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]

[Christine Czuhajewski]

When I first started working with a young boy who was 3 years old, he was demonstrating musical reactions of transitioning into the independence category. As he interacted with instruments, he began to hold and manipulate them with clear intentions of playing. This was through hitting mallets against the drums and shaking maracas. He also demonstrated emerging abilities to make choices- he started by reaching for the first instrument he saw, but over the course of time, he began to fix his gaze on multiple instrument choices, look back and forth between his options and then reach for an instrument. He also notably began participating in patchen songs by independently moving with the music- whether clapping, patting or stomping. Like it was mentioned in the video, he sometimes would choose to engage in the music by continuing to clap or pat along, even if the movements being modeled around him were changing. As his awareness and development progressed, he began to demonstrate an awareness of the routine within the song and anticipated the specific movements in the order they were presented in the song he was familiar with. He demonstrated many of the different musical responses in the independence stage, and it was interesting to see his emergent skills and how they solidified and developed over time.

[Amanda Braden]

For about 6 months, I worked with a 2 ½ year-old child with Down’s Syndrome in individual music therapy sessions whom I would place in the developmental level of independence. She thoroughly enjoyed walking around the music room to explore what instruments and objects she was able to find. Also, she loved to strike the drums with her hands and shake the maraca. She loved to place colorful, sheer scarves over her head and would laugh as she looked at me imitating this behavior. Dancing was probably her favorite activity in sessions -she loved to bounce, spin, and clap her hands, and move her entire body from side to side to the music. Also, she really enjoyed singing familiar songs about animals like “Matilda the Gorilla” and “Five Little Monkeys” and was able to fill in the animal sounds with much independence towards the end of her treatment. She was a joy to work with, and it was fun to reminisce on the days I was able to work with her as I watched the independence phase in the training video.

[Kayla Lyles]

Before my work with children now, my only real taste of early childhood was during internship when I had the opportunity to provide music therapy during an ABA summer camp in the mornings. Most of the children had mild to moderate developmental delays and a favorite memory I had was when a deaf child joined the group. While he couldn’t necessarily hear the musical experience, through seeing and translating ASL, he was able to gain my trust over the course of the weeks and join in instrument play, movement to music, and make choices about what he wanted to participate in. His peers were also very welcoming during the musical experiences so all around it was just something I’ll always remember.

[Kristina Rio]

Kayla, what a wonderful opportunity! Which developmental stage do you think he was in at that point when you met him for the first time?

[Jacquelyn Blankinship]

I haven’t had a ton of experience using music with young children, but I did have a practicum when I was in school where I worked with a developmentally delayed preschool child within a group of his typically developing peers. I kept thinking during this week’s module about how much all of this information would have benefited my work with him during that experience. I realize now that I was probably using interventions that were not appropriate for his (and possibly some of his peers’) developmental levels. For example, lots of attempting to teach choreographed movements/dances to songs, lots of turn taking/call and response playing, and very little transition and embedded songs. Whew! I remember that I did feel he built a level of trust with me by the end of the practicum and that we made some progress toward speech goals, for example, but I can’t help but think how much more productive our time could have been.

All of this information has helped me to identify some of the stages that I have interacted with my nephew in, though. I remember one of the first “meaningful” (to my adult senses) interactions that I had with him was when imitating back the contour and rhythm of his babbling. I remember how much he loved it and it really did turn into a type of conversation between us.

[Michelle Russell]

I currently work with two year old children in a mom and me style class. I also work with a “twos” room in a daycare setting. It is has been interesting for me to think about the children this week and compare the differences. It is quite a different dynamic when there are equal numbers of adults and children. There are eight children and two teachers in the room with me when I work with the daycare. The children in the daycare setting who are in the CONTROL level of development are the ones I thought about most during this section. These little ones at the day care are doing extremely well with turn taking right now. They are making instrument requests too! “Where are your eggs?” They are starting to show preferences for instrument color and type. They also respond to dynamic changes with great joy and anticipation…anticipation for when we finally get to play LOUD again. I am looking forward to using some of the new music from this week when I work with them next.

[Jacquelyn Blankinship]

I actually had a thought today that I would love to get knowledge on from those of you currently working in early childhood. I was thinking about my nephew and how his parents aren’t particularly musical, he hasn’t gone to any “Mommy & Me” type groups or anything like that. Probably his only exposure to music is from the radio or maybe a few CDs. So, would we expect a typically functioning child who is currently in the “terrible two’s” to have the musical development level of Independence? Would he still demonstrate frequent vocalizations of descending intervals/major 2nds just because of development in general? Or are these musical levels ones that develop only from exposure and practice with musical stimuli? I understand that a lot of these behaviors noted in each stage are actually sort of unrelated to “music making” as we know it – even though we know that they do relate, the children don’t understand it that way. But I was just musing.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

When my first child was just a few months old I remember sitting with him propped up on my lap on the couch and making up various songs to see his responses. He was in the awareness phase and it was so fun to see him developing joint attention, facial presence, and even some vocalization. I sang songs about his feet and moved them in different ways and it’s fun to now place that in the category of “songs about me”.

