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.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

[Jillian Brown]

I am hoping to bring more developmentally appropriate music therapy interventions in the 1:1 work I do as well as the group work I do. I want to bring more creativity and spontaneity to my sessions. Hopefully after learning everything and after practicing the work for awhile I will have more of an automatic understanding of what to do with any age range. For example, “Here’s a three month old, I know I can do this and this to help foster development and wellness”.

[Lisa Klostermann]

I am now inspired to remember to share developmental information with parents in my classes.  I sometimes feel too bossy, or afraid of ‘stepping on their toes’, but more information is always better.  Hopefully, this will help the parents feel empowered and like they also had a valuable experience in class.

[Lauren Bevilacqua]

I don’t have kids of my own or any nieces or nephews. But I am the youngest in my immediate and extended family. I have always been “the baby” – one prone to interesting and wild ideas, projects, and quite a bit of enthusiasm for my passions. Lucky for me, that was encouraged in my family.

My sister and I used to make up musicals and puppet shows and perform them for our parents. On Halloween, my friends and I used to have a “wall of death” where we told ghost stories with dramatic reenactments and when the cool babysitter would come over while our parents were out, my sister and I would dance around the living room to our favorite songs. We were always creating, performing, dancing, laughing and moving.

That nature of play and creativity (even absurdity sometimes) is something I think I bring to my work with all of my clients, not just the little guys. With school and training, I can balance the playfulness with making progress towards functional goals, but I think in fostering therapeutic work with a client, there sometimes needs to be some level of creative risk-taking on the therapist’s part (based on assessment of client needs and clinical judgement) to let the client know that it is okay to “go for it.”  Sometimes my clients need permission to play the way they want to play. Every client/group is different, but I think for the early childhood groups, a little playfulness will serve well to provide thrilling experiences for the children that also meet their developmental needs.

[Michelle Muth]

I am very much a child at heart.  I still find wonder and excitement in the world as I approach my 50th year. This is a leadership strength of mine when working with adults and children.  If I am genuinely excited then others usually follow.  What I love about young children is that everything is new and they hold an honest excitement.  They might get excited because I am excited or I might do the same for them.  I love to sit and hear a toddler’s story or explanation of something and marvel at how they are able to grasp a concept; see something anew.  My ability to be childlike while also having a maturity to express myself is a strength in both music therapy and other music avenues in my life.

 

I read Lauren’s response and we have some similar things from childhood.  I was the youngest and usually more of a creative risk-taker.  My sister’s and I put on puppet shows; did improvisation on the piano.  With neighborhood kids we would create our own plays and put them on.  I also have no children but do have nieces and nephews and was able to live with my sister for the early early years of one of my nieces.  I remember her developing appropriate verbal response to an action when…during dinner she had crawled into the kitchen and a few minutes later we kept hearing “uh-oh, (pause) “uh-oh, (pause) “uh-oh (pause)” said quite methodically.  We went out to look to find her gently pouring a little bit of olive oil on the floor, then saying Uh-Oh and then repeat.  Yes, she was “making a mess” and imitating what mommy would have said.  It was a great moment.

 

[Kristen Macleod]

I feel a lot more confident to discuss developmental information with parents of current individuals I work with and in future groups. One of the reasons I feel it is important for my practice to begin early childhood music groups is to encourage parents to be more vocal in asking questions about development and to see how music is important within their child’s development. I wasn’t sure I felt that I could do that before but this week’s material has definately been helpful!

I feel inspired to get even more creative in play with my early childhood 1:1 clients this week especially now that I have a deeper understanding of what may be best suited developmentally.

[Vanessa Talbott]

I thought the information was excellent and Elizabeth brought out key concepts for each age group which was helpful as there is so much detail in early childhood development. There were three comments that really resonated with me. 1. 12-18 months – the child needs people and objects to be part of themselves first before they can look outside themselves. 2. 18-24 months – is a time of a child’s development of self and a parent’s preservation of self. 3. 36-48 months – share with parents how to be child-like.
These comments made me think of my early childhood work and how these ideas can be communicated to families. I am very child like and love being in the world of the children I see each week. It was a good reminder though that I need to communicate that to the teachers and parents I see as well.

[Anonymous]

When I return to working in early childhood, I am excited to utilize a more developmental approach to my work. In the past, I found many challenges with analyzing my assessments and creating effective interventions to the clients. I feel more confident that I will be able to use this information to better understand what I see in my assessments and what I should be doing in the music / sessions to help each client with their developmental needs. I also identify with Kristen’s comment about feeling more equipped to communicate with parents.

[Emily Seymour]

       As a practitioner I want to be seen as a great resource to my clients’ parents.  I want to educate parents on what healthy development is and teach them how to promote this development through play; particularly play through music.  I would also like to connect parents with other programs and services their child is eligible for in the community.  

