Most Valuable Takeaways

[Anonymous]

What was your most valuable takeaway from this week’s content?

[Maria Ramey]

I think the thing that stuck most in my mind was the expectation that parents don’t always know what is typical development and that certain behaviors are part of a natural growth in cognition and interaction with the world. It reminded me of a recent experience I had in an early mixed preschool setting with an aid who was at first insistent that a particular child stay in her seat. She seemed embarrassed when the girl kept coming to me to touch my guitar and was surprised that I allowed it and worked safely around her, especially when later reflexively grabbing something out of the air that she’d thrown from next to me while I continued an interaction with another child. This week’s information made me realize more fully that we have a lot to “teach” caregivers because of our training and experience.

[Debbie Merideth-Zantout]

Education of care givers is a wonderful role that we can play. We are in a field that provides such amazing support not only to our students/clients but their care givers. As a mother of two children that have not followed the typical path of development I have learned that parents often have to focus on keeping their children safe, clean, and fed. In our role, we can support them by letting them know this is where their child/student is developmentally and how they can best be supported. Parents often need to hear, even if they cognitively know, that this behavior is developmentally appropriate for that child. I love that we have the opportunity to partner with them to help with ideas and strategies to help their child/student develop their full potential.

[Samantha Springer]

These are very valuable insights. I can definitely relate to what you mentioned in your post. I work with a few parents who are also always embarrassed by their young ones behaviors in a music therapy session because they always want to move around, dance, and not sit in one spot for a long period of time. I once mentioned to them that it was completely appropriate for the child to want to explore their environment in the way that they were exploring it in that moment and that it was developmentally appropriate as well. The parents always look thankful and relieved when they find that everything their child is doing is developmentally appropriate. I then went off of what the child was doing to structure the rest of my session.

[Danielle Christian]

I have had so many similar experiences! Even when working as an early childhood special ed teacher, it astounded me how often teachers, daycare providers, etc. expected very young children to stay seated, sit “criss cross applesauce”, and to not touch anything. I always invite little kiddos to explore their surroundings, move around, touch objects/instruments, and sit/stand/lay in whatever position helps them learn during both musical and non-musical activities.

[Debbie Merideth-Zantout]

This weeks topic fully reminded me that each child goes through these stages in such different ways, and what we call “neurotypical” is just a vague outline for how each child develops. I learned in my speech therapy training to expect 2 word sentences by 24 months and 3 to 4 word sentences between 36 months and 48 months. Also, consonant mastery varies greatly from child to child. I have observed not every child goes through this process at the same speed and in the same order, and that there can be regressions due to natural environmental stressors. This can very much present as splinter skills as they are focusing on one area of development more than another. This is good information to revisit.

[Maria Ramey]

That is something so important to remember- no child is alike, including in the way they progress developmentally.
I was so excited to learn that this particular early childhood music course teaches us to tailor everything to each individual child because of this! I’ve trained in and observed others that don’t approach each child in this way.

[Danielle Christian]

Yes! Remembering that it is a “vague outline” is so helpful. I always go back to Shelly Moore’s “don’t should on me” perspective when talking about where children are in their development. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRNhz0nGts)

[Erika Svolos]

Wonderful insights! Thank you for sharing!

[Samantha Springer]

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I learned that musical development in early childhood goes hand in hand with physical, social, cognitive, motor, and all of the other areas of development. I knew this before, but the way that Meredith presented this information just clicked in my brain and I had an “ah-ha!” moment. Sometimes I get so caught up in the non-musical developmental areas of a child that I forget that to a child, music is everywhere and everything. Instead, I should be looking at all of these developmental areas, musical and non-musical, as a whole to better serve the child rather than just at one developmental area at a time.

[Mikelia Wallace]

What is most valuable for me is the range of development and what we should expect in typical development. As I’ve said previously, being a new professional working with DD and neurodivergence, it is important to understand what is typical so we can target developmental milestones that are delayed. It is difficult with my population to stay grounded in the “typical” development, and as discussed, parents often don’t know what to expect and when development is delayed.

[Erika Svolos]

Those are excellent points Mikelia, thank you for sharing. I think what is also important that we share with families that neurodivergence will not only not have a “typical” development, but they will have their own line of development and this is okay too. Many times families become terrified that there is something “wrong” with their child when there is a neurodivergence. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to highlight that development is not linear and not always in a “typical” fashion.

[Danielle Christian]

I really liked the breakdown of the various developmental theories and what to “expect” during the different stages of development from the perspective of each of these theories. It is so interesting to think about how therapy can be approached from all of these different lenses and how that shapes my own practice as a music therapist and teacher. I also liked the developmental checklists for each age range but think it is so important to remember that these are just reference points and each child develops differently. As a parent, it is so overwhelming to look at these checklists and “compare” my baby to others, so I think it’s important to remember that when working with other parents and children and to not focus on what children “should” be doing and to instead focus on what they are doing and what they can be working toward next.

[Author]

Posts