Post to the board a personal reflection of what you personally will bring to early childhood music therapy based programs and how this information will support your work as a music therapist.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Julia Park]

This week’s lecture was so helpful to me not only professionally but also personally because I have a 7 month old daughter. What I can bring to early childhood music therapy based programs as a music therapist (trained in sprouting melodies) and as a new mom is my expertise in DAP (Developmentally Appropriate Practice) in early childhood music education and my love and curiosity in working with these specific groups. I have never been a parent before and now that I know the developmentally appropriate behaviors for different age groups, I feel more confident and at ease knowing what to expect. What a gift it is to offer this depth of knowledge in early childhood development in such a fun and engaging way called music to the children and their parents! Whenever I have questions or concerns about my child, I usually search internet or read books which can be kind of overwhelming because there are so much information out there. It is also nice that music therapists can psychoeducate the parents while they are having fun and actively engaging with their children. I love the “red-flaggs” shared in the lecture.

[Nicole Drozd]

While I went through both modules I could not help remembering things I did as a child that were developmental markers-And I thought a lot of those memories were gone! I really, really enjoyed it when Elizabeth provided opportunities for us to experience what different stages might feel like as a child. Doing this not only gave me more of a perspective of what the child was seeing and experiencing, but it also gave me an idea of how curious children are at each of these age groups. One of my favorite things about working with children (primarily 1:1) is allowing them to participate in make-believe play and exploration. Because I know have a better understanding of developmental markers now I can provide more information to the parent about their children as also encourage them to come and play with us. I work with a little boy who is 6 y.o. and on the spectrum. I often allow opportunities for him to play what he likes on the drum or the triangle and often times the ABA therapist and mother don’t understand that I am helping him explore the instrument(s) and gain a little autonomy. Understanding both his disorder as well as his age, will help me better justify and encourage the parent and therapist to participate more in his treatment. This great stuff and I am glad I decided to take this course!

[Susan Gannon]

I would like to reply to the statement that Nicole made about the parent and ABA therapist concerning the 6y.o. on the spectrum. I, too, often feel misunderstood by the ABA therapists even though I do my best to support them. It is not the BCBAs that are the problem, but the people who are hired as “direct line therapists”. They are often very young, only starting their education as ABA therapists, and are taught to be very rigid in their behavior with the young clients because they do not have enough experience to make their own decisions as to how to handle children’s behavior. It is exciting to me to know that I will be learning tools in which to express myself to explain my actions as a music therapist.
I have some ideas on starting my own combined music therapy and ABA clinic and hope to be able to use the Sprouting Melodies program to facilitate this and also transition away from working for others and working for myself.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses! A wonderful part of being one of the moderators is I get to go through the training information each training and hear each participants take aways. Julia, I also found the internet overwhelming in gathering information with my daughter, who is now 2.5 yrs. Sprouting Melodies providers share a lot of information from Zero To Three with their families. This may be helpful to you and your work. Nicole and Susan, I use to work alongside ABA therapists for many years when I worked in a public school. I took some training with them so I could learn their terminology and then began to educate them on child development and how I was achieving things they were also addressing using a lot of their terminology, but still working from a person-centered philosophy. There is a new movement in ABA where they are using “Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions” which, for my understanding, is starting to incorporate developmental theories into the ABA format. John Carpente is a great resource for this as he is working to develop research studies, from the DIR Floortime/Nordoff-Robbins Philosophy, that will be accepted into the “best practices in autism” arena.

[Kate Potrykus]

Since my only experience working in early childhood has been as a special ed paraprofessional, I find that I am very understanding of developmental differences. In other words, I don’t worry too much if a child identified as “typically developing” is not achieving the same developmental goals at the same pace as others – I’m used to seeing much greater developmental delays. I think in an age where parents are quick to try and diagnose their children with a reason for their “shortcomings,” (or maybe “missed milestones” is a nicer way to put it) it is important for there to be professionals with the knowledge to help them understand that sometimes their child just needs a little more time than others. I believe that is something I would like to bring to early childhood music therapy programs. I want to provide my knowledge of early childhood development and an inviting environment in which parents can ask questions and express their concerns regarding their child’s development. Most importantly, though, I want to provide an environment in which children can explore and understand their social world, work on developmental milestones, and engage in music.

