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

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Barb Blackburn]

I have a little bit of experience with children at this age level. Prior to my job that I have now as a music therapist, I was a nanny when we first moved out to Colorado. When I first started nannying, there was one child, age 1.5, and one on the way. Once he was born, I was able to be apart of his life from just a few weeks old through his first birthday! I don’t have children myself (yet) and I currently don’t work in early intervention, so this was a new experience for me. It was amazing to watch him grow and become aware, and to begin to move around on his own as well. The parents were thrilled that I was a music therapist, and I would sing with both children, play musical games, and bring over my instruments to play with them (I brought over a keyboard, guitar, and some drums). I taught both children little songs about anything, brushing their teeth, taking a nap, eating lunch, even going potty! It made them more excited to do these things, and they looked forward to singing the songs with me everyday. The oldest child remembered almost every song I taught her, sometimes she would say things like, “Barbie sing the shoe song!” when we were getting her shoes on to go outside, and I would think to myself, “Shoe song? What shoe song?” And she would start to sing it to remind me.

I’m very much looking forward to doing music with children at this age!

[Lauren Roberts]

Most of my experiences with children at this age and developmental level has been in the NICU setting more so than an early childhood setting. Although the NICU babies are obviously much more medically fragile than clients would be in a Sprouting Melodies 1 class, a lot of what the music therapist is looking for in the NICU setting is still the awareness stage. For example:

Does the baby turn his/her head toward you as you’re singing? Does the baby make eye contact while you’re singing? In Sprouting Melodies 1 this would be representative of the bonding between baby and parent.

Does the baby tolerate massage on different body parts? In Sprouting Melodies 1, one could equate this with tolerating the parent tapping a steady beat on various body parts.

Does the baby tolerate vestibular stimulation (i.e. movement) during the Multimodal Stimulation intervention? In Sprouting Melodies 1, this would be similar to the baby tolerating movement songs.

It was actually very exciting and encouraging to make this connection this week! Becoming a Sprouting Melodies provider is just one way in which I am looking to expand my business. Another is (hopefully) beginning a NICU-MT program. I am seeing now how one can help support the other; if I am able to get into a NICU and make connections with families there, I imagine many of them continuing into Sprouting Melodies following discharge from the NICU, and then even after Sprouting Melodies to continue with private lessons or MT services since I already provide those for older children!

[Kristen Crouch]

I have experience working in the NICU with babies. Obviously we offer music in a very quiet and calm manner and watch for over-stimulation, which is similar to what we are doing with the littlest ones in SM1. I’m also familiar with types of instruments and materials appropriate for babies from working with older babies in the NICU as well as some younger children in therapy. I have been exploring different instruments with my son as well and watch to see how he handles them and reacts to them. I have a baby maraca that he can easily hold however I find that he just waves it back and forth and have to watch that he doesn’t whack himself in the face! I use music with my son to cue different activities like bath time (moderate but descriptive of action), good morning (calm, quiet, almost whisper), getting dressed (descriptive of action), play time (more up beat and fun) etc as well as to calm him (slow, lullabies). I think songs about baby and parent and baby’s body parts and activities of the day are all important.

[Kristen Crouch]

Another observation while working with my son. Sometimes he just needs a change of perspective or pace. When he gets fussy usually he’s been in the same position or with the same toys for awhile. Sometimes just picking him up and doing a movement song/activity with him brings giggles and laughs when two seconds ago he was fussy.

[Kristen Crouch]

(Sorry, I should have expanded on my last thought before hitting enter)

Sometimes it takes just a change in pace or activity, a new perspective like having him stand after laying down or tossing him gently up, or singing in a different voice (more excited or silly). Their attention is short so change is good. Again you have to be sensitive to what they can handle.

[Caitlin Kauffman]

My experience with children of this age has been largely with my babies of my friends or family members. I am not yet a parent, but have spent much time over the years (since I was a teen) babysitting or nannying, and I worked briefly at a daycare between college and my MT internship. While in grad school, one of my roommates also had a little boy, who was not quite two when they moved in, and was a little over three when I moved. What a blast that was! I loved watching him develop in his cognitive and communication skills. It was like watching the cogs move as he learned basic problem solving skills. By the time I moved, he was much better at remembering what you said earlier (and holding you to it!) and was so much fun to hang out with. We played games together and made up new games, and even started to play “memory” – which was a blast.
Recently I watched my friend’s 3-month old, who was just over two months premature. She is obviously somewhat delayed at this point, but I spent the entire day holding her and singing to her when she was fussy. I have several friends and/or family members with new babies, and I can’t wait to sing them some of these songs and see how they respond!

