Introductions

[Meredith Pizzi]

Introduce yourself to the group. Tell us about your professional experiences and what motivated you to take this course. Be sure to include where you live, if you are already doing work in early childhood and how you would like to make this information part of your practice.

[Kristina Rio]

My name is Kristina Barbo and I am one of the online moderators for this course. I live in Reading MA. I graduated from Anna Maria College, and I currently work at Roman Music Therapy Services(RMTS) with Meredith Pizzi as a music therapist, Sprouting Melodies Provider, and practicum student supervisor. I work with a diverse clientele from birth to end of life in various populations. I have been a Sprouting Melodies Provider for two and a half years. I participated in the live training in NY with Beth and Meredith in June of 2012, and completed the online training in November of 2012 after I became a board certified music therapist. My online training experience was unique as I had already started to lead SM groups of my own, which was very helpful as a refresher, and gave me the opportunity to absorb the information in a more applicable way. I will be present during this entire online training course to be a resource for you throughout your experience. I am here to respond to any questions you may have and offer my support as best I can, so please feel free to contact me here on the forum! You can also contact me by email with any specific questions you may have at kristina@romanmusictherapy.com. I look forward to getting to know all of you over the next several weeks!​

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone. My name is Erika Svolos. I am one of the online moderators for this training. I live in New Jersey with my husband, my 17- month old daughter, and our four cats. It is a joy to be apart of this fantastic program and to join in your Sprouting Melodies journey. I am a graduate of Marywood University and have been a music therapist in New Jersey for the past 15 years. Over that time I have worked in a variety of settings including in-patient child/adolescent psychiatry, a private clinic for autism, a large urban public school, private practice, and a private special education high school for individual’s with emotional and behavioral disorders. In August 2013 I started my own business/private practice; Music Therapy Services of New Jersey, LLC. I completed the April 2013 Sprouting Melodies online training and it is a wonderful addition to my practice. I began offering Sprouting Melodies classes in February of 2014 and I am truly enjoying working with my SM families.

I will be assisting with any questions and/or technical difficulties. I will be sending you an email with information about the online forum technology and my contact information. If you do not receive the email, please contact me at erika.svolos@gmail.com.

I am looking forward to getting to know each of you over the next ten weeks!

[Kayla Lyles]

Hi everyone! My name is Kayla Lyles and I recently became board certified a month ago. I am a graduate of Shenandoah University and work at a private practice in Frederick, MD (Noteable Progressions Music Therapy Services) alongside Darcy Lipscomb and Megan Dewing. We are currently in the process of reaching out to different early childhood programs, preschools, etc. in the area. When we roll out our early childhood and family groups this summer, we want all of our therapists to be taking the same approach and believe Sprouting Melodies can really help with that. As a new professional, most of my experience lies in adolescent psych and some early childhood (ABA) from internship, so I’m incredibly excited to dive right into this training! I’m looking forward to learning over these next ten weeks and getting to know each of you!

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Welcome! I am always so excited to get to know music therapists from around the world through this Sprouting Melodies forum. You will be seeing and hearing a lot about music and music therapy from me in the next ten weeks, but here are some other things about me and the rest of my life. I am still working, after 26 years, at a wonderful facility on Long Island, New York called Alternatives for Children. We service families and children birth-5 through special education, therapeutic services, day care, nursery school and family groups. I also have the pleasure of teaching music therapy at Molloy College here on Long Island. We have over 100 students in the program, both graduate and undergraduate. Our teaching faculty reads like a ‘Who’s Who” in music therapy and I am honored to be a part of it.

My other job as a mother has changed quite a bit since my three children are all grown and out on their own. Even though I spent a lot of their formative years traveling and working on behalf of music therapy, they seemed to have turned out just fine! I didn’t always have dinner on the table or clean clothes in their drawers, but I did give them all a life of learning and music which I am proud to say they still value and remember.

Meredith and I are committed to music therapy and to music therapists and to you. We look forward to getting to know you and to supporting your journey in music therapy and early childhood music.

[Katie Whipple]

Hi Everyone! I am Katie Whipple and I live in Milledgeville, GA. I have been a music therapist for 9 years and continue to love what I do everyday! I directed a Creative Arts program for Adults with developmental disAbilities that encompassed music therapy and visual art. We focused heavily on community music therapy approaches as it was our goal to promote true integration for adults iwth DD. Twice a year our musicians would perform alongside music therapy students to present quality and fun music performances. This continues to be a beneficial program for both our musicians and the music therapy students.

