Share Your Thoughts

[Meredith Pizzi]

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

[Susan Gannon]

Although multi-age groupings may provide much satisfaction, there are also many challenges involved. Music must be considered that is not too stimulating for some and not too boring for others. There must be a variety of instruments set out to satisfy different interests. While some children are satisfied to remain held in arms, other children will be roaming about the room. Some children may be old enough to want to help or provide guidance to younger children, which may not always be welcomed. With single age groupings, there will probably be only one caregiver to a child, where with multi-age groupings there may be two or more children to a single caregiver. There may be a feel of more disorganization to the group and the music therapist may feel she is spread too thin to connect with each child.

[Kate Potrykus]

The biggest challenge has to be adapting the music and activity for multiple ages. You want to excite the older children and provide playful changes in the music without startling younger children. You need to make sure there is a little something for everyone within each activity. You need to offer a variety of instruments and a variety of musical elements that are accessible to children of all ages. Another challenge may be explaining some of the developmental milestones that are occurring. I imagine parents come in and see that their older child is doing something that their younger child has yet to try. Parents often compare their child to other children, but as we know, each child develops at different rates. Though challenging, the multi-age groups sound like a fun way for families and siblings to interact with music, as well as for children to help other children by being good role models.

[Nicole Drozd]

Working with a mixed age group can be quite challenging. First, adapting music. Adapting the music to meet all ages can be difficult because you want the little ones to feel safe and not be startled but you also want the older kids to be challenged and interested in the music provided. While there may be opportunities for the older children to model for the younger kids during group, that may not always happen and the older child might try and DO for the child instead of aid the child. Finally, if you have mixed age group a lot of structure AND freedom is needed. Last week I did a group (as a trial run with a sensory gym) and I had a 2 year old, a 6 year old, and 8 year old and some ages in between. The two year old was trying to crawl in my lap and take other kids instruments- the 8 year old was trying to model and the 6 year old was participating but still wanting a challenge. It was a very “fly by the seat of my pants” group-which I expected to possibly happen going in-and it made me have a discussion with the other about providing groups that were divided by age. Don’t get me wrong parts of the group were fun-and challenging- but as an MT I also could see more benefit from dividing the ages up.

[Julia Park]

The major challenge in working with multi-age groups is in how to integrate the different developmental levels of young children from age 0-5. Once the baby is old enough to walk, it is extremely difficult for one parent to manage one child alone. I am curious how the music therapist can appropriately meet everyone’s needs since even the language and communication levels are different. I can empathize with Nicole on her experience working with children from age 2-8. I agree with Susan that you will definitely need to have more options for types of instruments to meet developmental levels of different age groups.

[Rebecca Woodruff]

Multi-age groupings can be a lot of fun and can be very difficult. My first practicum setting was an inter-generational group in an assisted living facility. This meant that my group had an age range of 12 months to 90 years. The needs of these clients varied widely. However, the focus of that group, and I believe family sprouts, is to help build relationships. Choosing music that was appropriate for everyone was a challenge. Usually we went with music that would be appropriate for children. I feel like in a multi-age group just for children I would look for more ways to let older children choose songs and find ways to adapt these songs to be appropriate for younger members of the group (as suggested in this week’s video). As many of you have mentioned, I would also use a variety of instruments. While not ideal, I feel like a multi-age grouping is a reality for any music therapist – especially those in smaller communities.

[Daniel Henry]

Meeting the children’s needs without alienating anyone is one is a challenge that I see for multi-age groupings. It’s important to have a good session plan and songs/activities that offer opportunities for engagement and activity for all the children regardless of their age group, but it’s also important to have flexibility to meet needs as they happen in the moment. The resources and songs given in this program is like an awesome tool box for my sessions that I can go to and use to better meet the needs of the children in my sessions.

[Alexis Ramagnano]

I think that the challenge will be making sure every child is being engaged to the capacity they are able to handle. I currently run groups with adults. Each group is comprised of mixed age ranges, ability levels, and cognitive levels. I constantly have to mentally check myself to make sure everyone is engaged. There are times I am not sure that I have reached everyone in the group.
MY hope is that the parents will be a great support, that the children will be honest ( which I know my children can be brutally honest at times), and that I have established a trusting relationship with families so they can express themsleves openly.
Another challenge of mixed age groups is being able to use the training from each Sprouting Melodies level all in one group. That is a little intimidating but also seems like it will be fun to have to be so spontaneous.

[Charniqua Snell]

For me, the challenge is making sure everyone is appropriately stimulated during the session. It is easier to cater to the older children in the group especially since they can do more. I like the idea in the videos of allowing the older children to choose the songs and the MT adapting for the younger ones. Also, using different instruments that are novel to the older ones but having simple instructions and songs so everyone can participate has helped me in the past.

[Marcie Hernandez, MT-BC]

The biggest challenge in facilitating a multi-age group is in providing content that is challenging, meaningful and appropriate for children in vastly different developmental stages. I believe that one of the great things about this course is the diverse repertoire of music that is provided that can be easily adapted for different ages. I also agree that using different instruments for the older children will help keep them engaged, as well as, asking them to model and take more ownership in choosing songs. These groups do tend to be more about the social connections being made among different children, and so emphasizing that when it’s happening can also help everyone feel more involved.

[Elizabeth Carras]

One of the challenges of multi-age groupings is providing music experiences that are developmentally appropriate, stimulating, and challenging to all participants without being overwhelming. It is easy to get pulled along in the energy of older children and forget to modify your timbre for the younger ones, or easy to repeat simple songs for the young ones and notice that the older children are getting antsy or silly. I have also found that, when I work with multi-age groups I tend to reinforce the more overt behaviors of the older children, and neglect providing reinforcement for the more subtle behaviors of younger children. I will praise a child for matching how I play on the drum and offering his own musical ideas, and let opportunities to praise looking or orienting toward the sound pass me by.

[Shelly Peterson]

Share some thoughts about the challenges of providing multi-age groupings…it can be such a joy and challenge to see families with multiple children attend classes. It is a great way to engage families together in a shared experience that is joyful and interactive, but not all children are at the same place developmentally and it is important to note the differences in development with the difference in age as well as individuals throughout as parents can often expect their children to respond similarly. If one child is in the awareness stage (mostly contained and not physically moving around independently – so also needs constant support) and another is in the independent stage (moving all around and wanting to explore everything), there is a huge difference in what I would expect as a facilitator with these two children. There also may be more adults in the room and filling the space more than usual, a consideration to think about when the space is limited. How some children respond in a developmentally appropriate way (putting the instruments in their mouth when in the trust/independence stage) may not be appropriate for a much older child who may not understand there is a difference in expectation. I can see this being an issue with the parents more than the facilitators.

[Christina Bass]

I agree with the majority of responses that the biggest challenge is making sure everyone in the group is engaged and getting something out of the experience. It can be easy to focus on the older members of the group since they will be providing the most visible participation. The great thing about have the older kids is that you can assign them tasks to assist the younger members which will benefit both of their developmental levels.

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