Share some of your experiences with children of this age and level.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Julia Park]

I had one experience working with children at this age and level during my internship. I remember feeling very uncomfortable and confused because I did not understand their developmental level. One of the main reasons why I decided to join Sprouting Melodies group was because I did not honestly knew how to bond with my own baby and I wanted to learn how to do that. The cognitive and physical abilities of babies at this level are very limited and I personally felt very uncertain of how to meet my baby’s needs in creative ways. Sprouting Melodies helped me understand the developmentally appropriate responses as I provide my baby opportunities to sing, move, play instruments, and listen. I am looking forward to sharing this knowledge with other moms who are having similar struggles that I had.

[Rebecca Woodruff]

I had two different groups in my various practicum experiences that had children of this age. The first was an inter-generational group in a nursing home that children from a near-by daycare would attend. The age ranges of this group were profound (about 18 months – 90 years). I felt like most of our music was geared towards children of an independence/control level and that the little one often slept through our sessions (possibly that child’s way of self-selecting to remove from the group and avoid too much stimulation). The second group was a mommy and me music group ages 18 months – 5 years. I feel like our supervisor was able to facilitate appropriate music experiences for these little ones. Personally, I feel much more confident to provide appropriate developmental experiences for very young children now than I did then – especially with the use of instruments. In my personal life, I have had experiences with many nieces and nephews of this age. Most often I will sing to them unaccompanied to calm them or to play with them. One instrument that has been fun to use is my harp – it can really soothe and be interesting at the same time.

[Charniqua Snell]

I have not worked with infants in a music therapy setting but I have worked with children (of different ages) who are developmentally still in this level. This is definitely the hardest developmental age for me because there is not always feedback from the child. So as a beginning music therapist I am still trying to figure out how to look for small interactions and responses. Usually using instruments and props with different sounds and tactile stimulation has been successful as long as it does not scare them!

[Nicole Drozd]

I have only worked with this age group in a 1:1 hospital setting with parents available. Music therapy consisted of calming the child, calming the parent, helping the parent bond with the child, providing support and stimulation, and diversion. The music selected were songs suggested by the parent, recreative performances, and improvised vocalization and guitar playing. I loved working 1:1 in this setting-but to be honest doing a group of babies and parents kind of intimidates me-however I am excited that i have learned more about working with this group and the possibility of creating a group like this in the future.

[Kate Potrykus]

I have yet to work with children at this age within a music therapy setting. I do, however, have experience with interacting with various friends’ children who are at this level. It can be an intimidating experience – interacting with a child so young. They seem so fragile. It is fun to watch them explore this new world around them in different ways. I love singing to children at this age and found that quieter singing using a varied range seems to intrigue the child. I’ve also noticed how attracted children at this age are to exaggerated facial expressions as well as exaggerated vocal expressions. Listening to the examples of what the experience of working with these children in SM1 will be like certainly got me excited to try it out!

[Shelly Peterson]

I have experienced that babies definitely communicate with us what they are comfortable with and what they prefer and that can be consistent as well as change from week to week. It is important to be in tune with the babies each week and not assume they are the same as well as acknowledge when you see changes. I have really noticed a difference in babies when they can sit up on their own and start eating solid foods. I have recently had some babies that were a little bit fussy or had facial expressions of being unsure of what was going on and then a complete change into more happy, smiley babies. When I have acknowledged this to the parent or teacher, they report they started on solid food and seem more comfortable all around or they have become more independent sitting up and it opens up a whole new perspective on the world. Recognizing where the child is at in their development unrelated to music can be so beneficial for us during our classes to gain insight and acknowledge something has changed and they are ready for the next step.

[Anonymous]

Great insights! I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s responses.

[Marcie Hernandez, MT-BC]

My most significant experience working with children this young has been a recent one. I work with a little girl, 3 yrs. old, who is in a pediatric palliative care program. My client’s mother recently had a second child, and baby sister has become a part of our sessions too. It was definitely intimidating at first to work with a child so young, and I am grateful for this course, as it’s helped me know which responses to look for in her. Although my client’s baby sister is not the main focus of our sessions, a big part of our sessions is helping my client bond with her mother and baby sister. Having more knowledge and awareness about how to do that effectively through this course has enhanced our sessions greatly. For example, my client loves to play the shakers, and so now when her little sister begins to mouth the shakers as we’re playing, I can reassure mom that she is doing what is developmentally appropriate for her age.

[Anonymous]

Marcie, what great work you are doing. I am so glad this course is enhancing your work with this family.

[Julia Park]

Working with a bunch of babies who need support all the time is such an intimidating experience. Let alone watching them itself is scary… but we have to do music with them too on top of everything? I am overwhelmed just thinking about it. lol. I would love to watch some videos of Meredith or Elizabeth actually interacting with children and parents.

