Personal Reflection

[Anonymous]

Post to the board a personal reflection of what you personally will bring to early childhood music therapy-based programs.

[Amy Brownell]

I absolutely adore working with children – I love to view the world through their eyes, interact with them, and assist them as they learn new ideas or skills. I bring a great deal of patience to the services I provide. While I am happy to repeat a task or a song as many times as is needed, I also enjoy thinking of new and creative ways to help children learn in the way that they learn best. I find every new developmental accomplishment exciting, no matter how small. I believe that the joy that I experience while working with them will be reflected in the music I share, and that it will help them to be more comfortable with making music with me!

[Aliza Llovet]

I think giving voice to these little people who may not have all the skills to do so is one of my favorite things about working in early intervention.

The ability to observe and make connections of why a young child may be displaying certain behaviors or responses through the use of early childhood music based activities has been a such a great way to connect with the child but the caregiver as well. It provides ways to interact and engage the child that the parent might not have known how to or maybe didn’t even think they could. The caregiver in turn can then have the confidence to do the same with their child within their own routine.

[Anne Reed]

It is amazing to watch children develop. I have also learned from my experience that most children have incredible resilience and capacity to grow even when faced with difficult challenges. I have witnessed this throughout my career whether it be in a residential treatment center, pre-school program, hospital, etc. Music is the spark that helps to ignite curiosity, exploration and engagement.

[Erika Svolos]

It was wonderful to read each of your responses. Your answer to this question is a great reminder of all that you bring to the work you do in early childhood music therapy.

[Emily Fabian]

I truly love getting to work with young children. For me, getting to see both their small and big successes as well as their unfailing creativity in the classroom makes my work exciting and challenging. Allowing them room to explore and grow while ensuring clear directives of safety, responsibility, and respect makes for a beautiful music environment. Reading everyone’s reflections shows just how incredible and vital this work is for not only the children, but the families, caretakers, and us as providers.

[Aliza Llovet]

How has it been working in classrooms during the pandemic? Some of the clients I work with go to daycares and the constant closing of classrooms due to exposures has been tough.

[Amy Brownell]

I love the passion in this group!

[Erika Svolos]

Thank you to everyone that is coming back to interact with your fellow participants. This helps to deepen the information you are learning from this training. I encourage everyone to come back, read other’s responses, and interact with each other.

[Jessica Gelineau]

I will bring my love of music and passion for music therapy to an early childhood music therapy program. I have loved working with young children my entire life. I love watching them grow, explore and learn. I adore seeing children grow and progress in their own way, no matter how fast or slow. I love doing groups and sharing music with children. I also enjoy sharing with families and caregivers how they can use music within their daily routine. Many parents shy away from singing to their child or engaging them in music because they think they are “bad singers”. I love being able to see families as well as their children become more comfortable in their music making, and come alive as they start to use music within their day to day routines. The idea of a music therapy based music program is so intriguing to me. I am excited to bring a passionate energy, and promote advocacy within our field of music therapy. Being able to explain the “why” behind the reason we are doing something within groups is so important to me.

[Hannah Floyd]

Hi Jessica! I really loved how you highlighted seeing children grow at their own pace. I relate to this at meeting them where they are. And I agree about what you said about parents! As someone who works in schools I also notice this with teachers.

[Maggie Murphy]

As a Music Therapist who has recently returned to working with children (after having spent the past 8 years working with adults), I’ve realized how important is it to follow the lead of the child/children with whom you are working. Unlike many of the adults I work/have worked with in recent years, young children or children with developmental delays may not be able to communicate their wants/needs. Working with children over the past 3 months has reminded me that we can put all of our time and energy into session planning, but sometimes the best way to “session plan” is to observe the child and adjust your session/session plan accordingly. I can imagine that this type of flexibility is key to working in early childhood music therapy-based programs.

[Hannah Floyd]

As a new music therapist who primarily works in schools with young children, I find one thing that is so important is that while I’m trying to reach goals and objectives, I also try to take the time to get to know where every child is at. I want them to be able to creative, explore, and feel safe with me. Even if something goes wrong, or they are upset and throwing attention, they know I’m there and after taking a deep breath we will try again. Also I feel like it’s important that though I am older than them, I’m learning and growing along with them.

[Author]

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