Challenges of Providing Multi-Age Groupings

[Anonymous]

Share some thoughts about the challenges of providing multi-age groupings

 

[Rachel Sedmak]

I think the challenges of providing multi age groupings would be to find music and experiences that are appropriate for both the babies and the older children. From what I’ve learned in the previous courses, the experiences for babies in the awareness stage are slow and less dynamic, which would not hold the attention of the older children. I think it will be easy to let the older children drive the sessions, and the challenge will be to still keep the music appropriate for the babies.

[Mikelia Wallace]

A challenge is the choice of music, on any given day you could have any range of ages and developmental levels walk in. Another challenge is providing a high-quality service for everyone, regardless of age/development, as ‘group management’ can be difficult as all children may be at different levels.

[Favor Chujor]

The biggest challenge is making sure that the presented music is appropriate and engaging enough for children of all ages. One way to mediate this, I’ve found, is by changing the presented song every few times through (either dynamically, tempo-wise, etc.) so that it is still engaging for babies and older children.

[Erika Svolos]

This is wonderful and something Elizabeth has talked about on many occasions. Many times repetition to adults seems too repetitive, but music therapists will repeat each verse and chorus in a different way, just as you have demonstrated. This helps to make the repetition more meaningful and meets the children’s need for repetition filled.

[Amy Berggren]

Providing programs for multi-age groups can be challenging; it can be difficult to find the balance between creating an environment that is appropriate for the youngest in the group, but it still engaging for the oldest in the group. One of the things Meredith and Elizabeth talk about in a lot of the videos is using changing tempo and dynamics in the songs and I think this can be a great way to keep all ages engaged.

[Sophia Paravalos]

This can be challenging because even in similar age groups, developmental levels can heavily vary, so to add multiple years makes this even more challenging to come up with a session that is accomodating for all and allows each participant to feel heard, able, and appropriately addressed. Another added challenge is facilitating dynamics and communication between family members. There are so many different relationships going on in the room, sister-brother, sister-mother, brother-mother, sister-therapist, brother-therapist, mother-therapist. It is hard to hold space for everything and connect with each and every one. I think it’s important to remember that kiddos can interact in different ways, and in fact they should. The group should not all be doing the same thing, they should be interacting in the developmentally appropriate way. They even get inspiring models from the older kiddos to look at and learn from! Holding the space for such a large group probably feels very chaotic in the moment, but I’m sure that when you are present and continue to try and engage, it appears much smoother than it feels.

[Erik Hylan]

This can certainly prove to be a challenge when trying to meet needs of a group operating on different levels of development. I think the main difficulty is maintaining engagement and involvement for everybody that’s in the room and presenting these music experiences in a way that is interactive and inclusive. I have found that having older children take on more leadership roles and modeling for the younger children can be a great way to achieve this. Also, keeping the music appropriate for the younger ones while adding different elements of change to keep the attention of the older ones.

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