How are you planning on sharing this information with colleagues, administrators and families?

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Cynthia Cross]

Right now my mind is over-flowing with ideas…I am going to make connections locally with daycare providers and teachers to start. I am joining a new Arts Collaborative in my community and planning on participating in presentations and community events through that organization. At my current job I will continue to educate but more directly than I have recently – by giving staff more specific directions with explanations about the developmental reasons for my choices. I would also like to do some inservices at my job to the same purpose. I have developed a website, facebook page and am working on written materials for distribution as we speak. I think an online presence is very important in this day and age.

[Mary Kerrigan]

Having worked now for three years professionally in the adult special needs population I really do not have too many professional connections to the early childhood community. However, my aunt is a recently retired day care provider who still has connections to many other younger day care providers and my sister who has two little girls and cousins with young children attend various events with their children and also have their own daycare providers and day camps etc. I am hoping to start there by asking my own family for their support and helping me advocate and spread the word of the benefits of music in early childhood. My younger sister was formerly a camp counselor for our town’s parks and recreation department and I hope to use that connection as well to possibly reach out to the P&R director to see if she may be able to help with opportunities to provide Sprouting Melodies programs to the local community or if she too has any connections to other parks and recreation departments in surrounding towns.

[Mary Jane Dibble]

I plan on advocating and building connections more in my community. I hope to connect more with organizations, parents of children with special needs, preschools, daycare centers, and local libraries. I plan to let my colleagues know about this Sprouting Melodies program. I plan on buying the songbook so I can learn more of the songs shared in this training and I will also advocate that to my colleagues. Thank you for a great course and good luck everyone!

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed reading your plans and ideas of how to share. Not only will you be advocating and growing as a professional, but you will also be making a positive impact in your communities.

[Emily Baroody]

After taking this course I now realize I need to be a lot more verbal with families about what I am doing and why. I also would like to implement more opportunities to share their experiences with the music school, so that I can have some constructive feedback and so that the administration can see how beneficial the early childhood programs can be.

[Brianna McCulloch]

At the music conservatory where I run my practice, our big push this academic year is parent and community education. We are really working to educate and ENGAGE our community in what we do (music ed, music therapy and early childhood music). Just yesterday, I met with our artistic director and a woman who leads the diversity/disability group at a major research and manufacturing group in our town. We are excited to engage our community in conversation about the value of music in early childhood and beyond!! I feel blessed to be PUSHED by my artistic director and director of development to engage with our local community this year 🙂

[Corie Barkey]

I already have specific communities in mind in the area to begin networking. I am hoping that as I continue the push towards early intervention that these parent child music therapy groups will have a significant role. I love the library route and I don’t know why I have not ever thought of that avenue. My very first step will be to research the community and get a clearer understanding of what is already available. There is another Sprouting Melodies provider in my area so I may reach out to her and ask to come observe and get a feel for what she does also.

[Mary Carter]

Like Cynthia I’ve been working at getting all my promotional material ready. The website, facebook, twitter and pinterest are all running as of this week and I just got my business cards and brochures in the mail. Farmers markets are HUGE for families in my area so I’ve got a few contacts and I’m hoping I can either set up a table or a music area at these in the coming weeks to connect with local families. I have a church gig where the priests are very supportive of my work and they’ve offered me a room to use for some classes for our parishioners and a spot in the bulletin to promote my practice and services. I’m hoping that once I get the parishioners involved they will spread word of mouth to other families that don’t attend our church. The other place I’ve been able to connect with all kinds of locals is at the restaurant I waitress at. We have a great returning cliental who have been hearing about my practice and have been giving me all kinds of names and numbers to call of schools their children attend, or places where they are on the board, or taking my pamphlets to pass on to friends they think might be interested. In the next month I’m hoping to connect with mom groups and support groups in the area and offer in services or blurbs for their newsletters.

[Molly Moses]

I have so many new ideas from reading all of these comments. I plan on reaching out to community organizations such as libraries, preschools, and families already receiving music therapy. I also plan to research what other services are available for young children in order to collaborate times.

[Kristina Rio]

I am so excited to hear about all of your ideas for where and how to share this information!

Corie, if you can observe the Sprouting Melodies Provider in your area that would be so helpful! It’s one thing to go through the training, but then to see it all in action with all the different children, it really solidifies what you have learned!

If anyone is ever in the Boston area, you are welcome to come and observe our Sprouting Melodies classes at our center in Melrose! Good luck everyone!

[Laura Silvestain]

As I complete my honors project of testing Beth’s assessment, I will have the opportunity to share what I have worked on with my peers in the music therapy program, as well as the school’s community as a whole. In the preschool that I am doing this project, I will expose the teachers and parents more to what music therapy is and more specifically, how children will develop musically. I won’t have much of an opportunity to interact with the students’ parents, but they will be sent information and they can call me when they have questions.

[Anonymous]

Laura I look forward to seeing how your project comes out.

[Melaine Pohlman]

From the clinical perspective, I’m excited about being more intentional with my music choices and the interactions I have with families. I want to work to mix up my “same old, same old” music choices that I fall back on with this population. As well, I’d like to research and brainstorm more about how SM can fit into my professional and personal world. I’ve begun to look into what else is offered in my area and saw three different early childhood music programs in our town’s Park District book this Fall. So, the question is, how do I sell something like SM and find a little niche for it. I’m still wrapping my mind around that! However, I have created a list of networks in the area that I think would be good to connect with to spread the word and share info about as I move forward.

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