Abstract

Music therapists who work in schools often collaborate with other professionals, including educational assistants. Overall, the literature identifies that the educational assistant’s role in music therapy contexts is to assist students in achieving the goals that have been established in their individualized education plans and/or in their music therapy treatment plans. However, literature and my experiences indicate that the complexities of the educational assistant’s role are not well understood, and that this confusion can have an adverse effect on therapeutic outcomes. Although one study has examined educational assistants’ perspectives on this topic, very little literature exists to help guide music therapists and educational assistants in their professional collaborations. The purpose of this study was to investigate music therapists’ perspectives on their experiences of working with educational assistants in school settings. Three Canadian music therapists participated in individual qualitative interviews that examined their perspectives on collaborations that they had with educational assistants in school music therapy contexts. These interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach. Results revealed information about collaborations that happened before, during and after music therapy sessions as well as information pertaining to aspects of collaboration that music therapists found helpful and aspects that they found challenging. My interpretations as well as potential implications for practice and research are discussed.