Personal Reflection

[Anonymous]

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

[Maria Ramey]

Having raised/raising 4 kids of my own; and having 9 nieces and nephews, several of which have developmental challenges and have utilized early-intervention services, I hope that I have an empathy and a personalized understanding for parents dealing with a whole range of typical-atypical childhood development. In working with family units in group music settings, I intend to pair this personal experience with my music therapy training and experience to provide full support for both child and caregiver to help strengthen their relationship.

[Debbie Merideth-Zantout]

Julius Caesar sad “Experience is the teacher of all things.” Raising four children is a major accomplishment. It gives you a better understanding of how your families are feeling at different times in their child’s development. What a wonderful point of view to bring to your sessions/classes. 🙂

[Danielle Christian]

Raising 4 children is such an impressive accomplishment! That experience must be SO valuable in helping you to empathize with parents/caregivers of little ones. 🙂

[Debbie Merideth-Zantout]

I have over 20 years of experience working with children with developmental delays ranging from age 2 to 18, a K-12 music choral/general education degree, and have been working as a speech therapy assistant for six years. I have conducted group preschool music classes through a home schooling group my children were involved in ages birth to 5. I have also held preschool music classes at a clinic. I helped set up a music education department at a different clinic for their private school serving children with developmental delays. My oldest son was diagnosed with PDD/NOS moderate global delays at age 4 and with autism at age 5, and my youngest son has learning disabilities/ADHD. I am excited to use this experience with the new knowledge I gain from this course to start providing group integrated preschool music classes. I am excited to be able to partner with families to help identify where their child is functioning developmentally and musically to best serve their needs.

[Debbie Merideth-Zantout]

Experience and training aside, I wish to further my education in young childhood music because I love it. I love the different developmental stages, I love providing a coaching model for my families, and I love watching children learn and grow. I am passionate about helping families whose child(ren) need extra support and the critical importance of doing so as early as possible.

[Samantha Springer]

I too want to be able to partner with parents so that we can work together to have a greater understanding of where the child is developmentally and how to use music in a way to help encourage growth. I love what Meredith said in the training about how musical development is also non-musical development; they’re parallel and go hand in hand.

Thanks for sharing your perspectives and what you will bring to music therapy based early childhood programs! It sounds like you have lots of previous experience to draw upon.

[Maria Ramey]

What great personal perspectives you have from so many angles to draw from.

[Erika Svolos]

Thank you both for sharing all that you bring to this training. You each have a unique background that is very valuable to the early childhood community. Thank you for also interacting with each other! This will deepen your understanding!

[Samantha Springer]

I have a strong passion for working with children and using music as a way to encourage developmental and creative growth. Although I don’t have any children of my own, growing up, I held many jobs that worked with children. I was nanny for a short time, babysat several children, and worked in a daycare. I loved every minute of it. I also have a minor in psychology, specifically child psychology. I will bring my past knowledge of working with children as well as my strong passion to early childhood music therapy based programs. However, I also hope to gain an understanding of a child’s developmental milestones so that I can work with and encourage the parents as well.

[Danielle Christian]

Our backgrounds are so similar! I minored in psychology as well. I am about to start a new nannying position and will be bringing my own baby with me, in addition to running my business! Let’s meet up for coffee sometime soon. 🙂

[Samantha Springer]

Yes! I would love to meet you and get to know you. I actually live in the far east Madison area-only 5-10 minutes from all of Sun Prairie. I will contact you! Also, P.S. Your little one is very adorable!

[Mikelia Wallace]

This has been very informative, as I work with kiddos from 4 to 20 with developmental disabilities and I am a new professional. Getting a better picture of what typical development looks like is very helpful, as I am in the world of disability and development looks so different across this population. I hope that this information will help me be able to assess my clients more effectively and thus, create a better treatment plan.

[Samantha Springer]

Hi Mikelia,

I agree with you that learning about typical development was extremely helpful. We learn all of that information in school, but I found that it didn’t really sink in as much as it should have due to learning so much so quickly. However, this course has been helpful in reviewing the material. I hope that you can use this course to continue creating better treatment plans as well!

[Danielle Christian]

I am excited to put both my educational background in both music therapy and early childhood special education as well as my love for working with children to use as I take this course and pursue starting up early childhood music programs in the future! I have worked in a lot of different environments with kiddos including schools, hospitals, homes, and daycare facilities, which has given me a lot of valuable experience with a wide variety of developmental stages. I would describe my approach to early intervention as routines-based, and I think there is so much benefit to meeting children where they are at and working with them in their natural, inclusive environment with peers. I think I also bring a unique perspective as a brand new mom and will be able to personally relate to parents with children similar in age to my little girl (now 12 weeks!).

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