What was your most valuable takeaway from this weeks’ content?

[Meredith Pizzi]

Please reflect on your takeaway from this week’s material.

[Amanda Braden]

One of the most valuable things that I took away from this week’s content was gaining a better understanding of all of the specific developmental milestones that children undergo as they age. It’s been quite some time since I studied early child development. So, it’s been great to really look at it closely again so that I can better communicate with parents and caregivers where their child is at and better understand where young children are coming from at each stage. I also appreciate that Beth took the time to discuss the “red flags.” I currently work with teens and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, but have had very little clinical experience working with very young children. So, I am fully aware of the behaviors, responses, etc. that are common among individuals with disabilities, but never quite knew when (chronologically, speaking) they may indicate a delay. So, that information was very helpful.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

My own children are 39 months and 19 months, and I have one more coming in August so it was really fun to look at their development compared to the norm.

One of the thoughts that kept coming to mind as I read and listened was how delicate it may be for some parents to accept that their child may be developmentally delayed. I have a friend whose daughter is 21 months old and still will not walk without assistance and rarely talks, yet the mother is very reluctant to seek any outside advice on her overall development. I am curious about how to start a sensitive conversation with parents of children with “red flags” when they come to our groups. As a parent, I have a sense of wanting your child to be on track and feeling like any delay may be due to negligence on your own part. I’m curious if anyone has experience with communicating with those parents who may deny or be reluctant to explore potential delays and ways to address them?

I do feel that I have a different role as a friend vs. a clinician (it’s easier to bring these things up as a clinician if someone is bringing their child to you vs. initiating a conversation with a friend, at least for me), but even still, everyone wants their child to succeed and it’s hard for any parent to hear that their child is not where they should be. I would love to hear other thoughts!

[Kristina Rio]

Jaycie,
As Sprouting Melodies Providers we are expected to provide parents with resources, support and information about their child’s development. As this is not clinical music therapy, it can be a hard topic to bring up. Parents really look to us as the expert, and value our suggestions. It is just as important to educate parents about the red flags as it is the benefits and progress you are observing in the groups, and parents are often grateful for the advice. We always try and bring up the subject in a gentle way and as privately as possible, so be sure to take the parent aside after class. You want to make it more of a conversation by asking them, “I noticed Charlie was walking on his toes, does he do that often?” The parent may bring up their concerns as well. You want to educate them and let them know that those things you have observed could mean something more is going on. We can give them resources and contact for EI assessment. We don’t want to push the parent, but it is our responsibility to say something if you see something concerning. As early childhood providers we can help parents get their children the services they need before it is too late to receive services.

[Michelle Russell]

I currently provide early childhood music programming for a daycare center. Twice a month I work with the entire center classroom by classroom. I start in the preschool and work my way backwards to the infant room. I work with children 12 weeks of age up to the little guys who will enter kindergarten next fall. As I reviewed the materials this week, I of course couldn’t help thinking of specific children in each room and matching their developmental milestones. I have been working there for over a year now. I have watched the children reach their milestones and progress into the next classroom. It reminded me what a great tool this particular site is for me in honing my awareness of developmental growth.

[Milijana Majstorovic Kozul]

Well as a music therapist and as a mom of 18 month old daughter this part was very useful for me. During my music therapy education we use to work more with older psychiatric clients and children with special needs (cerebral palsy) so this field, of child development, is, I can say, very important and represent new chapter for me as I am now more in this area professionally as a musical baby bonding Instructor and Infant massage Instructor, and also personally with my own child. It is very useful, and will be more in the next weeks, that Beth is speaking developmentally and which musical activities is appropriate for that age. Also red flags are always useful information even that every child has individual development path. Some of them start with sitting in 6 some of them in 8 months, some of them are more active than others, and some of them just skip crawling….etc. We should have that on mind as well.

