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]

[Emily Baroody]

In one of my Music for Little ones classes I have worked with a little one around one year in age who was moving from the awareness stage to the trust stage. His responses to music were generally turning toward the sound or turning toward his mother’s singing and the timbre of her voice. Now he is moving when he hearing music, exploring instruments and their sounds and occasionally babbling.

[Cynthia Cross]

Because I work with students with cognitive impairments I see a lot of the trust moving to independence stages – even with my older students. In particular I can think of many times when the musical surprise and/or a musical freeze really engages the student. Often the first time is a surprise but consecutive times are greeted with smiles or laughter. The best is when they begin to anticipate the stop or the surprise!

[Melaine Pohlman]

I’m on vacation this week, and spending time with one year old twin nephews. As I watch this week’s information, I am struck with watching them as they move from the awareness to trust stages in musical development. As I listened to their babble and began to sing some of their sounds back to them, there was the immediate awareness and turning heads and body towards my voice and the musical stimulation. We went back and forth a few times as they made sounds. In addition, I observed them beginning to attend to and explore instruments. In addition, during some play that involved musical freezes and silences, the boys were very engaged; watching intently for tickling fingers to start tickles as the music began. What a joy it was to see these little boys illustrating these stages. This was great timing for my interactions with them!

[Corie Barkey]

I have the privilege of working with a wide age range of students and it is fascinating to now have a label for the developmental level in relation to musical responses. I have gotten comments like “well you don’t need to go into the infant room because they cant sing along with you anyway.” That one in particular broke my heart but with some gentle teaching I am able to demonstrate what appropriate responses in that age range are.

I am also very interested in how children with developmental delays move through the stages. I can almost see when the transition is coming, say from Trust into Independence in a little bit older child working through disabilities.

My youngest son will be two this month and it is so fun to play around with music. This weekend he made the bold choice to play a thunder tube (ALL DAY … EVERY DAY) He also stopped me from singing any rain songs to correspond with his sounds with an emphatic “STOP” He was able to begin making the choices and having control over the experience hinting to me that he was creeping into that Independence stage. My oldest son will be 6 this month and he is clearly in control as I watch him organize the performances and make decisions then finally execute he plan with his music. My middle son will be four in a couple weeks and he is in limbo from Independence and Control finding that balance of knowing his strengths and still seeking reassurance or guidance in some ways.

I really enjoyed the bouncy melody of the “Are you Ready for Music” song. That one has been stuck in my head for a few days. I also found it enlightening to use various modes in composing songs for children to break the monotony of the typical children’s song feel especially to support other feelings besides continuously happy/bouncy.

Sometimes I struggle to incorporate cultural music into every session, but I am aware of its importance and I strive to broaden my options. I am from a very small rural town where music options are country or country. I do love my country music but as a music therapist I recognize where the therapeutic potential begins and also ends. I have purchased more instruments to add other sounds and I like the idea of modes again to give diversity to music.

[Mary Carter]

In addition to being a music therapist I have a side job as a cantor at a Catholic church. When discussing the musical characteristics of the “Trust” stage I could not help thinking about the babies at church who often crack me up as I’m singing the Gospel Acclamation. I had assumed it was just a coincidence that it is this particular song in the mass that the babies all vocalize along to, but when I think about it it’s the song that is consistently the same each week, repeats the word Alleluia over and over and is most often sung in descending melodic pitch. The babies often imitate the AAaahhhhhhhh ooooooooo sounds in descending pitch and show repetitive movement by moving both their arms up imitating what I do to invite the congregation to join in the singing. This has always made me giggle as the babies will try to catch my attention during the mass and when they make eye contact raise up their arms and and sing out their vocalization as if to invite me to sing again with them. This of course typically embarrasses the parent as it’s usually during a time when the priest is speaking and the rest of the congregation is silent. I have always made an effort after the mass to speak to the parent and the child to say to the little one, “thank you for singing with me!” or “I love to hear you sing” so that the parents know that it’s alright for them to be making these joyful noises and that it is not something to be embarrassed about or something that bothers anyone around them.

