[Amanda Barnett]

I plan to create handouts & pamphlets to distribute to daycares & doctors offices around town to get the word out about music therapy & associated services now available in our town. I am also considering creating a Facebook page just for my business so that I may advertise on local yard sale sites & local sites so that the word can be spread virtually as well. One thing I have considered is setting up a booth at local trade days or other events so that I have an opportunity to meet & greet with families personally. This way I am there to answer questions & provide examples of how music therapy & associated services have been proven beneficial from my personal experiences as well as from experiences I have heard about along the way.

[Amanda Barnett]

I believe that this has given me the training that I need to open the doors to education about music therapy for young children and music for development for my small community. I have been trying to figure out how to introduce music therapy to my rural town since I started my studies in college but had not had any luck thinking of ways to get my foot in the door and how to make a successful business in an area so unfamiliar with this profession. I plan to implement the things I have learned into my current case load (songs, knowledge about developmental levels, etc) but what I really want to do is to start a SM program in my area! I believe that this program is just what Cleveland, Texas needs for families and children alike! I cannot express how happy I am that an advertisement for this course came across my newsfeed on Facebook & that I got involved. I think I may be in love with the idea of this program & putting it to good use in my hometown.

[Amanda Barnett]

I can’t express how excited I am to be able to provide these services as a whole to my small community as we have nothing like SM at all for children younger than about 4-5 years old! My father is an attorney & has told me that he believes that he believes a program such as this in our community could save some of the marriages he sees come through his doors. I am very eager to get out there to start helping families to bond with their young children through music & to watch little babies grow developmentally every week. The idea of beginning this journey in my career tickles me pink and I just can’t wait to get started!

[Amanda Barnett]

I have not worked in a group setting since internship but when I work with kiddos in their homes I often have siblings include themselves in the session. I make sure to make eye contact with all involved, say their names when addressing them so they know that I know who they are and that they are recognized as part of the group and encourage all involved to share and take turns equally (wording may vary depending on the age of those involved). I also make sure to have extra songs or activities in my “bag of tricks” incase what I have planned doesn’t exactly fit the situation or catch the attention of everyone involved. Being prepared is a very good thing but I’m not sure that there is such a thing as being overly prepared in this profession as we never know what curve ball may be thrown our direction.

[Amanda Barnett]

Music for development is beneficial to the child in regards to their specific developmental level or needs (fine motor, speech, gross motor, cognitive, etc) while music for skill building focuses more on the creation of music itself.

[Amanda Barnett]

5 words
SM3: independence, creativity, play, social, intentional
FS: bonding, love, family, fun, unifying

Plans:
SM3: (Greeting) Sit down with me. (Bonding Song) Hold on tight -this one is super cute & fun (Songs about me) Where is the music? (instrument Song) You play a little. (movement song) Will you come? -it’s spring time & 70+ degrees here so the leaves songs wouldn’t be appropriate at the moment (goodbye) time to go

FS: (gathering) come join the circle (bonding) wiggly jiggly car -as much as my daughter loves this song I can only imagine parents sharing the joy with a child on each leg or an older sibling helping the younger to enjoy this song- (songs about me) all of this is me (instrument song) music is the way (movement song) will you come? (Goodbye) music time is over

[Amanda Barnett]

I tend to agree with the idea that making sure to select appropriate music and activities that incorporate all of the children will most likely be the biggest struggle. Also, finding songs that help the older children to bond with the younger ones could also be quite tricky. You want to include all kiddos in the activities as equally as possible without over stimulating the babies or boring the older kiddos. I really like the idea of scarves for the movement activities, especially in this setting because the pretty colors are fun for all, they are safe & easy to use no matter how developed fine motor skills are. Although this could easily be the trickiest of the SM settings, I am very excited to get to work with multi-aged kiddos & siblings!

[Amanda Barnett]

I don’t have any group sessions at the moment but I have a few teens & young adults that are in some of these developmental stages. We use a lot of guitar, egg shakers, small maracas, tambourines, a keyboard & paddle drums. We also use visuals, toys and books a lot when appropriate. I would really like to build my mobile ensemble and get more drums and small instruments but it’s hard to find things that are sturdy & affordable.

[Amanda Barnett]

5 words: independence, exploration, anticipation, surprise & play

5 sentences:
“For this activity we want to make sure baby’s feet are planted on the ground so they get the full sensation on the whole bottom of their feet.”
“Look how adventurous s/he is becoming by venturing away from you during this activity! S/he is becoming little miss/mister independent, aren’t they?”
“Baby may seem like they aren’t involved but the involvement is their observing and absorbing everything happening around them. They are doing great!”
“Did you notice how baby anticipated your movements during the last time through the lap ride activity? S/he is learning how to prepare herself/himself for the movements learned from previous run throughs of the activity.”
“It’s perfectly alright if baby goes to the ‘hiding area’ during this activity. Just because they aren’t completely engaged in this activity doesn’t mean they don’t like it. They are just branching out of their safe zone & trying out new things. It’s a wonderful thing!”