[Jacquelyn Blankinship]

This was such an informative presentation! I don’t have children of my own, but I do interact frequently with children at different stages of development: my nephew is almost 3, my god-daughter is 14 months, and my friend’s son is 2. So it was really enlightening to me to correlate different things I heard during the presentation to the different children and their stages of development. At the same time, although I don’t have kids, I felt myself seeing something about a “should have developed this by this time” statement and feeling worried if I realized “…wait, my nephew doesn’t do that yet!”. I think this gave me some insight into the kind of monitoring and, possibly, worrying that parents must experience over their child’s developmental milestones (to a much greater degree than I experience toward my nephew, I’m sure). Aside from the educational parts of the presentation, it was good to hear about the possible red flags. And I really appreciated Beth’s comment at the end that it really does take actually working with the children in your group and seeing their development to really make total sense of all of that great information.

[Darcy Lipscomb]

My most valuable takeaway was all of the details shared regarding early childhood developmental scales. I really saw this as a reminder of the need to have age specific groups within our early childhood programs. I also appreciated Beth’s statement near the beginning of the first video, “Work and fun are not exclusive.” I found this a valuable reminder and definitely good information to share with families.

[Katie Whipple]

I think for me what I have taken away the most are learning about the skills that the children develop and enjoy engaging in. It gives me ideas for music experiences that will work on those skills and draw on their current interests. For example, my sweet 5 month old baby boy loves seeing his image and my image in the mirror. I’m already brainstorming original song ideas that I can use in a group setting and trying to find a deal on some cheap, non-glass mirrors to utilize. Another important take away is that Beth talks about certain delayed skills as being a red flag, but also realizing that each child develops differently and at different rates. Milestones are just that… goals to reach. When learning about the different developmental stages there were many skills that my boys did earlier than the milestones… while some of them a little slower. I love how Beth reassures parents that most children will have control over their elimination muscles because this is always a concern for parents!!! I also enjoyed the references to the application of music. For example when discussing how an infant can begin to grasp toys they can also begin to grasp a maraca. Tying it back into the music helps to keep my wheels turning on how these skills affect children’s ability to experience and learn from music.

[Anonymous]

I am really enjoying reading everyone’s takeaway. I am glad you each are finding this foundational information useful and you will find this will be your stepping off point as we move into Week 3. Be sure to check back each week and read the comments of your fellow participants share.

[Christine Czuhajewski]

The most valuable take away from this week was the information about developmental responses at specific ages. Knowing the specific skills at which different physical, sensory motor, cognitive, emotional and language skills develop are extremely important. It is also important to know about the specific red flags that might be indicators of development not being on track.

[Kristina Rio]

There are so many great things to take away from this weeks content! It was fun reading about all of your ideas Katie! I think a mirror song would be so much fun!

[Amanda Maestro-Scherer]

Sorry for the late post everyone!

My biggest take away with this week’s videos was obviously in relation to development, but put in the context where I work, at a children’s hospital. Seeing where the developmental lags tend to be for children who are hospitalized at early ages, and often for long periods of time, I am increasingly considerate of where we can support in these important developmental milestones. Hearing these things was also reinforcing of the work I am already doing with these sweet kiddos!

[Kayla Lyles]

One of my most valuable takeaways from this particular week was learning more about all the different developmental stages and again realizing that I have the power to inform the parent with my own unique knowledge and skill set. That was something I really needed and it came at a really great time.

[Megan Dewing]

I enjoyed that Beth went in depth through all the developmental stages. This was very helpful for me to re-learn some of the information, and have some holes filled in. As I have worked with mostly older children, it was good to learn at what age you begin to see things. Learning when they will start to grasp, when they can really follow directions in songs, and what the red flags are was just what I needed. Knowing this will help me to better help my clients, client’s parents, and future Sprouting Melodies parents. This was my biggest take away.

[Mary Withington]

Reviewing the developmental milestones was extremely helpful. Also all the mentions of red flags to be aware of. I thought of specific children and clients as each age was discussed. Being able to point out to parents that their 18 month old is not developmentally ready to share, and to use the word “trade” instead will be valuable information. In reviewing the stages of development it is apparent to me that children could have more success in a narrower age range of a class, and that parents’ expectations can be directed toward that age’s stage of development. Sometimes they compare in a negative way their younger child’s behavior and understanding to an old child’s in a group. I need to remind them that they are not yet at a certain stage. The info about biting and how to redirect was helpful. I was not aware before about when moral concepts understanding occurs, and I see that it is much later than I’d thought.

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