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

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Lauren Stoner]

I think as music therapists, this is an area that we know well. We do not want to overstimulate or under stimulate. By using live music and adapting to the needs in the moment, will have to maintain an appropriate level of stimulation. You can increase stimulation by adding dynamics, a different timbre, and variation in meter if most children are finding stimulation other places (outside of the circle). If there is too much stimulation, the child could become overwhelmed and confused so providing more grounding can be important.

[Coleen Shanagher]

My immediate reaction to this question is…well it depends! But I’m sure that is what you were expecting. Just as Lauren said, each moment is different and we need to be conscious of the impact of the sensory level in the room. So I think to do this we need to watch the children closely and honor their reactions. If a child is running away from the session we can take note that there is a shift in the child’s desire for stimulation. Whether that means they are over stimulated and escaping, or they are under stimulated and seeking more feedback…that is the next question. And I think we can use our educated judgement to make a decision as to how to proceed and take note of the changes. Over time this helps us to have expectations for that individual but also characteristics to look for in others.

[Lauren Stoner]

I also want to add that music is a natural way to increase or decrease stimulation of the environment. Our own natural reactions- in being genuine and authentic in the musical expression will help to provide a homeostasis for the child and parent.

[Stacy Reno]

Well said Lauren and Coleen! I love the Sprouting Melodies group age break down! My group is ages 0-3 and stimulation needs vary, but the music holds us together. As mentioned above, I also observe reactions of the children and adjust my intervention as needed. It’s always a plus to have your tried and true activities in your pocket to bring the group back!

[Keeley St Clair]

I agree with the comments above. Of course not enough or too much stimulation is going to be relative – what makes MTs unique is that we are well versed in observation and techniques to alter the sound, timbre, rhythm or entire experience to better engage our participants.

[Kehlen Bushatz]

I think it’s REALLY important to watch for over-stimulation and agree that we, as music therapists, should be very aware of this and how the music is affecting the kids. I think it’s important to start slow with less stimulation and then gradually build up and gradually break down. Offering too much stimulation too quickly will disorganize the group and it will be difficult to reorganize the group once this happens. To me it’s just really a need to continuously observe the kids’ reactions and adjusting accordingly. If the kids are all wanting to crawl away and show no interest in what you are doing you are probably not stimulating them enough and need to change what you are doing or how your are presenting it. If you see the kids having a lot of trouble transitioning between high stimulation songs and low, maybe you need another song in between the two that has less stimulation than the first but more than the second. Enough stimulation occurs when most of students are participating and showing reactions that would be expected for a child their age.

[Erin Spring]

Ironically I am in the process of working with a student to propose a presentation on ways to adapt NICU techniques to other populations where stimulation levels and limited means of communicating are present. I haven’t taken the NICU training myself, but I do think there are some good guidelines and seemingly minor responses to be aware of and indications for how to respond with additional or less stimulation, type of stimulation or combination, decibel level, etc. We are working on applying these to adult hospital patients but they obviously could apply to Sprouting Melodies kiddos too. They don’t have the serious medical needs and concerns that infants in the NICU do, but I think applying the NICU techniques to assist in determining stimulation would be appropriate and successful.

[Petra Paukova]

Well, you all said most of my thoughts. I only can add my own observation with my own son with autism. I used to take him to Music Together class and he was often running away from the group. He was the only one. I did not know at that time he has autism and did not know why he did it. Later when I learned about sensory issues I realized that he was overstimulated by noise level, even none of other kids were. So, when we have a child in a group like my son, let’s try to play in little more subtle and quieter way. It does not mean slower, just quieter. Special kids often can not take all the decibels typical kids can. But just being present there in a class will over the time help them desensitize that.
5 words: stimulating, interactive, gathering, body play, surprising
Planning sessions is from my own experience kind of difficult. I like what you said in the video about building the energy up and down. I am facilitating drum circles sometimes and it works the same. It is all about energy. Let it go down so that you can build it up again and again. Go with the flow and just shape it.
Instruments: mostly plastic for easy clean up and safety.:)

[Meredith Pizzi]

Hi Everyone,
I really enjoy reading all of your posts, although I don’t always have a chance to add in long replies! I just have to add to this conversation though! Last week, in my Sprouting Melodies 1 class, I had a little baby who really responded to louder, faster music selections. I was talking with the nanny and my first question was, “Is he a first born?” The answer – “no” he has an older sister who is 6! Ok, so that explained a bit of it. I have found that babies who have older siblings at home are used to more stimulation and a higher energy level. This particular baby was so into the music and so responsive, singing and playing, moving in response to the music and then after about 25 minutes, he started to get fussy. We did Beth’s version of Row, Row, Row your boat and I demonstrated to the nanny how we could gradually slow the tempo and dynamics and then we also started to leave out the words and sing on syllables and open vowel sounds. He closed his eyes and rested quietly in her arms for about 4-5 minutes and then he opened up his eyes and started smiling again at his nanny. It was so cute. It was a great example of how little ones can only take in so much, and then when their bodies need a break, they just close their eyes, shut down and get the rest their bodies need! As his nanny said at the end of our first Sprouting Melodies class, I really got to see the full cycle of his energy level and got to know him very well in that short time!
Yes, we need to always watch for the signs of attention and over-stimulation. And respect the group members needs for more quiet, more subdued music when it is called for. Please keep contributing your thoughts and ideas to the conversation!

[Toni]

Meredith, I’m glad you shared your experience from this past week. I was going to say that overstimulation is not always shown by being fussy. Some kids literally shut down, closing their eyes to relax, or sleep.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

And some parents respond this way also!

[Toni]

Yes, that’s so true, Beth!

[Sarah Tree]

I also feel that it is so important to be present and observant in our sessions. I like that you all emphasized that some children may not respond the same way as others when they are over- or under-stimulated.

[Shannon Kiley]

As everyone has stated, it is hard to know what is good for each group, because it depends so much on the children! But of course we want to have the sense that the babies are given a calmer energy level than the Sprouting Melodies 2 kids and that the Sprouting Melodies 2 kids are given a calmer energy level than the SM3 kids. And then watching responses carefully! I remember my professor in school talking about the importance of certification for working with NICU babies, and about seeing a video of some whackjob bringing cymbals into a NICU (“it’s music! babies love music!”… >_< ), and all the babies are showing startle responses and this person is not tuned in to that. As MTs, our ability to see these nonverbal “NO” responses in children is so important to our work in general but especially for fine-tuning the level of appropriate stimulation.

[Kathryn Opher]

I believe that the key to this is keen observation skills and playing with input. Even children who can be handling the stimuli well-need to have a balance. Some kids are so used to loud and do not know how to handle soft so that is also a good skill to develop.

[Jennifer Sokira]

I agree with so much of what is being said here- our experience as music therapists, our clinical and personal intuition with the children in our groups, and our observations of how they respond to the group in the moment all assist us in determining how much is enough.

[Andrea U]

Great thoughts everybody. My initial reaction was “It depends on the situation.” We go through the training to be MTs so we assess a balanced amount of stimulation required. And oftentimes, even within a group, we have to assess each inidivual as levels of stimulation are often temporal (such as in Meredith’s situation) or simply dependent on the personality of the each child.

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