What value do music therapists provide to young families?

[Julie Palmieri]

What value do music therapists provide to young families?

[Jorden Liteplo]

I think we provide a more child- focused environment. Just like when we write goals and objectives for a client, every activity has a “why” behind it. We have lots of knowledge about different keys and modes and have so many different easy of providing novel music experiences. I also find that writing my own music brings a bit of value to parents, because unlike many songs they are purpose driven and give parents so many more tools and songs to add to their repertoire ( But I still use many existing songs, of course!) I’ve also had parent feedback that they like the fact that I do live music rather than using recordings.

[Sean FitzGerald]

Jordan,

I totally agree with the live vs. recorded music comment you had! It just deepens the experience in my opinion and helps everyone to feel more included as well! Thanks for pointing that out!

[Kayla Stubblefield]

Bringing original songs of your own really adds to the authenticity! 🙂

[Jorden Liteplo]

RIGHT?! Parents are so surprised when they find out I wrote most of my tunes, but I think that also brings value when we can explain we wrote them to support development, not just to entertain or teach them to count. I also feel it adds value for parents who are sick of itsy bitsy spider and mary had a little lamb.

[Angie Snell]

I agree that we create child-focused environment and we model a child-focused approach and support those healthy interactions and adult-child / child to child bonding and shared music making.

[Sean FitzGerald]

As music therapists, I think we provide a more tailored experience for the children that focuses more on the individual children in the room and less on the material that is being taught to them. We have the skills and ability to adapt what we are doing to fit their needs and then in turn explain to the parents why we are doing so which helps them to understand what we see. I really enjoy the parent teaching aspect of this course because it helps to give us the skills and confidence to help inform parents about what we are seeing which may also help to put them at ease, especially if they are new parents. We also, as therapists, are a little more in tune to reading how parents are feeling as well so we may be able to tell whether or not a parent may need a little encouragement to engage more in a session or need some reassurance that what they are doing is correct!

[Leah Strand]

I really like how you include that we as therapists are more in tune to the parents feelings and can recognize when we need to shift gears to help wherever we can.

[Kayla Stubblefield]

I really like how you mentioned focusing more on the child instead of just the material.

[Jorden Liteplo]

I think that the material we create is tailored to them also!

[Leah Strand]

I think we as music therapist provide a value in family connectedness. There are so many things about music that connect even complete strangers, but the fact that music can help give structure and developmental cues to a young family is incredibly valuable. The lure of music being enjoyable and then it turns into functional use I think provides an ongoing presence for parents and their children. We offer an experience to be closer with their children and we provide a plan and structure to help throughout many developmental stages. Overall, I think we provide a valuable parenting tool for young and growing families.

[Jorden Liteplo]

Absolutely! Parents want meaningful ways to engage with their babies and most of what we get is out them on their tummy a whole pot or buy this toy that helps their development. I always ask parents to bring back stories if they use songs.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

I enjoyed reading each of your insights. This is great to have when you are sharing about the unique services you provide as a music therapist.

[Kayla Stubblefield]

We provide live music experiences that can be tailored in the moment to the needs of the child. We bring competencies in music that allows us to switch tempo, dynamics, accompaniment patterns, styles, etc. when we observe the child’s needs are not being met. We can provide parents with personalized music tools and activities that they can use to support their children academically, socially, developmentally, cognitively, and psychologically as they grow. Also, music therapists can aid in facilitating bonding moments between parents and the child. For example, facilitating an intervention in which parents directly interact with their child musically- and they can also do their own version of musical interactions at home.

[Angie Snell]

Music therapists provide in-the-moment assessment and the ability to embed tailored adaptations that support healthy interaction and exploration. MTs can point out responses and the importance of those responses to others who might miss those. MTs can provide important modeling for positive relationship building and social emotional associations.

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