Elena Savvides is a music therapist on the in-patient pediatric unit at Rusk Rehabilitation where she provides both individual and group music therapy services to children and families, with occasional services provided on the surgery recovery unit. She has received specialized training in neurologic music therapy, which is the therapeutic application of music to cognitive, sensory, and motor dysfunctions that come from varied neurologic disorders. She is currently in the process of developing a Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) pilot program in the pediatric outpatient rehabilitation unit at Rusk. Her Master’s of Music Therapy degree with specialization in Psychotherapy is from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. In this interview, Elena discusses her experiences with initiating the RAS program.
