Lighting the Way: How Journeying with David, an Adult with a Learning Disability and Mental Health Problems, Helped a Student Music Therapist Make Sense of the Connections between Theory and Practice

Abstract

This essay describes the journey of a student music therapist working with David, an adult with a learning disability and mental health problems. Through thinking about this work I present an overview of changes in my approach and understanding of learning disability. This is followed by a discussion about mental health, the complexity of diagnosis, and the prevalence of mental ill-health in people with learning disabilities. I consider Sinason's theory of Secondary handicap and link this with (omit Carol) Robbins and Robbin's notion of ‘the condition child’, and via the clinical work with David I think about how music therapy might help reveal a ‘music child’.