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

[Meredith Pizzi]

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

[Caroline Gillott]

I do not have any clinical experience with kids at this age level. Since I can’t really contribute at length to this part of the forum I did want to add that I loved that you talked about the importance of practicing voice dynamic and facial affect. This was something that I struggled with (and still do but getting better) during my internship. I had no idea how loud/abrupt my voice was when singing to clients. I also did not realize, until I watched video clips how my affect was not always congruent to do the music and to the client responses. I believe that most of this was due to nerves and inexperience. I have gotten better over time, mainly through practice but also because I am more aware of it now. I found it very valuable that my internship director pointed it out to me (even though at the time it felt like it was an attack on how I looked and sounded–made me feel very vulnerable) and I continue to find value in practicing it. As MUSIC therapists is much more to practice than just the music–GREAT POINT LADIES!

[Katie Maurer]

It’s been awhile since I’ve spent much time with children this little. One thing that always struck me, though, is their preference for higher pitches. It’s always interesting to see moms and dads take their speaking voices up when speaking to their baby.

[Elyse Suhay]

I’m with Caroline, I have zero clinical experience with children at this age, as well as I struggled with my affect matching what I was doing musically. I think I was concentrating on what I was trying to do, and now that I am more confident I am able to reflect more with my expression. For instance, today I was pretty tired by the time I got to my sixth session, but I was able to keep my energy level up and respond to what the students were doing. I also have limited experience with babies this age outside of clinical work. The only babies I’ve really been exposed to are my cousin (who is now 9) and my best friend’s daughter (who is 2). I didn’t get to see either of them very often, and I wasn’t thinking about them developmentally when I did get to spend time with them. However, I find myself analyzing children more intently now, so I am sure I will be trying to figure out the next baby I come across!

Katie- I am always entertained by how people act with babies too! The roughest guys will always start cooing and making silly faces.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I have two children so I have the experience and memory of being a new mom, mom again and caring for my own babies. Last year I ran “Baby Musician” groups through two local Parks and Recreation. In these groups I had babies from 6 months to 9 months. Through this experience I am able to relate to the way Meredith and Beth described being gentle with the babies and nurturing to parents. It was wonderful to watch parents celebrate their babies through interactive songs and finger plays and to see the babies come “alive” as they grew more familiar with me, the singing, our setting and the music each week. I agree with the “everything comes in” that was described, the parents needed their “stuff” to feel comfortable in our groups…diaper bags, blankets, “loveys”, all the things needed to feel comfortable. I also observed the interaction between brand new parents with parents of multiple children (myself included) and the mentoring that came in to place between parents weekly when the group would gather.

[Kate St. John]

I don’t think I’ve ever worked with children between 0-9 months, maybe 9-12 months being the youngest. The experience I’ve had has been in early intervention up to age 3 but they all had developmental delays, so although they were older than the Sprouting Melodies 1 group age, some of them were developmentally around that age. I remember instinctively being more gentle, slower and softer for them and noticed startle responses sometimes which made me immediately tone things down for them. I have never worked with typical children in this age range.
I really appreciated this week’s video sharing specifics about the way to interact with these babies and their parents as well as the structure of the sessions.
Meredith and Beth: This will probably be addressed later in the training, but I was wondering when and how you talk to families about their needs (their “stuff/gear”, having to soothe/feed/change the baby in the middle of the session, etc.)? This was talked about a few times in the video, how we as therapists should encourage those needs coming first and tell the families it’s ok, but I was wondering if this is addressed with families in some kind of initial meeting? I am envisioning families coming to sign paperwork to get started and the therapist explaining the ground rules as well as letting them know that their needs listed above are perfectly fine? Or do you wait until the first class of each series to talk about this with the families as a group as they’re coming in and getting situated?

[Kristina Rio]

Kate, I don’t think there is a wrong way of addressing what is Ok for parents to do during the group. A good opportunity for you to do this would be when all the parents are settling in with all of their “stuff” at the beginning of the first class. Just letting them know that they can be comfortable staying in the group even if their baby is crying, or if they need to feed or change their baby. Does that answer your question?