Currently I am working as a lecturer at Georgia College & State University. I am also in charge of our private music therapy clinic. The purpose of our professional clinic is to offer music therapy services in our surrounding areas while providing our graduate and undergraduate students an opportunity to work and learn from professional music therapists in action! I posted on Music Therapists Unite on facebook and asked what type of childhood program people offered as part of their practice. I had initially been debating between Kindermusik and Music Together. However, there were so many MT’s that posted how much they loved the Sprouting Melodies approach. I am hoping that this training will be something unique that our clinic can offer to all individuals and their families. I am a firm believer in inclusion and I feel that is something that this program really strives for. I am excited to learn and share with everyone!

[Jaycie Voorhees]

Katie I would love to hear more about your adult program! I am just starting up our first program for adults with special needs tomorrow (Thursday) and am very interested to hear more about what you have done. Do you have a website or a way to share more of your ideas?

[Amanda Braden]

Hello Everyone!
My name is Amanda Braden, and I have been a board-certified music therapist for almost 4 years. While receiving my undergraduate degree at Western Illinois University, I worked with older adults in a retirement home as a student music therapist and provided individual and group music therapy sessions for aging adults with dementia and other health concerns. I completed a music therapy internship at Lakemary Center in Paola, KS, which is a specialized school and residential facility for children and adolescents (between ages 5-21) with psychiatric disorders and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Soon after completing my internship, I moved to Valparaiso, Indiana to work full time as a music therapist for a company called Behavior Specialists of Indiana (BSI), which is where I am currently living and working – I have been there for over 3 ½ years now. BSI provides behavior therapy, music therapy, recreational therapy, ABA services, and mental health services to individuals and families in northern Indiana. I provide music therapy for adults and adolescents (my current caseload ranges from 14-65 years of age) with intellectual and developmental disabilities through Medicaid Waiver programs.

As you can see, I don’t have much experience in providing early childhood music therapy services. So, one of the reasons I have decided to take this course is to gain more knowledge, tools, and insight about working with this particular age group. Also, I am looking forward to gaining more knowledge about early childhood development as I currently work with many adults and teens that are cognitively at this level, and I believe this knowledge will help me structure their sessions in a way that better suits their needs and abilities. Another main reason for taking this course is strictly that as much as I truly enjoy my current job, I am feeling a tug to branch out and try out another avenue. Since I really enjoy working with young children, I’m very interested in becoming a Sprouting Melodies provider. Another important reason is that there is a great need in Valparaiso as well as nearby cities for quality, community-based early childhood music groups. I would like to help provide more opportunities for parents in this area to engage in enriching groups with their children in their own community. So, needless to say, I am very excited to begin this training and learn and grow as a music therapist!

[Michelle Russell]

My name is Michelle Russell and I have been a Board Certified Music Therapist for 14 years. (when did I get so old) I currently live in West Hartford , CT. I spent 12 years working in long term care settings exclusively. I managed Therapeutic Recreation Departments, and really loved it. After the birth of my second child I stopped working full time. I have been slowly building up a small private practice for myself. (Feel free to like Musical Moments Music Therapy Services on Facebook) As an expansion of my practice, I have recently started offing early childhood music programming to local day care centers and preschools. I am hoping that this course will help build my confidence in what I am providing as well be a good refresher about development. It had been a while since I worked with children. I am looking forward to learning with you all.

[Megan Dewing]

Hello everyone! My name is Megan Dewing and I have been a Board Certified Music Therapist for almost a year now! I graduated from Marywood University in 2013 and then went on to complete my internship at a private practice in Colorado Springs, CO. There I worked with school aged children (and a few adults) with autism and other developmental disabilities and neurological challenges. After completing my internship, I got a job working at Noteable Progressions Music Therapy Services, a private practice in Maryland.

I first heard about Sprouting Melodies during my internship, when I attended a presentation that Meredith and Beth gave at the AMTA National Conference in Jacksonville. I was so excited when I left the presentation, I decided that I wanted to take the CMTE as soon as I could. I am excited to grow in my knowledge of early childhood and musical development, and incorporate in into both my current sessions and soon Sprouting Melodies groups!