[Daniel Henry]

I don’t have much experience in working with children, but I do enjoy the groups I have led and observed in the past. Having this information gives me more insight into each child’s strengths and needs developmentally and I think that this information will be vital to creating goals and objectives for the children I do work with and those I will work with in the future. I also enjoyed when Elizabeth spoke of jumping with similar commitment to a child and how, as adults, we can loose that sense of really exploring our environment and bodies. I think that’s an important insight to keep in mind when going into a session. To try, as a clinician, to meet the clients where they are as well as understand their perspectives in order to better meet their needs.

[Shelly Peterson]

I will bring my personal experiences with my children when they were young and how using music helped them make so many connections in their world as well as my understanding of child development and individuality. I second what others have said about each child being not their own timeline. As a parent, I know how other parents often compare their child to other children of the same age and wonder why there are differences. What a great opportunity for us to take a load off of their minds if we are not seeing any red flags. A big thank you for pointing out the red flags too!
I encourage parents/caregivers to use music in functional ways throughout their day to help them be successful. Let’s face it, some days, it is just hard to make it through the day!

[Marcie Hernandez, MT-BC]

I don’t have children of my own, nor have I worked very much with this population until recently. As I may have mentioned before, I have provided more “performance-based” groups for children and their families at local libraries and community centers, during which I encourage interaction and participation, but did not feel comfortable identifying what was developmentally-appropriate for individual children in my groups. With this new base of knowledge, I plan on bringing not just information about the expected developmental milestones to parents, but also an emphasis on the uniqueness of each child’s development. Like some of you here have mentioned, I think it’s important to provide gentle reminders for parents and caregivers that all children don’t develop at the same pace. I also plan on bringing more openness to being child-like and encouraging the adults in our groups to do the same.

[Rebecca Woodruff]

Something I believe that I bring to early childhood music therapy is, like many others, I can be child-like and still maintain a professional demeanour. I love to make people laugh but I know what is appropriate. I feel that by giving myself freedom to be silly or funny I am being authentic. This also helps to put children and parents at ease and makes it easier to build rapport, which is crucial to therapy and learning. I have seen this in my experience in my work with children with disabilities and their care givers as well as teaching children 7-8 piano.

Being able to be child-like also helps us to better understand the children in our groups and feel greater empathy. This, as well as the information in this module, will help me to ensure that my interventions are developmentally appropriate for the children so they can best succeed.

[Nicole Drozd]

Susan,

It’s really cool that you want to do more work with ABA therapists! So far the response from ABA therapists that have been present in my sessions have been positive and one of curiosity. I think it would be great for all parties (BCBA’s, ABA’s, Parents, and kids) where you are located to have an MT-BC there to help engage with the child in a unique way as well as observe the child behaving differently in a music setting. Cool stuff Susan!

[Kristina Rio]

I loved reading about what each of you will bring to early childhood music therapy based programs! There is so much we, as music therapists, have to offer young children and their families! Like Shelly said, sometimes it’s hard to make it through the day, but we have so many tips and tricks of functional ways to use music at home and throughout a family’s day that can make it so much more fun and manageable!

[Julia Park]

Nicole, giving the room and space for the child in order to experience autonomy is great and Susan, I hear you about the challenges we face as we try to collaborate with the parents and the other therapists. One of my first clients was a 5 year old boy with autism spectrum disorder. His mother was so thrilled when she saw him come alive and explore different instruments in the room. Another little boy I worked with had a mother who was a bit more rigid and strict. She was determined to have the child play at the recital along with what she called the “normal children”. The mother instructed me to give the child a sugar coated almond when she felt like he was doing a good job in the lesson. I did not agree with her and try to intervene but she did not listen and instead, wanted me to continue to do what she and the other therapists were doing with him. It is challenging when some of the parents that we work with do not understand exactly what music therapists do no matter how many times we explain. They believe that music therapists are music teachers who work with children with disabilities and we are suppose to make them play instruments or sing to perform at the recitals. Music therapists are certainly more than that and when the families understand that and are aligned with you, that’s when we experience magic in the room.

