Share Your Experiences Using These Three Songs

[Julie Palmieri]

Learn and sing some of the songs presented in the videos. Share your experiences using these songs on forum.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

I look forward to hearing everyone’s experiences 🙂

When you have the opportunity come back to read and comment on other’s experiences.

-Erika

[Lydia Westle]

I facilitate a bi-weekly group for infants with Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs) awaiting heart transplants / their caregivers and I was excited to try some of these songs in group last week! Unfortunately, the group needed to be cancelled due to patients needing to be on isolation precautions as an infection prevention. While I sadly haven’t had an appropriate patient on my caseload to individually try these songs yet, I practiced them at home and could easily envision being able to incorporate these into my work soon. In particular, I think that many of the caregivers I work with would feel very empowered in learning “The Tickle Song’, as it is repetitive, easy to sing, and builds upon natural interactions that happen in play. As I was watching all of the videos, I was thinking about many of my patients who are not necessarily as “active” or able to be mobile / exploratory due to amount of medical equipment / level of sedation. However, I do think this one in particular would help caregivers in having special, “normal” moments of bonding with their child and I look forward to utilizing it soon! I also feel that the song about the car would be quite well-received by many of my patients (as well as easily adaptable), for very similar situations to the case example described in regards to concerns with bonding.

[Lydia Westle]

Update: I was actually able to use the Tickle song today with an infant awaiting a heart transplant and her grandmother. It worked really well, was easy for grandmom to replicate and patient smiled / laughed in response.

[Kate Jihye Choi]

I have been working with this child, “B.” A few days ago, his mom asked me about the song to help him understand the preposition ‘My,’ ‘Your,’ Mine,’ and ‘Yours.’ So, I used another embedded song in Elizabeth’s book, ‘Your head, hands, knees, and toes.’ This was good to get his attention, to learn the body parts, and to introduce to him the concept that I have my body parts, and you have your own. And I tried ‘Just Like Me’ today for the first time. It was also good to get his attention another way, using the new song, as he is now in the independence and control stage. He looked at me and laughed when I touched his nose, singing, ‘Just like me.’ I liked the phrase ‘Just lime me,’ embracing that we have common things. I also tried with different lyrics, ‘I have two eyes, just like you’ and ‘You have two eyes, just like mom.’ We all enjoyed this song with different variations.

[Camryn Gallagher]

I love that you changed the words to “Just like mom” at the end!! That sounds like it was really sweet moment.

[Elmira Abasova]

I also like that song! I mean “Your head, your hands…” It’s easier for babies then original “Head and Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”

[MacKenzie Lyons]

I just started co-leading sprouting melodies groups, so I was very excited to be able to use “The Tickle Song.” I had been facilitating a lap ride, but when I heard Meredith mention that the tickle song could be a great addition at the end I immediately wanted to try it! There was a wide variety of reactions from children as the tickle song was sung. Some kids were seen playfully running away from their parents, others just stood there and smiled, but many of the children were heard shrieking with laughter. It was really great being able to see parents connect with their children in that moment whether they were sitting in their lap or running around the room. I haven’t had the chance yet to use the other two songs but I am just waiting for the opportunity!

[Amy Calderon]

That is so beautiful! i aslo got the chance to observe shrieks of laughter!

[Camryn Gallagher]

I sang “A Car on my Knee” today to a 31 month old who loves cars, trucks, buses… anything with wheels! It ended up being a perfect musical activity to help me and his mother respond to what he was doing in the moment. It actually ended up combining two of his pre-existing skills and interests – cars and identifying body parts – in order to practice an overarching goal of joint attention and back and forth turn-taking. Ever since I bought Elizabeth’s first songbook and learned what an “embedded song” is, I have been using them frequently, writing my own in the moment, and coaching families on how they can do the same.
I also used “Just Like You” during an assessment of a 3 month old today. At first I started by just humming the melody because I was curious about focusing on/emphasizing the descending intervals. She fell right to sleep on my lap, and then the family and my evaluation team asked me to teach the song to them too!

[Camryn Gallagher]

Another “Just Like Me” experience – it actually made for a great tickle song with an almost 3 year old today!