[Amanda Maestro-Scherer]

Hello everyone! My name is Amanda Maestro-Scherer. I’ve been a board certified music therapist for about 7 years now, and I’m currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah. I did my undergraduate degree at Berklee College of Music, and my masters at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. I’ve been working with kids and adolescents since my internship, which was at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute, an acute psychiatric facility. After that, I worked for a private practice doing a variety of different things, from hospice, groups with kiddos with autism, refugee high school students and various psychiatric facilities. I then went on to take a full time position at a school for kids with special needs, ages 5-22.

My most recent job has brought me into early childhood– for the last three years, I have been at Primary Children’s Hospital, working with all ages, from birth to early 20s (and their parents, and grandparents). What I’m hoping to get out of this course is a deeper understanding of early childhood development, to enhance the clinical work I am currently providing for the kids I work with in early childhood at the hospital. We do support a lot of developmental goals for children in medical settings and considering this is an age group I have only been working with for the last 3 years, I’d love to expand my knowledge. Thanks for offering this course. I am excited to participate, and also really appreciate that you offer it solely to music therapists. That was a big selling point for me!!

[Christine Czuhajewski]

Hello, my name is Christine Czuhajewski and I am currently working as a music therapist with the Kennedy Krieger Schools in Baltimore and Rockville, MD. I also work through a private practice called Augmenting Ability, also in Maryland. My previous jobs have included music therapy work in Indiana and performing on cruise ships. In addition to music therapy, I have a background and experience in music education. Through the private practice that I currently work with, I have had many opportunities to work with pre-school aged children and small groups. Many families over the years have inquired about groups for their young children and this seems to be a growing area of interest in the region I live in. I am also specifically interested in learning more about early childhood development so I can adapt the information for some of my school aged children who are developmentally at an early childhood level. This program really attracted me because of how it draws on the knowledge and training that are unique to music therapists. I feel like this gives families confidence that the information and techniques they experience are research based.

[Jacquelyn Blankinship]

Hi, everyone! My name is Jacquelyn Blankinship and I have been board certified since October of 2014. I have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from a small school in Memphis, TN, and, after working for several years in higher education after graduation, decided to attend Appalachian State University’s Music Therapy equivalency program. I’ve definitely had a circuitous route to become a music therapist!

I completed my internship with a hospice local to Asheville, NC (where I currently live with my husband) in July of 2014. My husband helped to support us during my internship, and we both knew that after that it would be his turn as he has been waiting to attend a medical graduate program until I was finished with my education. Due to the fact that I knew we would be relocating in less than a year after my internship was completed, I was wary to work on building contract work or a private practice in Asheville. And, unfortunately, I was unable to find many already existing MT opportunities. So! Because of that, I took an unrelated job in higher education in December of 2014 to get us through. Now, though, we know that we’ll be moving to Atlanta at the end of May and I am so excited to dive into creating a successful opportunity for me to practice – FINALLY!!! I’ve been applying for jobs in the Atlanta area, but I was excited to take this course for several reasons: a) to give me another marketable skill set that varies from my experience with older adults/hospice, b) because I’ve always known that I would also love working in early childhood (some practicum experiences, nieces and nephews of my own, etc.), and c) to potentially use the Sprouting Melodies business package to help me start my own groups.

I am so excited to learn more, refresh the knowledge I learned in my coursework about development, etc., and to get to know all of you and share knowledge, ideas, experiences, and excitement!

[Milijana Majstorovic Kozul]

Hi,
I m Nana and I am music therapist from Belgrade,Serbia – Europe. Yes, I found your program and decided to try. Little introduction about me…..Music therapy is pretty much new profession here in Serbia and right now we have 5 BC music therapists, and some of us are working in private practice but not very often. The reason why is that is because our “system “ is little bit “rigid” so we don t have music therapy officially in hospitals or in any other institutions officially (ok, we used to have few years ago, since I was a student, but after that situation has changed). That is one of the reason that I want to start program like yours which can bring some changes for music therapy profession here and my community as well.
Also I am IAIM certified Instructor (from 0 to 12 months), Baby Sign Instructor and Musical baby program instructor (from 0 to crawling). I m working with parents and babies through my classes since last year.
I m also a mother of 18 months old girl.
So, as you can see there are many reasons, why I decided to take your program :). It was. natural, my next professional step which two of you definitely have confirmed on your video.
Can` t wait to start and learn from you.
P.S. As English is not my first language sorry for my “future” mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Welcome everyone! I am enjoying reading everyone’s introductions. Megan it is always great to see a fellow Marywood graduate 🙂

[Kristina Rio]

Welcome everyone, and congrats to Kayla on your certification!