Gathering song: hello everybody! -greeting everyone & welcome them to the group as you transition into music time.
Bonding song: Wiggly Jiggly Car -(FYI: my 1 year old LOVES this song)
Songs about Me: can you see?
Instrument song: pick your hands up high!
Movement song: Marching with my baby
Goodbye song: goodbye

[Amanda Barnett]

I tend to agree with the fact that each and every group is different in so many ways. I believe that too much stimulation would be inclined to think that both beginning and ending the session at or near the top of the energy level could cause some problems with babies being this young but you also don’t want to start with a lullaby tone as they may not get into it as much. You want your voice, instrument choices, songs and overall persona to be able to maintain a moderate amount of energy both to begin and end the class. If the babies do not react well to the songs at hand you must take into mind how you are utilizing the activities and make a call if you feel there is too much going on or not enough. Maybe the movement song has set off a few babies from there being too much commotion. You can easily calm the tempo and the activity level of the activity to match the needs of the group. You just have to keep an open mind, open ears & open eyes so you can make judgement calls on every activity to maintain the appropriate amount of stimulation for the overall well being of the group in order to maintain a successful outcome.

[Amanda Barnett]

5 words: love, repetition, bonding, development,enjoyment

5 sentences: “You are encouraged to sing along with us! Baby doesn’t know our voices well but s/he adores the sound of mommy & daddy singing.”
“Take these songs home & use them with your child. These are great tools we are giving you to bond with your baby and to help with their development.”
“Don’t worry if s/he tries putting the instruments in their mouth. It’s their way of exploring the world! Plus, I sanitized them this morning so they are perfectly safe.”
“Baby seems to be a little fidgety. How about we try this song holding them in a more comfortable position?”
“As you sing to your baby you may feel the urge to sing in a higher tone. This is completely natural and is actually preferred by babies!”

Session plan:
Allow everyone to come in and get settled prior to beginning session with warm, welcoming music playing softly in the background. Greet everyone with a simple (1) hello song: hello everybody (incorporate each child and parents name into the lyrics) (2) bonding song: row it faster (3) songs about me: where is my face? (4) instrument song: in my little hand (small egg shaker maracas could work well for this particular activity) (5) movement song: as big as can be (6) goodbye song wishing everyone a wonderful day.

All of these session plans sound like so much fun! I like the idea that most of the songs listed were the same, mixed and in somewhat different orders. This allows for the repetition of the songs while not following the exact same schedule every single session. I believe that mixing up the flow of things ever so often while still maintaining the same overall focus is beneficial to the parents so that they don’t get burned out too quickly. Love all of these wonderful ideas

[Amanda Barnett]

The only experience I have with children of this age is with my beautiful daughter who just turned 1 last week. Observing her grow has been an amazing experience & she never ceases to amaze me. When she was in the younger stages it was amazing watching her learn to be observant, learning to turn her head to sounds & so she could see, finding her voice, her first laugh when tickled. Each & every tiny thing that she figured out was like she had just finished a marathon & we couldn’t be more excited. As a parent I know how amazing it feels to witness your child go through these beginning stages as well as how precious bonding time is, how exhausting & emotional the first few months are and how much support you want-at times it can feel like there is never enough, even if you have an incredible support system of family & friends. I can honestly say that I would have loved to have some type of bonding class, and still would, as it becomes hard to find bonding time when you feel like you have to get everything done around the house after work and don’t leave yourself time to just sit and enjoy your beautiful child.

[Amanda Barnett]

I too like Mikhalas wording of educating the community with “music therapy by proxy”. I know that if I were to offer “music therapy for young children & families” in my small rural community I would probably not get much of a response because of the T word. I asked on my Facebook if anyone would be interested in “music classes with their young children” and I had several people ask how soon we could start, even after telling them it would be a music therapy based music class that focuses on development & bonding. People seem to be scared away from therapies and don’t want anyone judging them or their children because of involvement in anything therapy related which is truly a shame. I believe that introducing music therapy in community based settings allows for individuals who involve themselves in the services to learn that “therapy” is not a derogatory term. I also see it as beneficial to the community, not to sound like a broken record, because we as trained music therapists do have a unique skill set that allows for us to handle multiple situations. We have the ability to involve children of average functioning levels in the same group as children who have disabilities equally, therefore educating children and parents alike on how to correctly associate with someone who may be a little different than them. I am definitely an advocate for equal treatment of all children but not all children have the opportunities to associate with children with special needs other than passing their class or seeing them at lunch at school. Starting them at an early age of appropriately interacting with all peers equally in fun environments, such as SM, can give them a jump start in life to learning how to treat all peers equally.

[Amanda Barnett]

Not to sound like a broken record but I too believe that we are beneficial to the setting as we are able to utilize music as a tool and not only something fun to do. I believe that our training and experience makes us more valuable to this setting than your run of the mill music teacher because we have education ranging from young children all of the way to hospice patients and that we are trained to interact with all age groups and populations. We have a unique set of skills that lead us to be able to better explain things to individuals in broader terms that can be more useful in every day life.

[Amanda Barnett]

The needs of the families of my kiddos vary. Some families are very involved in therapy & sit in as we do sessions so they may integrate what we do into their every day life while others don’t even care to get copies of quarterly reports. It’s just the sad reality. I enjoy allowing siblings to take part in our sessions in order to bond with my clients in ways that aren’t readily available unless I’m there. These siblings also benefit from sessions as I help them to learn to take turns with their brother/sister who has special needs & to interact with them ourside of the typical sibling environment.
My home community (where I hope to begin introducing to music therapy & music for young children through private practice) is in small town USA, Cleveland, Tx with a population of approximately 7,800 people. Everyone knows everyone in some way, shape or form. I believe my community could benefit from a Sprouting Melodies type program as there aren’t many programs where family’s can participate with their young children. Having such an amazing bonding program available would be so beneficial and could open up opportunities for more programs to come to our small town. As of now there is FFA, sports & gymnastics for children 4+ but nothing for children under 4 years old. I believe the ruralness of our small community & lack of activities for young children makes it unique to this course.

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