What value do music therapists provide to young families?

[Anonymous]

What value do music therapists provide to young families?  Contribute on the forum.

[Maria Ramey]

I really appreciated the reminder that as musicians and music therapists, we automatically hear pitches in vocalizations but many parents may not. What a great reminder to point things like this out to the parents, who I know will be thrilled to realize how musical their little one is.

I think that with our training, including with the courses we’ve had in psychology, lifespan development, and especially in courses like this one, we are in a great position to gently guide young families in their discovery and understanding of their child’s development.

[Samantha Springer]

I agree with this as well. I often forget to point the little aspects of what I hear out in music therapy sessions to the parents and especially explain to them the significance in terms of developmental stages and growth.

[Mikelia Wallace]

Because we have a specific understanding of musical and childhood development, we can catch onto musical behaviors that those without our training may not. Through this understanding of musicality, we can encourage music making for the kiddo and help them to develop and follow through the developmental steps presented prior.

[Erika Svolos]

Remember to save your responses. These are wonderful things to look back at when you are creating new programs and advocating for your services.

[Samantha Springer]

As several people have pointed out, music therapists have a wide scope of knowledge regarding child development and we have the background and training to recognize various developmental and musical behaviors. Music therapists can work with the parents to point out the little aspects of what the music therapist is noticing in the session regarding musical behavior and then train the parents to implement different experiences at home or in another setting away from music therapy sessions to further encourage growth for the client or child.

[Debbie Merideth-Zantout]

Music therapists have such unique and wonderful skill sets. We have the ability to help our families recognize developmental growth as well as nurture musical skills. I believe the the greatest thing we have to offer is parent coaching. A behavior may be developmental, but that doesn’t mean it is not difficult for our care givers to deal with. We can provide ideas and solutions to help our families through the different stages of development. Just recently I had a client’s mother voice her concerns about her child’s current developmental behaviors. I was able to calm her concerns and discuss strategies that would work for my client and her family. My client’s mother was able to move from a state of concerned frustration to calm awareness of her child’s current developmental needs. I believe this is our greatest super power. I remember when my son’s therapists did this for me and the gratitude I felt towards them.

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