Share Your Thoughts

[Meredith Pizzi]

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

[Rachel Lighty]

One of the biggest challenges I encounter is trying to keep the energy at a level that is appropriate and not overstimulating for the younger kids while keeping the older kids engaged. One technique I have used to help with this is having the older kids model actions or movements for the younger kids. This does help a lot, but that balance is still difficult to achieve.

[Tracy Schoenberg]

Family Sprouts seem to benefit families with more than 1 child and although developmentally different, may benefit the child and baby to interact with each other in different ways. For instance, the older child could be the leader of the younger kids by passing out instruments or coming up with his/her own movements. Kids and adults will learn to help and support the younger kids and help connect and cooperate with one another- always good for siblings that don’t connect well. For instance, my older kid went to montessori for a few years and they combine age groups 3-6 years. The older children have more responsibilities and leadership opportunities, but also teach and take care of the younger kids by helping them zip their jacket and read to them. The younger kids learn from the older kids and make connections with multi-age kids.

The challenge of family sprouts is to not overstimulate the babies and younger children (what Rachel mentioned). My youngest kid at 12-16 months didn’t do well with a large music group because the music was too loud, too much jumping and moving, and pounding big drums. It was too overwhelming and he’d bury his head in me startled a lot. The lullabies helped calm everything down, but there definitely has to be a balance of high and low energy songs. Sometimes the older kids want lots of energetic and loud music which might not fit into the younger children’s preferences.

[Marchele Gilman]

I think Tracy and Rachel are on point. It is very challenging to provide the stimulation that older children need, yet meet the needs of younger children who may become easily overstimulated. Also, we have to consider that they are at different developmental stages and we need to support them where they are. Another consideration is the distributing instruments that are age appropriate and not a hazard for younger children. Parents can probably help with making sure their child has an appropriate instrument to play.

[Gwendolyn Van Baalen]

I appreciated Meredith’s comments about the importance of positioning and use of space when working with children of multiple ages. Logistics and use of space can be a challenge when attempting to provide a safe and engaging space for multi-age groups. One of my immediate concerns when considering mixed-age groups is how to keep everyone safe with energetic toddlers who are motivated to move their bodies and may not be practiced in being aware of less mobile babies who may get “underfoot.” Of course, these challenges also offer valuable opportunities for children to practice skills that they would not be required to in other groups!
I appreciated the framework of facilitating shared meaning while maintaining opportunities to feel individual in these types of groups.

[Alice Sorensen]

I can see how Family Sprouts can be challenging because of the age variations and the different developmental stages that the children are in. I agree that positioning of the children is very important – and I love how Beth and Meredith are utilizing the children’s various developmental stages in Family Sprouts, for instance, five year olds who want to ride bikes would enjoy being in charge of the bike riding song with their sibling, if they’re the bike steerer!

[Cassandra Reyna]

All of the answers so far are phenomenal! I agree with the challenges in ensuring younger children are not overstimulated, as well as making sure the older children have appropriate spacial awareness so as not to harm the younger ones.

I feel that there will be challenges with parents feeling overwhelmed by wanting to wrangle the toddler, as well as to bond with the infant. I can imagine there will be many parents who are constantly wanting to keep an eye on their more rambunctious older children, to the point where it impedes their bonding time with the infant. Structuring the activities so that parents do not feel a need to hover will be important in this setting.

[Beth McLaughlin]

Challenges for providing music to multi-age groups include:

Finding music that appeals to a varied age group

Balancing the need for consistency and repetition within the structure for younger children while encouraging and enabling creativity for the older kids.

Keeping the focus on the music and not engaging in conversation with the older children.

Structuring opportunities for older children to be models as well as partners while maintaining positive interaction.

Reassuring parents that demonstrating independence is not a behavioral concern but a natural stage in development that should be encouraged and celebrated.

[Flora Whitmore]

Oh man- keeping everyone engaged and managing energy level are my two big ones. You have to stay on your toes and be watching the responses. I really love when there are sibling pairs and the older kids are helping and supporting their siblings, but I have also had times where there was a huge divide- two six year olds and a ton of babies, and man, that was difficult. Instrument songs and a few familiar songs tossed in have been successful, so the parents could choose their engagement level without feeling too stressed about what their kids could contribute, while keeping the older kids interested too. Having the older children in leadership roles was helpful too- collecting or passing out instruments etc. or making choices that the younger kids could still be involved in, for ex: “should we move faster or slower now?”

[Alison Albino]

All of these answers are so true! In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges for a multi-age group is keeping all group members engaged without overstimulating anybody. It’s definitely a challenge to meet the energy levels of a 5 year old without overstimulating a 16 month old. Along the same lines, keeping volume at an appropriate level for all group members is definitely a challenge. Giving the older kids a leadership role is a helpful tool to keep everyone engaged.

[Anonymous]

Wow, you all had wonderful and insightful answers while also providing ways, we as therapists, can facilitate a multi-age group effectively. Thank you for all of your submissions.

Beth one of the things Beth Schwartz says about repetition, that always sticks out in my mind, is that even though you are “repeating” a song each time you sing it it’s a little different. I always followed this and made sure to do a fair amount of improvisation in each song. For example, one week we change tempo and dynamics for multiple versus and the next week we change the words of the song or sing using vowel or vowel to consonant sounds.

I love how you each talked a bit about stimulation levels and you can see how you will need to be directing the group and the parents to engage the children dependent on their developmental level. So you may be singing quietly for the infants while having the older children are engaged in improvising by choosing a sound that you will sing the song with.

[Jessica Triana]

It is clear that a great challenge for music therapists is creating a music environment that captures the attention and preferences while meeting the needs and abilities of most, if not all, of the group participants. I, too, echo many of points expressed already.
In addition, I have witnessed parents (although only once outside of groups) compare their child’s development, behavior and abilities with the other children in the group. They may do it alone with their partner after the group, with me, their medical provider, or with other parents. It’s human nature and there are ways to be constructive about, but many do not always consciously take that route. Multiple ages and a wider range of abilities may unfortunately be more conducive to this comparative mindset. This is just another reason why the emphasis on parent support, education and reassurance throughout these modules is so important!

[RaeAnna Zinniel]

I think there are several challenges doing multi-age groups. There is such a delicate balance between too much for a young one and being boring for an older child. I love some of the techniques given that utilize the older child’s sense of responsibility to a younger and having them help the younger child.

[Elizabeth Ferguson]

Family sprouts, very tricky to make sure that each child is getting the appropriate attention and stimulation needed in a mixed age class. I really liked when Beth stated that if you are having higher energy songs through out the session when you check in with yourself, you can tailor the last bit towards the younger children with more calming music. Such a simple way to look at it instead of focusing on everyone’s needs at one time, part of the session can be more geared towards a different age group.

[Ayelet Weiss]

I agree with what everyone shared so far. The biggest challenge seems to be finding a way to appropriately engage everyone while being careful not to overstimulate or under-stimulate some. I liked what Beth said about using the musical elements to make even a soft timbre song exciting for the older ones such as how you use your voice to emphasize, starts and stops, rhythms etc, while also keeping it appropriate for the younger ones. I also think that since Sprouting Melodies is about supporting parents and giving them tools and references to use to use at home (and many Family Sprouts parents have this multi-age dynamic at home), maybe the provider can include the parents and suggest ways to accomplish this same goal of keeping everyone engaged. This can be a tool for the provider in getting some help from the parents with one age group while being able to give a little extra attention to another age group (while also modeling for the parents what they can do at home). I also agree with giving the older ones an opportunity to act as role models and helpers to the younger ones.

[Anonymous]

Great insights Ayelet!

[Author]

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