[Alexis Ramagnano]

I plan on creating opportunities for parents and children in my community to bond, create connections, and offer support to each other through early childhood music therapy based programming. This is going to be a new chapter in my career as a music therapist. I want to provide children, and their parents, the support that I felt I needed ( and probably still do). I feel that this information and becoming a Sprouting Melodies provider will enhance my ability to fully support the families I hope to work with. Parents want to know that their children are in the care of an educated skilled professional. This training will provide me the knowledge and confidence to be able to meet those needs.

[Susan Gannon]

Nicole, thanks for your support with this. I think that I may have been too shy about educating the ABA therapists here. It is difficult here because there are about 40 therapists here, a quarter are ABA therapists, and the rest are OTs and speech therapists. And there is just one of me. That is because music therapy in my state is not reimbursed but all the other therapies are. I think that lack of reimbursement lends itself to less respect for music therapy.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Great discussions, everyone. I love this about the forum. Some of you might know, but AMTA now has extensive new resources on music therapy and autism that came out of the Strategic Research Priority. You can access the material at http://www.musictherapy.org/research/music_therapy_and_autism_spectrum_disorder/.

[Charniqua Snell]

I am sorry for the late response but I realized my comments did not go through in this forum the first time. So I will post it again!

The information in this training will equip me to not only help the children I work with but also their caregivers. I am excited to help the parents/caregivers with not only tools to relate with their child more but to also give the emotional support that they need. As someone who is not a mother, it can be intimidating to talk to parents about their children and what will help with their development. But I want and need to bring that support into my groups to make them more affective and worthwhile.

[Elizabeth Carras]

I have come to recognize that some of my personality traits will help me be a better provider when working with early childhood. I have great amounts of patience, lots of energy, and an active imagination — all great to have in your arsenal if you will be working with young children. I do not have too much experience with ‘typically’ developing young ones; my experience with early childhood music therapy was working in a pediatric hospital, where many of the patients were delayed due to illness or extended hospitalization. I think this training will be very helpful in refreshing my knowledge of child development, so I can answer questions that parents and providers have, and I can plan developmentally appropriate experiences.

[Johanna Horn]

I feel as though my personal experiences (both job related and home related) support my ability to work as an early childhood music therapist. Because my twin daughters are three and a half years old, I believe that direct correlation and experience gives me more understanding on the development of children. Also, I work at a preschool and ‘teach’ music for ages 2-6 and I have experience with that as well. This training has helped refresh and renew my ideas and experiences for developmental appropriate activities.

[Christina Bass]

In both my clinical work and work as a paraprofessional in school districts, I have worked with a variety of young children at various developmental and learning stages. This will help me in adapting and understand that each child is different and being able to explain different stages to parents and provide encouragement. This training will defiantly support my work as a music therapist in helping me have a better understanding of the different developmental levels of children and the best ways to use music to support their growth.

[Flora Whitmore]

While I have been a music therapist for almost 5 years, and worked mostly with children, much of my understanding of developmental stages was through observation of my friends’ kids and working with children with developmental delays. I have a good understanding of how disabilities present, but actually a very limited comprehensive understanding of normative behavior broken down the way this course presents it. Our prof in Dev psych did not spend a lot of time, for example, on the major details of the 12 months of life. I found myself thinking about the children I knew, as I watched the video- my four year old niece and six year old step daughter, and it put a lot more in perspective for me! I think this will be incredibly useful in application to both becoming a more effective music therapist and also helping to advocate for and support parents with questions.

[Author]

Posts