Share Your Thoughts

[Meredith Pizzi]

Share some thoughts about the challenges of providing multi-age groupings.

[Kristen McSorley]

Challenges include balancing music experiences to be enjoyable and accessible to all developmental levels. As music therapists, I think we’re well-equipped to do this! In many of my experiences with groups, there has been vast variations in functioning level. In the schools, I have children placed into one group to suit the IEP while saving the school money, even though their functioning varies immensely. In the psychiatric hospital, some patients are cognizant and aware of their diagnosis, while others are unaware and stuck in delusional states. I’m sure we all have a lot of experience working with groups of multi-age/multi-functioning levels! It’s one of the challenges of being a music therapist, but also, in my opinion, one reward.

Another challenge, mentioned in the video, is not hyper-focusing on the children in a later developmental stage. As they become more independent, the music needs to be even more adaptable to fit their attention spans. This can sometimes lead to focusing on the older children, to keep them engaged, while not including the younger children as well. At least, this is my experience. Overall, though, I do think multi-age groups have a lot to offer!

[Kelsy Gati]

The main challenge would be to make sure music activities are accessible, enjoyable and meaningful for all age groups. There needs to be a balance of appropriate activities all children will enjoy while still bearing in mind their differences developmentally and the interests that correlate with that. Ima,so this it is challenging to ensure that children are all receiving equal attention and opportunities. It is also important to maintain experiences within the music and to not allow for too much excess talking from parents and children. The talking distracts from the music!!

[Anonymous]

You both make some excellent points. Kristen, to maintain the interest in the older children, I make sure to give them more responsibility. For example, asking them to help hand things out or collect and giving them an opportunity to make a choice how we change the music. I have found this really helps them to stay present with the music and reduces boredom, while I also give different attention to the younger ages. Kelsy I have definitely found if too much talking happens between the parents and we lose the attention of the kids. Very important thing to remember to keep things short and sweet!

[Ann Marie Raddell]

As I already shared in the forum of a previous module, a need for my community is early childhood classes for families with multiple children. Most of my classes are for children from birth to age five. When I first added a class with a broader spectrum of ages, it was challenging trying to adapt music experiences for each child in each different developmental stages. Equally challenging, was ensuring that each child received an equal amount of attention. Discovering the correct and most natural pacing for the session was also a learned skill. I wanted to be sure that the younger children in the group were not too overwhelmed, but that the older children had enough stimulation and excitement.

[Ashley Carroll]

I love the idea to have them help! Delegation is always helpful, in all sorts of the environments! Giving some responsibility to the children than can handle it also gives those children the satisfaction of being a “helper”.

[Ashley Carroll]

Finding balance within the music and activities to keep all the children (and parents) engaged, but not to overwhelm the younger babies. Also providing attention to each child, especially for the parents, as the facilitator, being mindful that parents are able to bond with both children individually and as a unit within the class. The possibilities of different assortment of ages is endless and each provides its own set of difficulties. Adaptability and quick decision-making skills. What may be working for half of the group may not be working for the other half, so having the ability to know what to change so everyone can benefit.

**After reading the posts I sense a theme. I’m glad I’m not alone in these thoughts!

[Laetitia Brundage]

I feel like I’m echoing a lot of you when I say that making every activity inclusive for all ages is one of the biggest challenges in a mixed-age group. I find myself giving small aside educational moments with each activity to help out a caregiver engage their little one in an appropriate way. Just as you would in other classes, reassuring caregivers that every kid is different and will demonstrate different choices in class is also important. Honestly, just having more eggs in your basket(more activities to jump into) makes a big difference in these groups. If there are siblings, I like to try to provide bonding moments between the siblings, like the lap ride suggestion with both kids on the caregivers lap or the older child helping the younger one get an instrument.

A challenge that I’ve come across is when there is only one older child in a class among a bunch of toddlers. Even when given opportunities to help/be a leader, etc. participation starts to dwindle….a feeling of “this is a babies class” and “I need to be independent” overshadows being in the music.

[Kristina Rio]

Ashley, I’m glad you mentioned that it was nice to hear other people having the same thoughts as you. That’s why this forum is so helpful! When you become a Sprouting Melodies Provider, you will have access to the Provider’s forum where you can share ideas and get some peer supervision!

[Sarah Szymanowski]

There are plenty of challenges for the therapist: music choice, instrument choice, movement choice, making sure therapist focus does not sway toward one age group or another, and allowing for older children’s creativity.</p>
<p>But the biggest challenge I see is for the parent who brings two children! As someone who is already wondering “how the heck am I going to parent two children at once?” just on a day to day basis, I think parents entering a setting like this are very brave. Their younger children will need more stimulation and fostering of engagement than their older children, but their older children will need and expect their attention as well. I can imagine that some sibling rivalry scenarios can arise in this setting.</p>
<p>As the therapist, in addition to supporting the multi-age group, I think we need to keep a special eye on the parents as well. Maybe step into the maternal if mom is dealing with a fussy baby but the toddler really needs validation. Maybe take an infant in our laps if a mom is dealing with a toddler on the edge of a meltdown. Music therapists are a part of that “village” we hear about!</p>

[Belinda Adams]

I think I’ve experienced a few challenges in serving families with multi-aged groups. One of them surrounds the fight over the parent/jealousy factor. Particularly older sibling to younger when the caregiver needs to assist the younger child to participate. I’ve also struggled from time to time with the sibling dynamic… oh younger brother tries to push older brother so brother tackles him to the floor. All in laughter but still…. Lastly I sometimes have struggled with knowing how to assist the caregiver in bonding with both children — I notice that they seem to favor one.

