Share Your Strategies

[Meredith Pizzi]

Share some strategies you have used to assure every child in your groups is successful.

[Laura Myers]

In working with older adults, I attempt to make each resident feel successful at each group or individual session. It is my hope I will be able to do this when working with young children. To do this I would plan my groups with experiences that will allow the children to learn and grow. I would learn the characteristics of each child and what motivates them. I would provide consistent feedback to the children. I also features that in order to succeed, the environment must be a positive one.

[Ericha Rupp]

The first strategy that comes to mind is providing age appropriate activities for the group. This has been mentioned many times over the past 9 weeks, as it should, and it really is the foundation of all of my group experiences. Another strategy includes having a ‘plan of action’ when a member of the group becomes distracted/disregulated for any reason. The other strategy that I can think of is when I have time or opportunities to meet with the families of my group members. I like to ask them what their expectations are for the group and then affirm their expectations while also highlighting what the actual expectations are of the music group. I have found that things tend to run a little more smoothly when everybody is on the same page both during the music group session and during carry-over into the home environment.

[Ian Crawford]

Considering the groups I see are only 15 minutes long with anywhere from 4-15 kiddos in each group, it can be challenging (or impossible?) to meet the needs of every child every time. Some strategies I have uses include: doing my homework by learning the ages and general developmental level of each classroom; Using songs that are adaptable enough to suit various scenarios; Constant observation of group dynamics; Spending even a small amount of time 1:1 with each child; Offering a variety of instruments appropriate for each developmental level; Offering choices regarding how to play instruments (fast, slow, tap, shake, etc).

I’m sure there are many more ways to provide safe and success-oriented music experiences and I’m looking forward to reading the other responses!

[BJ Waelz]

I believe that one thing that helps make sure that all kids are engaged and I am meeting the child’s needs is setting up the group as well as possible. Trying to think ahead to be sure that the room is set up to minimize distractions and maximize on target behavior. I also communicate clearly with parents so that they can be ready to help with engaging their child. Model behavior for parent and child so they BOTH know what is expected and that they feel connected and like a part of a larger group. It is important to consistent and watch for problems that might arise. It is our job to create success for the group. Keeping activities interesting, age appropriate and easily successful for the children will help to keep the children engaged. Recognizing issues and dealing with them quickly and appropriately will also help the group success and individual child’s success. Try to notice where each child is developmentally and accept / praise the responses they offer, even if slightly different, to help build confidence. I need to understand what I am offering, understand early development and understand parents so that I can provide successful groups for families.

[Lysa Wright]

I think an important thing is to recognize the needs of each individual child, and from there, create your session. Keeping yourself as organized as possible is also important; knowing your session plan, having adaptations in the back of your mind, making adjustments in the moment have all seemed to work for me in order to keep everyone engaged and benefitting. I work with groups from 6-20 kids at times, so knowing how to react and how to keep the session moving along depending on the “busyness” of the group is a great skill to have.

[Shonda Malik]

I don’t currently lead any young age music groups. I do however have private clients with autism who have siblings that join our sessions. Often times the child with autism might be reluctant to participate especially when we first begin sessions. When this happens I will have the sibling, who is often younger, take a turn using an instrument and then I sing a direction to pass to their sibling. Most times this works and the reluctant client will engage by accepting the instrument and taking a turn.

When I run kindergarten groups in special needs classrooms and I notice a child not actively engaging in the music making I will begin to sing each child’s name and what they are playing and move around the circle. When I come to the child who had not been playing, the singing of his name and instrument will often times help encourage active participation.

[Adrienne Salmon]

A way that I assure that each of my kiddos are successful in a group is to adapt the activity to each child’s needs. For instance, I use a song where the kiddos start out pretending that they are sleeping, and when I wake them up, they are told to pretend to be a certain animal. I have a child in this group who has a language barrier, as well as developmental disabilities that place him in a different developmental category than his peers, and he does not quite yet have the complex thinking to pretend to be an animal, and put that into practice. So, I sat with him and had him strum the guitar (which he loves and is great at) while other kiddos in the group acted out the activity. He was engaged the entire time, looking at me, watching his peers, and paying attention to the guitar. His peers included him by crawling over to him and showing him what animals they were. It was apparent by his smiling face that he felt successful, and his peers felt successful in being together in the activity.

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