[Cynthia Cross]

I love your story Mary! First of all it is super cute and funny but it also makes me aware that I tend to think about development in isolation with my work. What a good reminder to look outside myself and my own situation for these things we are learning. Thanks for sharing that!

[Molly Moses]

During my internship, I had the opportunity to run an infant/toddler group one morning per week. It was so interesting to see these children develop through the awareness and trust stages. The younger infants would often respond by looking at me or their caregiver or by reaching towards my guitar or a shaker. As they moved into the trust stage, I could see them begin to explore instruments (often with their mouths) and choose to turn towards the music.

[Laura Silvestain]

In my practicum with middle school students with severe and pervasive developmental disabilities, there was one student who became more aware and responsive as the semester went on. At the beginning of the semester, he would need physical cues in order to become attentive to the music, but by the end of the semester, he would become attentive on his own about 50% of the time. He would watch where the music was, and would lift up his head when the music was directed at him. He was in the awareness stage at the end of the semester, and it would have been wonderful to watch him continue to progress.

[Kristina Rio]

Thank you for sharing. It’s so interesting to read about all the different ways everyone can apply this information to their work and personal lives.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed reading each of your responses. It’s wonderful to see how each of you are seeing this information is benefiting and informing your work and your time time with your own little ones.

[Mary Kerrigan]

I am not currently working right now with any little ones, but I have been experimenting some of these songs and more closely observing my cousin’s son who is about 19 months old now and he was born 12 weeks premature. He absolutely loves music and has gravitated towards it since he was in the NICU. It is really interesting now to see him starting to move from Trust to Independence. He is mimicking sounds more and really enjoying exploring and playing all of the instruments. He especially loves the musical surprises and will hysterically laugh and become more engaged when you have a period of silence and then quickly make a sound or strike the drum. He will then do the same thing almost trying to surprise me then and if I over exaggerate my response it makes it even funnier for him. His newest thing is now dancing to the music. He enjoys spinning and bouncing at his knees to the beat of the music and most times he is pretty close to steady rhythm to the music. I think the biggest thing I took from this stage for myself as the music therapist and practicing with my cousin is that it doesn’t matter where or how the child is present within the circle or with me as long as they are engaged in the musical experience. I kind of have always had it stuck in my head that they have to be sitting close and interacting directly with me in order for them sometimes to get the most out of the musical experience but watching him he is a bit of a wanderer in the area but he is listening and responding vocally or motorically with instruments or with his body and it is so wonderful to see and experience as the therapist. His mom is really excited that I have been practicing a lot of this music with him too!

[Mary Jane Dibble]

I have one client who has made great progress through these developmental levels in music therapy. When I started with him I could not do all of the typical interventions I typically do with kids who are on a higher level, but instead had to start at the awareness stage. His mother and I were excited over things that may appear small to the typical person but were huge steps for him such as looking at us, coming over to where the music was, and then later moving on to the trust stage where he was able to tolerate more and then he began participating, playing instruments, matching vocal sounds and making language approximations and joining in a joint activity with us. It is exciting to watch children make progress through these stages.

[Brianna McCulloch]

I had a mommy and me group that I began with babies who were mostly 4-6 months old. By the time I handed the group off to another MT when I went on maternity leave, the babies were about 16-18 months. In the beginning, we were definitely in the Awareness stage. Mostly, the little ones would look at me or at mom when we would sing. We used lots of repetition and simple songs. By the time I left the group, many had moved through the trust stage, and into the independence stage. I would have instruments behind me, and the newly mobile babies would crawl/walk around me to find their favorite maraca, drum or rainstick. It was amazing to see how the group evolved over time, from the music I provided (initially more structured, moving toward more improvisation and following the babies’ lead) to the interaction between the parents and the babies (it was mostly interaction between the mother-infant dyad, but when the babies were becoming more independent they would approach other baby’s moms too!).

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