I have attempted to step into that parental figure when the families allow but sometimes it’s a tough balance.

[Katy Hutchings]

I deal with this issue often as I have one group at the preschool that ranges from 8 month olds to 3 year olds. I found that enlisting the older kids to help choose the songs or motions or to fill in the blanks for lyrics helps to keep them motivated to stay engaged. I also rely heavily on the other teachers in the group with me to help with crowd control and validation. I think using the adults to help get the children involved and to give a little extra attention to those who need it can really make a difference. Instruments are also a great way to involve children of all ages especially allowing the older children to choose more “grown up” instruments or something special that their baby sibling might not be able to use yet.

[Kristina Rowles]

I know others have mentioned this but I believe the biggest challenge is providing an environment where everyone can be successful and be engaged. This can be difficult with various ages in a group. Being very precise about the songs and activities chosen for the group can help make this a little easier. You can be sure to choose songs that have multiple ways to be sung/played by kids and can also have multiple ways in which to participate. Encouraging the group that not everyone needs to be doing the same thing is important in a group that will have a wide variety of abilities.

[Tiffany Lee]

I have actually led MT sessions with large age ranges in early childhood. It is very challenging, especially combining the age difference with diverse special needs. I have found the greatest challenge is finding a pace that challenges the older children without leaving the younger ones behind and overstimulated. I’ve made it a habit to have plan A, B, C…etc to quickly adapt. I completely agree with other posts that having multiple ways a child can participate is also important to address the range of skills and development. I can see that even though it is probably the most challenging, family sprouts would be very rewarding, especially to siblings and friends. I have a 18 month old, an almost 3 year old, and a baby on the way and could see how a class like this with families of multiple children would be wonderful to all experience together.

[Noelle Larson]

Providing music groups for children of a wide variety of ages can be both very challenging and very rewarding. As a music therapist, I need to be aware of the developmental abilities, needs, skills, and levels of the individual children in the group, as well as the needs of the group as a cohesive, whole unit. It is very important for the music as well as the activities to have an energy flow in which every activity is accessible to every participant in some way, but there are also specific songs, activities, and roles within them that particular cater to the needs and abilities of higher and lower functioning children. Older children can enjoy and benefit from “being the leader” during certain activities, but it is healthy to follow those activities with others that are more focused on their own needs and abilities (and vis versa). One thing I really like to do in a mixed age group setting is to invite the older children “into my confidence”–into the secret, if you will. They can be my special helpers, the experts, the ones we can depend on. I’m counting on their help–see what leader they are being! As Beth said in the video, it can also be really fun to do a song in a way that is accessible to the younger children, and then sing it much faster for the older ones to showcase their advanced skills. Lot’s of laughter usually follows!

[Jennifer Whitlow]

Making sure that each child is still actively involved would be challenging. It is so important to keep things age appropriate, so much happens developmentally when they are this young. I think it will be very important to adapt each intervention to each child. To make sure that each kid has instruments that work for them. Also, I think modeling for parents and making sure they understand their role will be important as well. I could see Family Sprouts being challenging, but also a great opportunity to bring family together who may not be able to come any other time.

[Tracy Wanamaker]

I agree with the rest of you – the biggest challenge with multi-age groups is creating a warm, welcoming, and engaging environment for everyone where all of the children will be included and successful. This requires choosing activities that are flexible and allow for a wide range of responses, that can also be easily and quickly adapted as needed based on the current needs of the students in the group. Activities that allow you to stop and start, to add surprise, or change tempo (to add excitement or calm the group down) as needed are very useful. I also feel that it is important to choose a few activities each week that allow the older children a chance to interact with the younger children. This gives them an opportunity to bond with the younger child (while showing off their new skills) and inspires the younger child to try new things that they haven’t mastered yet. While this situation can be challenging – it can be a lot of fun too!

[Stephanie Harris]

One of the reasons I love doing groups with a variety of ages and skill levels is because I think they’re not only challenging for the leader, but also provide opportunities for the older children to model and be in the “helper” role and it gives the younger children the opportunity to learn from the older kids.

I liked Beth’s idea of bringing it back down at the end of the session for the younger kids. Including the older kids to help with the younger ones and to make a lot of the choices would be helpful.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I do not have much experience in leading groups with both a child and their parents/ caregivers. Like many of you have stated, a big challenge for me would be in creating an engaging environment and meeting everyone’s needs. Making sure that the parents feels comfortable enough to fully participate and engage. Making sure that each child gets individualized attention and that they are not overstimulated ( especially those younger babies) but still engage and stimulate the older children. Even though each child/ parent experience and bonding dynamics will vary in the group, I fell that it would be important to have a sense of coherency and create a bond among the group as a whole.

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