By Erin Faulk

For the Observer-Reporter

Since 2002, the Family and Child Development Center of Wesley Spectrum Services has helped children with autism connect and communicate through a music therapy program.

The outcomes have been so successful that the music therapy program is now a component of the Therapeutic Creative Arts Program, established two months ago to offer children from all backgrounds new programs for creative expression.

"Music therapy grew out of our social skills groups, because we saw all the great ways kids were able to communicate and connect," said Jennifer Kostolansky, communicator and community relations coordinator for Wesley Spectrum Services. "We started thinking of what else we could do to help meet the needs of these kids, and began working to expand the program."

The Therapeutic Creative Arts Program is still in its infancy, but eventually it will incorporate workshops in movement, dance, art and digital storytelling. All classes are designed to help children improve social skills, as well as communication and motor skills. Currently, the program serves more than 100 students.

Katie Harrill, coordinator of the Therapeutic Creative Arts Program and a certified music therapist, helped establish the initial music therapy program. She continues to teach music therapy classes, and is now working to establish more classes for the arts program.

"The program is open to all children and serves a wide variety of functioning levels," she said.

Harrill said the program, which is funded primarily through private contributions, also welcomes siblings, parents or other treatment team members to participate in the services.

Harrill began working with Wesley as part of the therapeutic support staff in 2000 and saw the benefits of using music intervention with her students. Eventually, she began holding group music workshops on Saturday mornings at Wesley Spectrum's Gibsonia location, and then at other Wesley locations as the program grew.

Activities of the Creative Arts Program are designed to facilitate goals that other therapies would target, including emotional growth, stress management and language acquisition, in a way that allows students also to be creative.

"The creative arts opens doors to self-expression through a wide variety of modalities that can be less threatening than other therapies," Harrill said. "Kids can feel more comfortable with expressing themselves in a way that might not be given in other settings."

The Creative Arts Program also offers students the chance to show off what they've done. Seventy music program students held a recital at Duquesne University July 8 for an audience of more than 400, and several locations are starting "rock bands." One band, the Flying Sock Monkeys, performed Aug. 2 at halftime of the Pittsburgh Colts boys football game.

"Giving kids the opportunity to show off their work provides them with a venue to develop self-esteem and self-confidence," Harrill said. "Once they're able to do something artistic and see a product, they receive recognition that is incredibly valuable."

The Wesley Spectrum Services Agency incorporates 23 different services geared toward children and families of children with autism. Wesley Spectrum has 15 facilities in Washington, Upper St. Clair, Pittsburgh, Penn Hills, Greensburg, Gibsonia, Clairton, Baldwin and Wilkinsburg.

For more information, call the Creative Arts Program department at 412-706-2547 or the Music Therapy department at 412-706-2501. For information about Wesley Spectrum Services, visit www.wesleyspectrum.org.

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