Reviewing what you heard today, describe a moment in your practice when you saw a child in one of the developmental stages. Post your story to the board.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Victoria Fansler]

A few weeks ago I was brought in to observe and consult about a three-and-a-half year old in his first day of preschool. He stood out in his classroom because despite his chronological age, his behaviors showed evidence that he was still in the Trust stage in many areas. I observed in the afternoon, and he had been crying almost consistently throughout the morning. His physical abilities were about equal to those of his peers, but his language skills were very behind: “Mama” was his only distinct word, and beyond that he mainly showed explorations in timbre (especially screaming on this scary day for him) and vocal babble. The goal of “tolerance of novel experiences” stands out to me because attending his first day of preschool was so new and frightening for him that he seemed to feel traumatized and was impossible to soothe for most of the day.

While in the room, I had a couple minutes with him to see if music would help soothe him. When I began to sing, he turned his attention toward me and stopped crying; however, once he turned toward me, direct eye contact with this new person was overwhelming to him. He turned away and began to cry again. Singing to him without making eye contact was the most successful attempt I had. In thinking about this developmental stage now, I believe I could have made greater use of differences between sound and silence and responded directly to his body language so that he could have some choice in how long the musical phrases lasted.

Since this consultation, this child has been referred for psychological assessments and greater developmental support. Unfortunately, this means he will move to another school where we do not offer music therapy services. I will certainly miss the opportunity to work with him more, but I am thankful to him for teaching me about the role we can play in supporting children’s development.

[Anonymous]

Wonderful insights. Thank you for sharing this experiences.

[Janet Buchanan]

I’ve seen a lot of spontaneous dancing among the children I’ve worked with. When some of them first arrived and were waiting for everyone else, they would frequently ask for “dancing music,” which to them meant just about any sort of music. If you watched them do this on several different days, you might notice that at times there might not be any sort of structure to their dancing, and they’re just moving around however they want. From time to time, some kids would create a new way to dance and shortly after, the others would start to imitate it. They also could make the choice about to what degree they wanted to participate: sometimes one would get tired of it partway through, some would just watch the others, and others would dance their hearts out for as long as they could.

[Anonymous]

Great observations Janet. What stage of music development do you believe fit what you were observing in the “spontaneous dancing?”

[Janet Buchanan]

Erika, I would say that the spontaneous dancing would fit into the “control” level. This particular type of spontaneous dancing didn’t really have a strong rhythm or any sort of pattern, it was mostly random movement (such as spinning around in a circle) to the music (much like they describe spontaneous singing without a rhythm or tonal center). Other observations of this particular group gave more indicators they were in the “control” level, such as pounding and banging and that they would get the words of our songs more than the pitch or rhythm.

[Joanne Van Eycke]

I had the privilege of providing music therapy services to a young girl in her home for about 7 years. Though our time together began over 10 years ago, our initial sessions stay vividly in my mind. She was diagnosed with severe and multiple disabilities which presented with her being non-verbal, utilizing a wheelchair and having very rigid muscle tone. Her father wanted to provide an opportunity for her to participate in music as he reported when he sang to her “she came alive.” This response her father described was the stage of awareness. Though she often sat expressionless and appeared uninterested in much, when we made music together she began to make eye contact, turn towards the music and eventually begin to vocalize. Her senses were truly awakening before our eyes. Over time, I was able to support her progress through other stages of development but will always remember the dramatic difference in her personality and demeanor during those early sessions.

[Megan Neil]

The youngest client on my caseload is 11 months old. I remember having my first session last week. I have never had an 11 month old client and really I haven’t spent much time with 11 month olds in general. I remember feeling VERY overwhelmed within the session because I really wasn’t quite sure how to frame music therapy experiences to her needs and capabilities. After reviewing this segment and learning about development & the musical levels I understand that she is in the Awareness Level. Her musical choices are: to look or not to look, to reach toward music, and to turn attention toward music or turn away. Many times in the session she would interact through holding instruments, mouthing them, looking at me and Mom and then many times she would crawl or walk away and/or look at other things in the room to explore. Her Mom seemed distressed that she wasn’t fully engaging. After this segment I know that for the Awareness stage these are her musical choices and they are very appropriate! I will be sure to tell her in our next session these things I have learned!

[Tori Clark]

I had a client (age 7) over the summer with ASD, and I would say he is in the Awareness/Trust stages. The choices I gave him line up with these stages: (1) to look or not to look; (2) to reach toward the music; and (3) to turn attention toward music or away from music. One of his preferred instruments was the (handheld) bell tree. He would turn and reach for this instrument reliably and for 2-3 minutes at a time.

[Debrah Evans]

Most of the children that I have worked with are between ages 3-5. At the time that I was interacting with them, I remember thinking about how much of a difference there was in the children developmentally. When I had that class most of the children were in the control stage because they were able to imitate the words of songs, following the melodic contour but still lacked the tonal center for singing. I could use song structures and I could see that they were starting to learn turn taking. Additionally, some of the students were in the responsibility stage as evidenced by listening to others, follow directions, and following the melodic rhythm of songs, as well as maintaining a steady beat. I know understand why it was at times challenging engaging this group because of the wide array of developmental levels.

[Courtney Kjaldgaard]

I provide baby and parent music classes for infants ages 6-12 months and 12-18 months. This past week in the 12-18 month old group, I really noticed how the children responses’ were aligned with the responses and characteristics typically seen in the independence stage. For example, we were doing a song that encouraged movement using maracas/egg shakers and in the song, there are moments that the therapist is supposed to pause the music (to provide an element of surprise/sudden change to keep their attention). Every time I stopped the music, one of the babies in the class would immediately look up, make eye contact with me and freeze, no matter what he had been doing right before the pause occurred. The sensitivity towards musical surprises/silence in the music that is a part of the independence stage was definitely in full display in this case and it was wonderful to see how responsive he has become to the music being used (this was our 5th class into the program).

[Peggy Grace]

Since most of the children I work with are developmentally delayed, the developmental stages are either stagnant or lagging as compared to typical development. However, one of my patients, a child with cerebral palsy and cognitively delayed, recently began to play small instruments independently without moms assistance and more purposely. I have worked with this child for several years now and any progress is slow and there can be long intervals between developmental changes, but this was an important milestone for her. She still requires assistance with playing, but I can see that she is trying to be more independent in her musical experiences.

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