[Milijana Majstorovic Kozul]

Right now mostly I m working with mommies and the very young babies from 0 to pre crawl phase which is great period to see different babies stages and how they can change developmentally during our sessions. For example when I m using musical activities, with very small babies from 6 to 12 weeks we are working on contacts, call and responses, also I m using some light instruments appropriate for that age like wind chimes, cas cas, kenari…..those instruments are suitable for that age and have beautiful soft sounds. During my work with such a small clients, they are mostly laying on the floor or mother holding her as she is still have limitations to turn independently on her tummy, most of coordination’s are still in progress and need time to be established etc….but as we moving on and on, their awareness (of sounds-music) changed and help them opportunity to move forward. That is beautiful perspective to see how they can respond, vocalize, imitate, make real CONTACT!
As a music therapist it is very important for us to know child developmental stages, which Beth mentioned few weeks ago, and what can or cannot to expect. It is also very important to know that when we are speaking about children with special needs and children with some developmentally delay.

[Katie Whipple]

Right now I am not currently working with any young kiddos, except for my own two children! I would consider my two year old son to be in the control stage right now. He is able to match certain pitches and sings simple melodies with really good accuracy! My husband and I both play music and often perform for different events, etc. Last night we were working on “Here Comes the Sun” and as we sang the “sun, sun, sun” part and harmonized when my two year old looked over at us with a stunned expression on his face. It was like he wasn’t sure what to think about it! We encouraged him to sing the words “sun, sun, sun” with us but he put his head down and CHOSE to not sing. While I had wished for a different response, I had to validate and respect the fact that his choice to not sing was just as valid. I also had to realize that he was also probably processing the song as it was a new one that we were working on. I think it was the element of harmony that initiated such a response.

I also have to share a sweet musical response from my 5 month old who is in the awareness stage. Last weekend we were playing music with some friends of ours and it was wayyyyy past both of my boys bed times. However, I’m not a stickler for schedules when we have special things come up like spending quality time with family and friends. As our friend sang and played an original song I was swaying my son to the music. He had been getting fussy, was very tired and I knew he was about to nod off. While our friend sang my son began to vocalize… it was more of a coo. At first I didn’t hear him because his face was facing away from me… but our friend looked up at me in surprise. It took me a moment to realize that my sweet baby boy was cooing in the same key that my friend was singing. His vocalizations felt rhythmic in nature and matched the tonal center that he was hearing. It was obviously a self soothing vocalization but it was clearly a response to the music that he was hearing. It was a magical moment for this mama!

[Darcy Lipscomb]

I have been working one on one with a young girl for almost two years. It is interesting to remember back to our initial time together and think about how she has progressed in relation to the musical developmental levels. Currently she will self-create short “songs” or extended vocalizations. She sings select words to some familiar songs and will usually follow the shape of the melody. She also really likes to play the drum, keyboard, and guitar with lots of enthusiasm. I would say that she is in the “Control” level.

[Megan Dewing]

One of my clients that I have been working with for a few months enjoys a variety of music experiences. When we first began working together she didn’t like to sing along with songs and would sometimes not play along with the therapist. She will now play along with the therapist, can locate the instrument she was previously playing to go back to them, and gets excited by the changes in the music. She is also able to use some of the more “exciting” musical stimuli, such as a glissando and/or crescendo, in musical play. I would say that she is in the “Control” level.

[Anonymous]

Jacquelyn, that is an excellent question. I forwarded that on to the team as I think they will have a lot to share. Katie, what a wonderful experience with your 5-month old. Thank you for sharing! Don’t be surprised to hear your 2 year old singing the “sun, sun, sun” at a later time, maybe even when they are engaged in another activity. Beth has taught us how the little ones and definitely at 2 years of age, are the “silent singers.” This is where they may not sing in the moment of the musical experience or group, but later on sing when they are playing and/or doing a non-musical activity.

[Amanda Maestro-Scherer]

Today I was working with a little one who has had a lot of setbacks due to illness and surgeries. She had been developmentally on track, and is since playing catch up. I observed her in the awareness stage today during our session. She was alert and definitely responded to the different feels in the music that I was presenting, sedative or play. It is great to be able to help parents see these different responses musically and how they tie to their development! Her mom was very appreciate of this information as we went along.

[Mary Withington]

I’m thinking about a 4 month old baby in one of my classes. He was born 7 weeks premature, and is considered delayed in his developmental milestones. I believe he is in the awareness stage. He responds to music by turning his head towards me when I sing or play an instrument. He increases babbling vocalizations in response to singing or moving. He smiles when I talk to him and make clicking or lip sounds. He smiles in response to being moved in different positions while held, during dancing and movement. Sometimes he laughs when moved. Sometimes his legs kick while being bounced to music. He cuddles during lullabies, and is more active in body movements to lively music. He grasps a Chiquita or egg shaker when it’s placed in his hand. He sometimes reaches for it. He usually puts it in his mouth and sucks on it. Sometimes he falls asleep during the music. He has low muscle tone, and can’t hold his head up independently .

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