[Darcy Lipscomb]

Hello! I’m Darcy Lipscomb, and I live in Thurmont, MD. I own Noteable Progressions Music Therapy Services which is based in Frederick, MD and serves Central/Western MD as well as Southern PA. I have been a MT-BC since January 2009. I have worked with children at various times throughout me career thus far, but I don’t have much experience with very young children. I am looking forward to a refresher on early childhood development and best practices for using music to facilitate that growth. I decided to have my team members and I participate in the Sprouting Melodies training so that we could provide a consistent, quality program throughout our practice as well as have the backing of a nationally/inter-nationally recognized program.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

Hello fellow MT-BC’s! My name is Jaycie Voorhees and I was born and raised and am currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have been an MT-BC for 7 years now and despite my original intentions of working with adolescents, I have found my passion is working with children. After an eclectic internship with a variety of populations, I worked at a center-based school for students age 3-22 with severe and profound disabilities for 5 years while maintaining a small private practice on the side. Once I had my first child I put more emphasis on my private practice, Harmony Music Therapy. While we serve a variety of populations, the bulk of our clients through Harmony are children with special needs age 2-12. These are both private clients as well as students from a private Montessori school contract. I personally work 2 days per week at the Montessori School and have other independent contractors fulfilling the rest of our contracts/client work so I can be home with my two kids. I have a 3 year old and an 18 month old and another on the way this August, which means I will have 3 kids 3 and under! So not only is this course going to be helpful in my clinical work, but will also be very interesting as I will soon have 3 of my own kids who fall under the early childhood age group!

We currently have a partnership with a local Early Intervention program who sends us kids for 3 months at a time for inclusive developmental music therapy groups. They require that we have “typical” kids already enrolled, then they sponsor kids to come to our groups. This has been a great relationship but I have found it very challenging to find ways to bring in typical kids and it always ends up being my own kids or my friends with their kids. I would LOVE to make this more of a community program that parents want to join. I also want to start early childhood music programs at some local preschools. In taking this course I am seeking more understanding of musical development, marketing skills geared toward early childhood music programs, and an increased arsenal for providing high quality music and music therapy programs that appeal to all types of children and parents.

So bring it on, I’m excited to learn!

[Mary Withington]

Hey everyone. My name is Mary Withington, and I have practiced music therapy since I graduated from UGA in 1982. I live Morehead City, NC, over the bridge and 2 miles to the ocean from my front door. I did my internship and later worked in a nursing home in Minneapolis, MN. After 4 years it moved back South and worked in SC at the state psychiatric hospital in Anderson-Patrick Harris Hospital for 4 years, and then in Greenville, at a private psych hospital-Charter Behavioral health Center for 8 years. After the other MT-BC and I were “downsized” during a rash of staff cuts ( they later went bankrupt-yay), I went into private practice in 1997. I mostly contracted with nursing homes, assisted livings, and adult day care, senior vocational rehab settings and hospice. I concentrated on older adult, mostly, although I had a lovely contract with a special needs high school class room, and an individual MT contract with a teen to work on speech goals. I moved from this wonderful and busy private practice to a small town in NC, in 2000,when my husband got a new job. The first job I could get there was in a preschool. I just ran those music classes like my Alzheimer’s groups and it worked fine. But I knew I needed early childhood training, so I took the Kindermusik training, which was very helpful. I have led Kindermusik classes since then to augment my income. I moved to Morehead City in 2004, and have since contracted with a preschool for general music, do Kindermusik, teach 40 piano students, some with autism and Down syndrome, and have some music therapy groups with an OT pediatric clinic and through the Autism society, and a high school music therapy class. I would like to develop some music therapy groups for early childhood through the OT clinic where I contract. There have been numerous requests for this from parents of young autistic kids. Kindermusik is expensive and of course, is not music therapy, although I’ve borrowed activities for interventions from time to time with the older autistic kids. I have been wanting music therapy specific ideas and interventions for this age group and potential music therapy groups in my area. I have read Elizabeth Schwartz’s book and have done a CMTE on it, and really learned a lot, so I am excited to learn more and add to my business. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Welcome Mary!

[Author]

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