Scary: Mill's Canons for Halloween!

The philosophical basis for good research is rooted in the theories of John Stuart Mill. Mill theorized a set of five methods of thinking that apply to cause and effect. His five canons can be a bit confusing at times so I wrote a story to illustrate them. I will provide the definitions and then underline the passages in the story that relate to each of the five canons. Can you decide which ones go together?





1. Mill's Method of Agreement: Proposes that if the circumstances leading up to a given event have in every case only one common factor.

2. Mill's Method of Differences: Proposes that if two or more sets of circumstances are alike in every respect except for one factor and if a given result occurs only when that factor is present, the factor in question probably is the cause of that result.

3. The Joint Method: Combines the above two methods. First, the one factor common to the occurrence is found (Method of Agreement), and second the factor is withdrawn to determine if the phenomenon occurs only when the factor is present.

4. Method of Residues: Assesses causes by the process of elimination. This method proposes that when the specific factors causing certain parts of a given phenomenon are known, the remaining parts of the phenomenon must be caused by the remaining factors.

5. Method of Concomitant Variations: Proposes, in effect, that when two things consistently change or vary together, either the variations in one are caused by the variations in the other, or both are being affected by some common cause.

Hi, my name is Darby. I am almost five years old and this year I get to go to seven Halloween parties! I have picked out two costumes that I like, a princess dress and an angel costume. (Mommy says I can only wear the angel costume on days that I am a good girl.) I am so excited! I looooove Halloween!

I just got home from the first party as a princess and am covered in all kinds of funny looking spots. Mama says that I have a rash. Sounds scary! Maybe I can sneak up on daddy and say, “Boo!” I also brought home some M&Ms and my favorite orange pumpkin candy. They are so yummy!

The second party was really fun too! I went as an angel because I had been such a good girl by helping mommy clean out the pumpkin to make a Jack-o-Lantern. My hands got really sticky! Mommy says that my hands somehow get stickier every time I eat M&Ms too. I ate a lot of M&Ms at the second party, but I was sad that I didn’t get any pumpkin candies. I brought home some more spots all over my face and tummy and Mommy said that the only thing I did on both nights was to eat M&Ms. That must have caused my funny spots!

Mommy told me not to eat any M&Ms at the next two parties, but I secretly ate some at the third party. I also got to eat my favorite pumpkin candies at both parties and was so happy that I didn’t get anything on my princess costume. Sure enough, I had those silly spots at the third party, but not the next day after the fourth party. When mommy found out that I had eaten M&Ms at the third party she declared that the M&Ms must have caused the rash since everything else was the same for both parties.

Mommy was very worried about all these spots so she didn’t let me eat anymore M&Ms at the next three parties. I had to wear my princess costume to all three since I had not been a good girl when I secretly ate the M&Ms. Mommy told me that I should eat the pumpkin candies after only two of the parties and she would then check me for spots.

Luckily, I did not get more of that rash thing after the last three parties. It was itchy! Mommy said Halloween this year was mysterious. She is a smart mommy! She figured out that M&Ms cause me to have spots and that letting me help her with the pumpkin really made my hands sticky! The one thing she couldn’t understand was why I ran to the bathroom as soon as I got in the house after every party. I wonder what mommy would say if I told her that I was able to drink five glasses of punch at every party! She would be so proud of me!

Happy Halloween!

Side Notes: Symbolic Communication and Special Needs Children

I am currently taking a music philosophy and research class where we are discussing language as it relates to research methods. The question was asked: Are vocabulary, grammar, signs, or symbols important for communication? Can communication exist if the sender transmits in one symbolic form and the receiver is not familiar with the form? How would you answer the question? My initial thoughts on the matter are as follows:

I think that vocabulary, signs and gestures are very important in visual and aural communication. I think grammar may be slightly less important based on my experience with speaking other languages. When I was in Russia, for example, my grammar was often quite poor, but the native speakers usually did not have a problem filling in the meaning of what I was trying to say. They frequently corrected my grammar to help me learn, but I never insulted anyone or got into an argument by accidentally saying something wrong!

Vocabulary, signs and gestures are very important to communication as evidenced by the lack of meaningful communication with kids with disabilities, especially autism and Down Syndrome. I often wonder if children with autism are distracted by the word, picture of the word, gesture or paired object and therefore do not attach the sender's intended meaning to the word. For example, if we are trying to teach the labeling of objects, the child with autism might be too distracted by the details on a toy car and completely miss the association with the word, “car.” He may only want to hold the car, but may scream or hit himself and not even reach out for the car in a gesture to communicate his wants. In this example the two communicators are operating in very different realms of communication and may just as well be speaking Chinese and Spanish to each other. Communication will be very difficult without a common agreement on vocabulary, signs and gestures.

Sometimes we may overcome differences in vocabulary if there is an underlying commonality. My daughter is learning French at home since my wife exclusively communicates with her in French. Sometimes I think my daughter understands instructions in French better than in English! I think in some ways, however, she is able to respond to communication in either language based on vocal inflections and gesture to compensate for her lack of vocabulary in one language or the other.

I think that if communication is the goal, then it should be approached globally by engaging a communication partner in as many different modes of communication as possible. This is particularly true when working with children with disabilities. Hopefully, they will be able to understand the communication on some level when provided with multiple avenues to listen and respond. The ramifications for this conclusion might point to the use of multiple forms of instruction for any given material. When I conduct music therapy groups I often provide visual, spoken, sung and gesture cues for most instructions. I am often most interested in the my message being understood rather than how it is understood. I have observed that most teachers are naturals at communicating with multiple modalities, but it is good to examine our method of delivery every now and then.

What do you think?

Book Review: Tataku: The Use of Percussion in Music Therapy

Wow! This is really a terrific book! Bill Matney actually used to work for Music Therapy Services of Texas when I was Director of Client Services several years ago. We were pleased to have him as one of our therapists, primarily serving clients in the public schools. He continued in his career by taking a position with Lewisville Independent School District and also lecturing at Texas Womens University.

Mr. Matney's book is a wonderful compilation of many of the different applications of drumming that have been used in therapy settings. Bill is a trained percussionist and I can attest to his professional ability as a drummer. In this book, he has synthesized theory and practice from the leaders in drum circle facilitation and drumming and wellness like Kalani and Christine Stevens. This book can serve as a handbook and manual for music therapists and teachers in implementing much more effective use of drumming in the classroom. Matney's discussion of drum circle facilitation along with his nice illustrations and picture examples provide an excellent reference source that is easy to use.

Before this book, much of the literature was either about drumming instruction or intended for specific types of therapeutic drumming. Christine Steven's, Healing Drum Kit, was groundbreaking in its way of teaching some simple drum techniques, but also promoting drumming for relaxation and wellness. Mr. Matney has now provided us with a much more comprehensive manual for learning to play many different types of percussion instruments from around the world. He has provided traditional rhythmic patterns that can be used for each instrument and ideas for group activities. In each case he has also provided links to therapeutic goals and adaptations for people with disabilities or people using drumming to address wellness and psychological objectives. The final chapters provide a thorough and easy to follow description about facilitating drum circles.

The bottom line: This book makes sense for the music therapist who wants to use drumming in a variety of settings. The teacher in special education could also use this book to provide ideas for group drumming in the classroom. The music education teacher could use many of the more advanced ideas for regular education group activities and information for teaching multicultural ideas.

The book at Amazon:
Tataku: The Use of Percussion in Music Therapy