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

[Anonymous]

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

Be sure to come back and respond to others as well.

[Rachel Sedmak]

My only professional experience working with infants was in the NICU, but I do have experience having my own children, and can definitely relate to what it’s like being sleep deprived mother of an infant. When my children were babies, we did a lot of rocking, soft singing, and slow dancing. I sang them a special song when they were crying. It would help to sooth in many cases, but if they were over tired or hungry, singing did not help. I appreciated Meredith’s suggestion of allowing parents to feed their babies while still participating in the group.

[Favor Chujor]

Within my music therapy internship, I have observed and facilitated Sprouting Melodies classes. It’s been wonderful to learning about Sprouting Melodies in theory, then be a part of the experience in practice. Outside of music therapy, I was the musician for the infant/toddler classes at my church, so I’ve always been around young children and been able to observe their musical development.

[Mikelia Wallace]

I do not have experience with children of this age chronologically, however, I work with one child who is chronologically twelve, but is at the developmental level of an infant. For the longest time, I didn’t know how to session plan or what goals to set being that this is a level I was not trained in. A big goal for her is just engagement, I am currently working with her virtually. Her previous MT was mostly singing nursery rhymes to her and asking mom to provide hand-over-hand for playing and movement activities. Using some of the songs and interventions learned in this training, I’ve been working with her to locate sounds and encourage bonding and engagement with her mom. I’ve noticed I’ve been able to increase her eye contact and engagement by around 50% recently, and LOTS of vocalization that was not present when I started to work with her. The youngest child I was worked with previously was maybe 3 years old in a preschool/daycare setting during practicum.

[Amy Berggren]

I love working with this age! As I’ve mentioned before, I work with a group of new moms and their newborns and I love using bonding songs and cuddle songs with them. I also love including educational components discussing how music can benefit their babies and how they can use music with their babies when I am not around. I loved watching the videos this week; I have a lot of new ideas that I can take to this group!

[Sophia Paravalos]

This is my favorite age group to work with – especially when the parents are also involved in the group. It is so fun to give the parents musical tools to bring home and use outside of group time. I love getting to see the little ones get more comfortable each week and grow in different ways. It is also so amazing to see them begin to interact with each other and begin to develop their own understanding of ‘self’ vs ‘others’ in their world. Kids are the best teachers and that’s why I love this age group because I feel like they truly lead the way when looking at things with fresh eyes and new perspectives.

[Erik Hylan]

Most of my experience with this age group is in a daycare setting. Getting to work with babies and their caregivers is so rewarding because you see the bonds that they have already formed and see how they interact with each other musically. It’s neat to watch them explore their environment through music and the responses they give you. I really enjoyed connecting with the caregivers and giving them ways to support their kiddos musically.

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