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

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Kerry Cornelius]

Though I’ve not worked clinically with children ages 0-9 months, my experience with children of this age comes from my work as a nanny. I spent a summer caring full-time for a 9 month old, which I found to be both rewarding and challenging. I don’t have children of my own yet, but got a real “taste” of the daily stresses and needs that a parent might have when caring for an infant. I spent many a day feeling frantic as I tried to pack a diaper bag with every item we might possibly need, then realizing that I forgot to bring something essential once we got to our destination! I often used music throughout the day to soothe the baby when he was upset, especially during difficult transitions (leaving the house + putting him in the car seat; waking up from a nap, etc) or during play time. He really enjoyed gently bouncing on my knees along with the beat of the music and loved games like peekaboo.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

I’ve had only a little experience with this age group, and particularly with very young children. However, this past weekend, I was performing at a house party for a large family reunion made up of about 60 people from several generations and of Hispanic (Mexican mostly) descent. Among the family members were several young children including three infants of about 6 – 8 months old. During a break, I offered to play some songs for them to keep them occupied for several minutes while their parents socialized. I sat on the floor with them and sang “Three Little Indian Maidens” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” while they just stared at me (probably because of my bad Spanish). Then the little boy pointed at me and let out a squawk followed by some very interesting sing-song babble. The other two – both little girls – started crying, but not the distressed kind of crying. More like the “I’m gonna sing too” kind of crying since they would intermittently look around the room to see if anyone other than me was paying attention. It was hilarious. I also discovered that babbling and crying in Spanish sounds the same as it does in Deep South English.

[Katie Bagley]

All of my Early Childhood clinical experience has been with children older than 15 months. Apart from clinical music therapy, I have interacted with babies of relatives between 7-12 months old. This has only been a handful of times, so I am not well acquainted with this population of infants! Reading and learning in these weekly lessons about the awareness and trust stages has helped me more fully grasp what this age means for development.

[Katie Romano]

Ive mostly worked with this age group while babysitting or at the hospital, so not in the traditional clinical setting. In the hospital setting though we looked at their level of awareness to help track their fragile development. It was interesting to see how hospitalization affected their awareness and perception of music. I look forward to working with typically developing, healthy children in this age group.

[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!

[Katherine Sestrick]

It has been a while since I’ve worked with babies in this age group, but I have some distinct memories from my work in early intervention. I remember one particular mom who was just barely holding it together because she had a colicky baby. According to the mom, the only time the baby didn’t cry was when she held her and swayed with her. We paired this swaying with singing and the mom noticed that the baby looked at her more often. Through this music therapy intervention, the mom was able to begin to bond with her child.

[Christina Wensveen]

I have never worked with this age group. I have played with friends babies and used my voice in various ways. I know rocking can be so important at this age and have held a baby on my knees in the way mentioned for the song “Row it faster”. I’m excited to practice my facial affect with a few more babies coming this year!

[Kathryn Costanza]

It’s been such a relief reading the posted comments! I’m glad that I’m not the only one who hasn’t ever worked with this age group clinically. Even for that, my personal experiences with children this young are extremely limited. I’ve held several newborns and young babies of friends and relatives for up to an hour at a time (usually when they’re sleeping), but never more than that and never in an environment where they were being asked to participate in an activity. Because of my lack of experience, I’m trying to absorb every ounce of knowledge available in both this forum and the videos provided so that I can better understand both the parent’s and the child’s experiences and set my expectations accordingly.

[Nicole Sanabria]

My experience thus far working with young children clinically does not include children 0-9 months. I honestly haven’t had much experience at all with this age group, even on a personal level (family and friends). Its challenging for me because I’m not too sure of how I should interact with a baby so small, where they have yet to experience much. If and when I do get the opportunity to work with very young children, I will be honored to do so. Bringing something entirely new and undiscovered to their world seems so beautiful.

[Jonni Fogerty]

In the past, I worked as a music therapist at an intercity preschool. I taught three classes per week, which were grouped together by age. The youngest class I taught had children 6 weeks – 6 months old. The kids responded extremely well to the developmental approach and the staff appreciated the strategies they were able to take away and utilize throughout the week.

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