Marc Drouillard loves music. He likes to sing, he’s learning to play the piano and he enjoys everything from gospel to Nickleback.

“And opera,” he shouts.

“It doesn’t really seem to matter,” his mother, Susan Drouillard, explains. “(He likes Nickleback,) I think it’s the hard beat.”

“And opera,” Marc adds, stressing his point.

Marc, 13, has cerebral palsy, but every Thursday at 4 p.m., that doesn’t really matter. Every Thursday, for half an hour, Marc gets lost in musical therapy. He plays dozens of instruments, sings while spelling and listens to all kinds of tunes.

And soon, he’ll be part of the first musical and art therapy camp in Windsor.

Emily Finnigan, Marc’s musical therapist and owner of Whole Note Music Therapy, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada will be starting Therapy Express summer camp, an arts camp for children with special needs like cerebral palsy, down syndrome or autism. The camp, which will serve everyone from toddlers to teenagers, will be a mix of drama, fine arts and music.

“We’re just really focusing on giving (kids) a voice through music or through art,” Finnigan says.

“I just think that kids with special needs, a lot of times it’s such a challenge for them to communicate. What music does, it gives them that voice. If they’re playing a drum or music on a keyboard, they have control of that.”

Jesse Hull, who is 7, has autism and is non-verbal. He can’t communicate even his most basic needs, but he can sing, and is learning to play the guitar.

“He functions at a 3-year-old level, and that’s being generous,” his mother, Lana Vince, says. “He doesn’t talk, but he has perfect pitch. He can sing in tune, which is pretty amazing.”

Hull has been taking music therapy with Finnigan for around five years, and will be attending her camp.

“I think (the camp) is fantastic. There’s not a lot of programs for kids (with autism),” Vince says.

Finnigan heard of the idea in Calgary, from a company called JB Music Therapy Inc., who first developed this camp.

“It’s a great program to bring all these kids together and to build friendships and just to bring music therapy and art therapy together,” she says.

Finnigan’s camp will partner with Art InDeed, an art therapy organization run by Danah Beaulieu.

The camp is unique because it offers group therapy, something that’s hard to find in Windsor.

“Kids with special needs, they need a lot of one on one assistance. Sometimes that’s hard to find,” Beaulieu says. “I think it’ll give (the kids) a chance to interact together and to have a lot of fun.”

In Beaulieu’s experience, art therapy is a popular option with kids.

“It really soothes their anxieties and their worries,” she says. “(Kids) love it. Their skills are improving, their moods are lifting...it’s a time when they can free their minds.”

For Justine Bruyere, who will lead the drama portion of the program, the camp was long overdue.

“(Emily) brought it up a couple years ago. I remember saying, ‘I can’t believe someone hasn’t done this already.’ It’s so a needed program, children will benefit in a large way.”

Music and art therapy promotes non-verbal communication, picture communication, self-confidence, and socializing. And for Marc, it helps with self-esteem.

“The older he gets, the more he realizes there’s a difference between him and the kids in his class,” Drouillard says. “He’s good at (music.) He has a sense of rhythm . . . if a note is too high, he can transpose it down.”

Marc, who doesn’t do much talking, has been listening to music since birth, when his parents placed a tape recorder in his incubator.

“He’s always liked music, it makes him happy,” his mother says. “ His reading skills are improving slowly, he’s paying more attention to what you’re doing, it’s expanded his attention span.”

Kids at the camp will switch between music, drama and art.

For Beaulieu, who is both an art therapist and an artist, art is more than just a form of therapy. The kids at camp will not just be using chalk, oil pastels, clay, and markers to create art, they will be creating magic.

“They will be able to explore their dreams. They may be creating fantasy worlds and characters,” she says. “It’s very relaxing, it gives the kids an opportunity to express their unique selves . . . whatever the kids create, it’s a reflection of who they are.”

Source: Rita Poliakov, The Windsor Star, Windsor, Ontario