Ms. Kana’s confidence in M’s potential has encouraged me to believe in him and has helped me notice subtle positive changes in his behaviors.
For all of these reasons, Ms. Kana is a remarkable music therapist/teacher, an indispensible asset to my family and a major contributor to the fields of music therapy, music education, and special education.”
— Lisa, Mark's Mother