[Daniel Henry]

I have had family and friends with children of this age and level and it’s been very valuable in getting an understanding of how they interact with the world. Just last week I had dinner at a friends house who has a little one who is now 10 months old. She’s now crawling on her own and playing independently. She still gets some separation anxiety, but can be separated from her mom and dad without becoming too upset. It’s been great to learn about her development and see those developmental milestones reflected in her.

[Alexis Ramagnano]

I have not worked with a group of infants in a music therapy setting yet either. I have, however, been able to share my music and observe my friend’s children experiencing music. I thought it was really great to hear and recall how some babies get startled when music/sound suddenly stops. I remember experiencing this with my own child. He would actually look concerned when I stopped singing and moving with him. The look of relief on his face when I began singing again was such a wonderful thing to witness. I find it so fascinating to watch new babies experience and react to music.

[Johanna Horn]

I work at a preschool and I see children from 2 years of age to Kindergarten. The infants at my school do not ‘attend’ music, but rather their teachers facilitate music in their ‘curriculum”. I have gone into their “classroom” with my ukulele and have sung songs to the babies and it was wonderful! I sang and played for babes ages 6-9 months. They were not used to the ukulele and they seemed so curious. Some tried to crawl and grab the strings, some were laying down and kicked their feet. Some of them seemed startled by the sounds. There were so many different responses from the babies, and it was truly wonderful to witness! Personally, I have always sung and played music for my daughters. Music has been in their lives and environment since I found out I was pregnant and I never really took a look to see how they were responding to music, but now I try to look and see developmentally where they are and what they may be experiencing during music class.

[Susan Gannon]

I am a grandmother of two boys, ages 7 and 8, and I was very active in helping to raise them, especially when they were babies. I used music a lot to calm them, and help them get through transitions. My other experience with children this young, was when I was a Kindermusik educator. I did have one class for babies, but it seemed that the parents didn’t think about music classes for babies this young so it wasn’t very popular. As a clinician, I don’t see babies this young because I think diagnoses come along a little later. I think now that I am more experienced, I will be able to market music groups for this age group. I will use the idea that music helps in normal development, instead of focusing on children with special needs.

[Anonymous]

Julia you can watch some footage of Meredith’s groups on the Sprouting Melodies website: http://www.sproutingmelodies.com

There is a section that says Gallery and when you click you have the option for Audio and Video.

[Elizabeth Carras]

I have worked quite a lot with children of this age and level; when I did my internship at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh I had many patients on my caseload who were in the NICU. When infants are in the hospital, music therapy frequently follows one of two paths: soothing and pain management, or developmentally appropriate sensory stimulation. Many of my patients had NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) and were experiencing so much pain and trauma that they were crying constantly. It is common for hospitalized infants to be unable to fall asleep and get the rest they require in order to grow and develop and heal, so as a Music Therapist one of my main tasks was using the Gate Theory, entrainment, and the ISO principle to help infants manage their pain and fall asleep. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, a child’s main task during this age and stage is to interact with his or her environment in order to grow and develop. In a hospital setting, babies seldom have opportunities to engage with their environment because (1) they are too ill to do much except rest and recuperate, or (2) they are swaddled tightly to prevent them from pulling out their lines and then left lying on their backs in their cribs for the whole day. This can cause delays in the infant’s development, so I would provide appropriate developmental stimulation. Things like moving a shaker or instrument around the swaddled infant’s field of vision to check if they can track it, playing music in different positions around the crib so they can orient toward the sound, if the nurses say it’s okay to support an infant to sit up and encourage them to sit independently and reach for an instrument extending their range of motion, encouraging them to shake or tap or babble along to the music.

[Christina Bass]

I have not yet had the opportunity to work with children at this age level clinical and overall have very limited experience. I recently saw my cousin’s infant for the first time in a few months, she is now 8 months old, and it was interesting to see the changes in her awareness interactions, and independence after learning more about this age group through this training. I have enjoyed learning more about working with this age group, it still seems a little intimidating at the moment with my lack of experience, but I feel the information provided by Meredith and Elizabeth and experiences from others in the forum has provided great insight.

[Flora Whitmore]

I work with a preschool group on a weekly basis, and they are a uniquely challenging age group- wanting to be independent and curious, but still requiring some guidance and direction. Their interest is inherent but their understanding is not. This course has helped me to slow down and look at how they are responding to the interventions and has given me some ideas on how to advocate for them with their preschool teachers, who are very authoritarian about how their students should be experiencing our interactions and tasks.

[Author]

Posts