[Daniel DeLucia]

So far during my time at Roman Music Therapy I haven’t used “The Tickle Song” or “A Car on my Knee” during sessions. However, The Scarf Song that is frequently used within Sprouting Melodies I have often used within integrated pre-k and early elementary groups. These songs often feel playful and exciting. The response I see from the children with the Scarf Song is that it allows them to learn a sense of control and learning to feel anticipations musically, as well as learn to follow direction (the song incorporates counting as well as many steps such as making a ball before throwing the scarf into the air). For some of the developmentally younger children, I would simply the instructions and adapt the music to meet them where they are at. For the older kids, I often have seen them initiate different ideas for moving the scarf. For example, in one integrative pre-k class, I’ve seen the children suggest moving the scarf like different animals as opposed to just waving it in a circle shape.

In my past work during graduate school, I used “Just Like Me” when working with children who are non-verbal. I felt that this song helped clearly convey the level of awareness as well as trust. For example, as seen in the videos, I remember singing the song to a child and reaching out my hands in order to provide an opportunity for that child to join into musical play with me, follow the structure of the song as well as build a sense of rapport and trust between us.

[Olivia Todd]

I have not used these songs yet in sessions, but I am so excited to try them this week! “I Have a Car on my Knee” will be a great song to use in some of my preschool groups, as the teachers wanted to increase their peer to peer interaction. A car might be a little difficult to use on a rug, so I will try it with a small ball or shaker, something that can roll easily. The students can sit in a circle and each student will get a chance to have the “shaker on my knee, a shaker on my toes, a shaker on my belly now it’s time to goooo!”. On “gooo” they will roll it to a peer of their choice and say their name. These songs are great to sing as they are written and like Elizabeth said, they are easily adaptable to what is needed for the specific child/children!

[Erika (TeamRH)]

It was wonderful reading each of your experiences. Thank you for sharing.

[Elmira Abasova]

I have not used these songs in sessions this week yet. I am looking forward to doing a session for my friend’s 11-month-old son tomorrow. From my time at RMTS, I remember most of the children giggled when Favor did “The Tickle Song,” so I expect to see the same reaction tomorrow.

[Courtney McDonald]

I use a song that is very similar to the idea of the tickle song. I am looking forward to trying it out this week. The reactions for “Gonna get you” have evolved from showing dislike and turning or moving away to watching other participate and enjoy the song to finally that child feeling comfortable enough to engage in the music and play.

[Maura Nicholson]

I enjoyed refamiliarizing myself with these songs from the last time I took the course. When I worked in EI, I used “Just like me” a lot. I found it to be such a useful song if a child needed redirection or we were in-between activities/interventions. The song also provides an easy way to include anyone else in the room. A very useful song to have in the back pocket! I’ve been working on body parts a lot with my daughter so I have started to sing this to her, mostly in the tub where her joint attention is the strongest and it has really helped her identify different parts!

[Amy Calderon]

I had the opportunity to use the tickle song today. I watched as I got huge giggles from both babies, as their moms tried the tickle songs. I also saw the delight in their mom’s faces as they interacted with their babies. It was beautiful.

[Billie Junget]

I used the tickle song in my SM classes and the babies laughed while anticipating the tickles and smiled and laughed when they finally got the tickles. There were some kiddos who would run away from parents and look back to have them chase them and it was cool to see how different kids interacted with the song in different ways.

[Mark Dunford]

I haven’t gotten a chance to use any songs yet as I don’t have many age/developmentally appropriate clients but I’ve been planning on trying “Car on my Knee” next time I see a young boy on the ASD I work with. He’s sings glissandos on an “e”, he’s very physically active and loves manipulating objects in his hand. I think this could be a great way to further engage him in reciprocal activities.

[Lincoln Bowen]

Although I have not utilized these songs in my own sessions, I have a distinct memory of observing Sprouting Melodies in which the Tickle Song was used. The energy in the room was incredible. The kids laughed and occasionally shrieked with joy. The structure of the song built up anticipation, which made the reaction even larger. Caregivers were laughing along with the kids- it was a wonderful moment of connection.

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