[Lauren Caso]

While in my Music Therapy internship and for a while after, I ran music and movement groups for children 0-3 yrs at the Children’s Museum. It was really great to see the same babies and young children 1-2 times per week, and actually see them progress and grow over time. Getting to know the children and Nannys/parents by first name really made me feel part of a community there. I was very fond of that program, and learned a lot from those kids; especially about what works best among that age/developmental stage!
Also, my only sister is due with her first baby in August, and I’m really looking forward to making music from the birth on: I’m hoping to help my future little nephew grow successfully in music 🙂 I’m so happy to be learning so much about babies in SM!

[Lauren Roberts]

Lauren, my sister-in-law is due with their first baby in September! And, now that I think about it, neither she or my brother are musically inclined, so any sort of musical play I’m sure will fall on me. Not that it’ll be a chore to do so though…. 🙂

[Bernadette Skodack]

I haven’t observed children of this age within music, but I do have some experiences. Mostly, they involve my dad and myself in the back of church making faces at the kids of this age. 🙂 It helps distract the child from whatever they were fussy about. It’s when they squeal or laugh that we get the dirty look from my mom.

There was a time in college when I was waiting to catch a flight. I was next to a mom and her child on the higher end of this age range. Mom was bouncing the baby up and down on her knee; at one point, she said “Dance!”, and the baby put up his arm and waved it around! I made a face at the baby, and the baby stopped dancing and raised an eyebrow. I about lost it! This baby was so aware and wasn’t sure what to think of this strange lady making a face!

[Ann Dardis]

I remember when my daughter was in this age range and totally agree with what you said about it being a challenge to get out of the house. It is good to keep in mind the frustration of the caregivers. It seems like it’s never as easy as just getting in the car. Great idea to let the caregivers settle in a bit and relax before beginning class.

I also agree with Kristen that their attention spans are short and so they can be easily calmed with a change in position or some other distraction.

[Amy Dunlap]

I have had relatively little experience with infants this age. When I was a freshman in college, I nannied for my four month old cousin for a month. I remember him being very fussy, needy (just as we got settled into one thing he was needing something else, or so it seemed), and also calming in his pure joy at certain things. I remember being amazed at how much we seemed (at least in my eyes) to communicate or connect through sharing the same space, eye contact, body language, and my verbal communications with him. I do remember playing with a musical mobile and observing his startle response when a new song would come on or the animal noises would play. I am looking forward to working with parents and their infants at this age because I think it will be an environment unlike any other I have experienced before.

[Kasey Sollenberger]

I haven’t had any clinical experience working within this age group. Like some others have mentioned, I have interacted with babies of my family members and a few friends. I enjoy observing babies in the awareness stage. It is fascinating to me to observe what they are attracted to and how they react to whatever the stimulus may be. Every new movement or facial expression they make is such an exciting accomplishment and I really enjoy celebrating those little achievements. I think it may be quite a change for me to facilitate these younger groups just because I have only worked with older children, but I look forward to it!

[Brandy Jenkins]

**Late Entry as I am Catching Up on Posting**

Most of my experience with this age level was during my internship at a children’s hospital. Most of the children I see in the early childhood setting, I have only seen for about a month. Most of the goals I worked on were relaxation and/or stabilizing/normalizing the environment. Sometimes, the sessions were more about family bonding and I can see how this would fit in nicely with that.

[Sarah Gagnon]

I’m having a blast taking this and working in early intervention.
My work is typically with children who are already identified as having a delay, disorder, disease or something that has already inhibited their development, growth or health.

One child in particular appears to finally be leveling out from his intense medical conditions. He suffered a prenatal stroke and has had many intense and invasive issues that are still getting diagnosed at 1.5yrs. I’ve been so careful when it comes to providing music/auditory stimulus because all my instincts say that “less is MORE” with this kid and the family.

Over the last two weeks he has been awake for my sessions. It’s incredible to see a huge change in how he can tolerate musical interventions. Mom sings ALL of the time and uses many different types of vocals to stimulate and arouse him into a “waking” state.

I got to work with Mom 1:1 this past week and work on: timbre, rhythms and the idea of a “goodmorning song”. It really felt like I was working on the beginnings of some musical development.

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