  
 In my work as a music therapist, I want my parents to understand and value the role of music  in their child’s life.  I never want them to think, “Why are we shaking this maraca?  This is pointless”.  I want parents to understand the larger, developmentally appropriate goals that music can addresses.  Being able to advocate for music therapy efficiently with parents will be the beginning steps to confidently advocate in larger setting such as hospitals, schools, with government officials, etc.

[Megan Goddu]

In my music therapy work, I center my music activities around a lot of dramatic play, especially with my facial expressions and use of my voice. I feel that these abilities will be a strong asset to an early childhood music therapy based program. By using dramatic play, I found that I have an easier time connecting with my clients and that they in turn respond more and “get” more out of the session.

Luckily for me, I have a pretty constant opportunity to see children from 6 months to about 5 years old in a daycare/preschool setting where I work as a preschool teacher. The information explained through the videos were very helpful and while it is not the first time I have learned about each developmental level and what to expect…it is always great to relook at and relearn what it is all about. In the process, I always remember more information than I did the last time I had the opportunity to review the information. While this definitely supports my work as a preschool teacher; it also supports my work as a music therapist, because even though I am not currently working in early childhood music therapy, I am better able to understand my students who present at a more developmental age of 3 to 5.

[Courtney Fanello]

I really resonate with Emily’s response.  I have always valued, loved and enjoyed music, but as I became a music therapist and realized the impact and power music has on so many different levels, I feel the need to share it with everyone. I want parents to understand that no, this is not singing time, or just shaking maracas, everything we do has a goal behind it. That is what I hope takeaway and bring to my own practice. As for what I personally bring to early childhood music, I really am a child at heart. I love the light in children’s eyes when they find the maraca, giggle at the duck sound, or peek out from under the blanket. I love the energy of a session with young children and all of the silliness. I used to be a summer camp counselor, and have always had plenty of nieces and nephews to play with. I almost consider it my personal mission to get a smile out of every child that I meet, especially when I was interning at the hospital, and I am looking forward to a lot more smiles in my career:)

 

[Carla Carnegie]

(I created a whole new post, rather than clicking on the right thing and adding to the thread—-so sorry—I think I have it down now! LOL) I don’t currently work with young children in my private practice.  As a mom of 4 grown children, I feel the need to balance my practice with the whimsey and infectious enthusiasm for life the little ones provide.  What I already bring, is experience in raising 4 kids, running a home daycare for several years, teaching children and adults piano and fiddle lessons.  Over the years,  I have learned  many lessons of  interaction with kids, and communicating with parents of daycare kids and students,  fostering love of music, and expressing oneself through music.  What I look forward to, as I seek to partner with parents and interact with their little ones, is using that joy of music, and understanding of appropriate development together in music making, knowing that the power of music and the impact it can have on  the whole family’s life is not only developmentally important to the little ones, but, whole family life enriching, and beyond priceless.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

The parent education piece of our work is so very important. I have found that many parents (both the young and old) look for guidance, ideas and reassurances about their child and their parenting. Through the music, we build trust.  As we share joyful play with the child we let the parent know that we really care about their child.

I know that there is a lot of material in these first few weeks.  You will have access to the video throughout the course in case you want to go back and review or hear it again.

[Meredith Pizzi]

Great comments, everyone! What I am taking away from your comments is that we all need to value what we have to offer and contribute when providing early childhood music experiences. Our personal experiences, training and clinical experience all bring a tremendous resource to the children and parents we work with and we need to be wiling to share it!

[Mary Kerrigan]

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Like I have mentioned before I really don’t have much experience working with early childhood.  I was in the younger end in my family amongst my siblings and my cousins, but starting about 10 years ago my older cousins began to have children and I was their number one babysitter!  So I have been around babies and toddlers but never really worked musically with them.  Being one of the younger cousins in my family too I have never really been sought out for advice concerning development for children even after my training in college and taking some psychology courses regarding human life development.  I am still very young myself and I do not have children and because of that I still feel almost intimidated to give advice or be a resource to parents regarding their child’s development.  Of course having babies in the family and being around them quite often I have basic knowledge of where and what stages of development they should be at, but the information this week in the module really gave me more detailed information and knowledge about the stages and what to look for and expect. 
 
I really have a passion for working with children because I really enjoy seeing them explore and realize and become acquainted with new things and experiences, especially with music.  They have so much wonder that it amazes me to see them interact with instruments and the music around them.  I love to see their faces and reactions to all these things.  Even with the lack of experience truly working musically in early childhood I think it is my passion to work with this population is what I can bring to this experience and endeavor.    

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

We,lcome, Mary. I often find that parents really want someone who will value their child as much as they do…so I think you have alot of experience in that!

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