Introduction

[Beth McLaughlin]

Hi everyone,
This was my last official week of work and it was a bit of a whirlwind so I’m sorry that I’m late contributing to the first forum! My name is Beth McLaughlin and I’ve been practicing music therapy for 39 years at a private school for children with ASD in upstate New York (Wildwood School). I am leaving my program in the very capable hands of 2 music therapists that I have trained over the years and am excited to move onto the new chapter of my life that will be focusing on early childhood music therapy. At Wildwood I worked with students of all ages but my first love was the elementary age level. We had students as young as 4 years old but did not offer pre-school services so my experience with 0 – 3/4 is through being a grandma and doing a weekly class with our childcare kids (staff children). I’m taking this course because I’m fascinated by early childhood development and how that development can be observed and nurtured through music. I’m excited to be learning from the best in the field (Meredith and Beth!) and hope to deepen my understanding of how to focus and adapt my music therapy experiences to optimize children’s learning and development while engaging the family in the process. In my retirement, my hope is to start a private practice specifically for this age group that provides an environment focusing on fun and positive interaction through developmentally appropriate music experiences.

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