Share your thoughts.

[Meredith Pizzi]

Share your thoughts with the board on how much stimulation is enough? How much stimulation is too much?

[Lauren Klimek]

You’ll be able to tell how much stimulation is enough when the children are engaged and remain engaged during the music session. Their ability to remain in the music should look like the ability to stay in proximity to the music and it’s source, follow simple musical cues and structure, respond to the music appropriately with excitement, attention and anticipation. If there is too much stimulation you may see, loss of attention to task and the musical source and the inability to “draw the child back in,” the child may appear startled and may cry, scream and/or whine, and the child may turn away and/or try to hide from the music and/or activity that is too over stimulating. When I first became a music therapist and ran my first few groups I definitely “toyed” around with various instruments and songs and have seen what works and what doesn’t. You definitely know what to use and what to leave at the door for a later date or different age group. When I was first starting out, I always thought that quantity of activities would give my clients better quality of services but I eventually learned that less is more in some cases and especially when working with little little ones.

[Gina Greeson]

I think that having too many songs with lots of fast rhythms and instruments back to back is too much stimulation. I also think that children will let you know how much is too much stimulation. In my experience, when the children begin to cry and lose focus they may be overstimulated. Sometimes certain instruments are overstimulating too. Sessions from 30-45 have seemed to work for me for practicums. Like Lauren said, if they are engaged during the session and remain engaged, that seems to be enough stimulation.

[Megan Calabro]

Hello, again! From my experiences, I believe that a child will absolutely let you know if it’s “too much”. That being said, though, I feel like I’m second guessing myself on making that call when I’m facilitating a group. I do primarily individual sessions at the hospital, so I’m pretty good at making that call on an individual basis. But groups, especially when kids “join forces and bang into the wall”, the way Meredith shared, is an entirely different ball game. I think it’s just going to be a matter of doing it, though.

Whenever I facilitate individual sessions, especially with children who may have sensory sensitivities, my philosophy has always been “start from the bottom and work your way up to where they’re tolerating everything; you can slowly progress from there.” For example, whenever I go into a room with an infant, I usually always start with an audible breath sound followed by a gentle hello. From there, I then introduce the music, but am constantly mindful of what the infant is telling me through their behaviors and state changes. I would imagine that for a group at this age level, I might start in a similar manner – just by taking a breath, and then progressing into a Hello Song. I think it’s important to definitely keep it interesting, but to also allow for those breaths or pauses to happen, not only for the element of “surprise”, but to also allow for the baby to naturally come back into the music. Anything that may be significantly fast paced, louder, or with more than 2-3 layers (ie voice and drum, or voice and guitar) may be too over stimulating. Sometimes, the more simple it is, the more beneficial it is. Less is more!

[Megan Calabro]

Lauren and Gina – completely agree! If the child is engaged and remains engaged, then it’s enough stimulation. And I absolutely agree that songs with lots of textures and more complex rhythm patters can be way too overstimulating! And when a baby becomes overstimulated, they make that well known either through crying or showing signs of discontentment, to completely disengaging. Some kiddos, expesially those with sensory sensitivities or ASD, may also begin engaging hardcore in some self-stimulating behaviors. One thing I really took back from my DIR training was that whatever sel stimulating behavior it was, there was something about it that was (a) meaningful for the child, and (b) that child’s way of trying to soothe or self-regulate. So, by providing enough to help engage, while balancing that with opportunities to self-regulate through co-regulation, you can really help ward off becoming overstimulated. (Hopefully that made some amount of sense???)

[Joanna Calahan]

I try to stick to the “KISS” rule- keep it simple silly! I think a good session reflects the ebb and flow of waves- I try to start slow to warm up, then build to higher energy, and bring it back down (and repeat). Of course, there are days when client energy may be low, or everyone is feeding off of each other’s energy so I have to manipulate the songs or intervention to redirect. Depending on the the situation (energy level, client stemming, clients feeding off of each other’s energy) I change the timbre, tempo and volume to meet their needs. There have been sessions in which I completely omit instruments because there is too much going on and I felt clients needed something soothing. That’s when I try to do quiet, a capella songs and slow movement activities with our bodies or scarves.

Too much stimulation for one child might not be enough for another. That’s why it is important to check in with clients and observe throughout the session. Sometimes we might need to end a drumming intervention shortly after we begin it because one child startles because of the instrument, which then causes another child to cry because they are over stimulated by the drum and the other child’s crying. That’s when we as the music therapists have to use our judgment and musical knowledge to assist the clients with becoming less agitated, and help find the right balance by leading/guiding the musical experiences.

[Dina Breaux]

When there is enough stimulation during a group music environment, children and parents are engaged as indicated by their singing and playing during songs. Children will remain in or around the circle, attempting to follow musical cues and playing along with instruments. If there is too much stimulation, they will stop attending to the songs, losing interest and moving away from the group. I have found that the balance between enough stimulation and too much is a delicate one at times. Last week, I noticed that the kiddos were over stimulated when I went from an instrument song to a high energy movement song. It was too much and they lost interest, one of them wandering away from the circle and another randomly throwing egg shakers into the drum! I slowed down the movement song, stopping and starting to grab their attention, then transitioning to a book (5 Little Pumpkins). They sat right down to read the book, watching and attempting to imitate the fingerplay. It was a lesson well learned so I plan on balancing high energy songs with calming, soothing ones.

[Kristina Rio]

Wonderful reflections everyone! This question is so great for realizing the value we bring to music groups for young children. Not everyone knows how to read a room’s energy and attention and adapt to what’s happening!

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for sharing! I second what Kristina’s thoughts!

[Author]

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