[Meredith Pizzi]

I love all of your comments about working with little, little ones. It is such a unique experience and I really do love it! Great self-awareness about both tone of voice and facial affect. Remember with this age group both facial affect and vocal volume and timbre can be too much. You will learn to read their cues very quickly and you will probably over-react at some point and when the baby turns away or start to cry you will know why right away. That’s how we all learn!
I agree with Kristina about the stuff and being able to take care of their baby’s needs. It’s never a bad time to let parents know, and they don’t expect a before class “meeting.” They sign up and come ready to engage that first day. When they are walking in, I will often say to them, “The most important thing is for you and your baby to be comfortable, so if you need to feed or change him or her, that’s fine. If you need to stand up, that’s fine.” I just try to make them feel very comfortable from the very beginning.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Kate, in Week 9 we will cover more in depth how to make sure that every child and every family member is successful in the groups. It will include suggestions on talking with parents about their needs and their child’s strengths and needs.

[Dany Orozco]

I haven’t worked too much with this age group either, but my godson is 6 months old so I can see the age group clearly in my mind. I also see why affect and volume are an important thing to keep in mind, and I think the comments you say in the videos about things to tell the parents are also great to keep track of and make sure we let parents know.

[Cassandra Mulcahy]

I was given a library group with for children under 12 months. The second round of the group (a couple of years later) was opened up to the siblings of the babies (both of whom were in my first group!) So I am excited to hear some more tips and tricks about sibling integrations.
Back to this age group- I instinctively knew that calming music was the most appropriate, however, as the group continued, I learned to modify the tempo/elements of the music when the babies seemed to move from the awareness to the trust level. I think that intuition is super important when reading the energy level of this age group. I loved the soothing music, because I was initially terrified of working with kiddos so young, so the music helped me prepare myself! One valuable experience I had, was to leave a bit of room for improvisation. I know this is not something that is spoken about much, but a few years ago I was not equipped with a book of early childhood music. I found that leaving space for improv time helped me create some of my own repertoire for this age group, and the parents LOVED having music that their child inspired!

[Nancy Bair]

Hi all-
My family has been so sick the last few weeks. I ended up with pneumonia and my son was in the NICU with RSV, adn I couldn’t even go see him. IT WAS ROUGH!!! Please please protect these little ones that are coming out and getting exposed to germs for the first time (ok, off my soapbox…). Needless to say, I am a bit behind!! We are all on the mend now and I’m looking forward to the next week where I’ll have time to complete everything.

As far as my experience with 0-9mo olds, I haven’t worked specifically with this population age group with music. However, I am around kids this age a lot at church, and I have 4 kids of my own and can understand and appreciate all that goes into this age, the exhaustion, the highs and lows, and wanting to experience everything with your child, especially if they are your first. Music is such a wonderful equalizer for every child regardless if they are sitting up, rolling over, or slobbering (or all three!).

The question posed earlier about “stuff” is a good one. Most kids this age will have their infant carrier, maybe a stroller, and a diaper bag, burp clothes/bibs, and maybe even binkis. Shoes fall off, cute hair bows come out, diapers need to be changed for unpredictable blowouts, etc. For me, personally, I think I will set some ground rules that I feel comfortable with and perhaps make a visual (like posterboard) or give a handout after the first class. For me, I think the most important thing is to set up a safe environment for the babies and their caregivers where they can thrive and enjoy the time together. They grow so fast!

[Anonymous]

Nancy I am so sorry to hear you were all so sick and your son ended up in the NICU. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for all of you! I worry about these things with my own daughter and she is only around pre-school students for short periods of time. I am glad to hear you are all on the mend!

[Sarah jane Mason]

My experience includes very little with this age group. My very first field work, my first semester of MT studies I worked with an MT that worked the rounds of each classroom at a preschool/daycare. The first class of the day was infants, maybe 6-9 months, and kept quite short. If I remember correctly most of them were sitting up at least for short durations. We worked on grasping, directing attention to the music, and body awareness. The songs I remember were an egg shaker song for grasping, and Row Row Row your boat for a movement song. The MT had a small laundry basket, would put the child inside, and do small, gentle motions side to side with them. After watching the video I prefer the closeness of the caregiver having the baby on their lap and look forward to implementing that with my class. Using a song like Row Row Row your Boat feels supportive for the parents too as its probably a familiar tune for them.

I used to go up to babies and make a huge excited face for them and sing a song or something. After making several kids cry (and being pretty embarrassed) I stopped doing this, and it wasn’t until I was a mom that I understood that actually was kinda scary and startling for them!

I also like the openness in the group to feed or change as needed. If the baby is fussy and the mom needs to breastfeed, I want them to feel open to stay a part of the circle, part of the experience, and if they’re comfortable, to feed right there. Even diaper changing happening in the room keeps everyone involved in the music.

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