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

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Adrienne Salmon]

I want to start out saying- I love babies! However, I have not yet had the opportunity to be with children younger than 2 in a music therapy setting. I have been babysitting for a long time (as previously mentioned), and watching a child 12-18 months figure out their world view is both hilarious and amazing. I nannied for this adorable, wonderful, little man from 8 months until 19 months, and experiencing with him when it was appropriate for him to be able to play with crayons (rather than eat them), when he stopped calling every man he saw ‘dad’, watching him refer to everything as a baby, has just been totally eye-opening and educational. I think that, from working with so many people, we can forget where babies really are at certain stages, and maybe expect more, or even less, of them developmentally. A very significant learning experience that can definitely be applied to a music therapy session, was rocking. For about 2 weeks, he went through this little phase where he would have no problem napping on me, but when I tried to get him into his crib, no matter how long I waited for the nap to stick, he would wake up and just wail. (I called this ‘failure to plant’). So, I would scoop him from his crib, sit down, and rock him back to sleep. Never underestimate the calming powers of the rock.

[Laura Myers]

I know I’ve said this before, but I do not currently provide mt services to children. My work experience has been strictly with the older adult population. But, I do try to make music daily with my 15 month old (anyone else find it difficult to make music at home after making music all day?). Recently we have been playing on her toy xylophone. We take turns playing. She will play a few notes and then engage the rest of the family in clapping for her. I also sing songs when completing daily tasks. Cleaning, diaper changes, waking from a nap etc… most of these songs are made up on the spot, but she seems to react to them.

I look forward to working with young children musically, I find I aam scared to jump in. I don’t know songs and activities to do. I’m learning some from this training, thank goodness. But I have so much more to learn.

[BJ Waelz]

I have not worked with children less than 12 mos old in a LONG time. The youngest child I currently serve is 12 mos. I do have younger siblings come to class with my students and have had the opportunity to watch them along the way. I am realizing now that they have been benefiting in their own way from coming to class. I have watched these siblings move from awareness (checking out the world from their rocker seat) to trust, reaching out, watching even holding or attempting to play instruments given to them by a sibling, even towards more independence, crawling towards instruments to get one for themselves and bouncing to the beat. I believe there is a need that I might be able to serve and that I need to start looking at expanding the goals of my current fun little music program…again I am hoping this may be a beginning for me….new direction….

[Ian Crawford]

I may have mentioned this before, but I have had strikingly few experiences with young children throughout my life. No younger siblings or cousins, no jobs working with kids, none of my close friends have had kids… Yet, I’ve always wanted to be involved with that age group, despite being slightly terrified of those little ones! It wasn’t until this year that I finally started a job in early childhood, and I simply love it. I work with children age 0-6 years in classroom settings as well as 1:1 sessions. about 5 of the classrooms are 3 yrs and younger. When I first started, my biggest challenge was ‘how do I even interact with these kids?!’ Now I’m in the stage where I’m in awe of everything they do, and especially of the way they are in awe of the world around them. It’s so much fun watching children take in their surroundings and learn how the world works. Getting to do this in a musical setting is just incredible! And with the knowledge I’m learning in this course, I’m now starting to recognize where some of these kiddos are in the stages of development. I’m sure if you ask this question again after week 10, I’ll have many more exciting things to say!

[Anonymous]

Laura- I also find making music after a day of musical work to be a challenge. Especially when I have worked with other babies and toddlers! But, these wonderful things you mentioned you do with your daughter are great and they will be helpful to the families you serve. Many parents are not sure how to use music and/or they do not know much children’s music to use in their home. We have an opportunity to help them feel empowered to use music regularly and to share quality children’s music.

[Ericha Rupp]

Getting to work with infants between the ages of 6-9 months old is one of the highlights of my week. A few of my favorite activities I get to do with them are ones that involve movement. I enjoy watching them explore their bodies with reinforced music and how they move with and without an object in their hands. Also enjoy watching the different types of receptive skills (directional eye gaze, bouncing their little bodies up and down, moving their little feet/toes) that are displayed during music therapy time. I find always myself going over in the time that I am allotted because I am instantly captivated by the “magic of the music” as it bounces from one child to the next.

[Lysa Wright]

I love working with babies! Right now, I have several infant rooms I go to at various daycare centers. These rooms are typically ages from as little as 6 weeks to around a year old. What I’ve learned and always encourage the daycare provider is that babies are on their own schedules, and it’s ok if they need to be held and fed, it’s ok if they need to be changed during music, and it’s ok if they start crying! It was nice to have this reiterated in this section. It’s always so interesting to me when working with children this young how much developing takes place in only a few months. Sometimes there are changes and growths occurring from week to week! It’s so interesting seeing their different levels of engagement and different means of participation, whether it’s grasping a shaker during instrument time, making vocalizations during songs, or clapping when cued. Babies are amazing!

[Shonda Malik]

I do not currently work with children this young. My youngest client in the past was close to two when we began services. For this client I made a special purchase of some small instruments like an age appropriate rattle, rainstick, and drums. I do have children and when they were tiny I sang and swayed with them often. Slow movements with soothing vowel sounds or humming helped to calm and relax them. I also used songs with my kids for early learning concepts much like songs from Barney or Sesame Street.

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