[Toni]

I hope to begin a community based program that is sensitive to families with children of all ability levels. This may be my first opportunity to be the person to spot the red flags for some families and refer to other disciplines early on to get the interventions needed. I truly believe that early intervention is the best intervention. So many families are not aware that their children need help until in elementary school (or later). I really like that this program brings attention to overall developmental milestones to focus on the whole child, not just the “musical milestones”.

[Toni]

My most valuable take away this week is about reassuring the parents that what they are seeing with their child is “ok” and part of normal development. Particularly the teething/biting stages being a sensory experience. I have not worked with families yet, or this age group, and would likely not have thought about giving parents this feedback. It has been a long time since I’ve learned about developmental milestones (and observed them in my own children!). Thank you for providing this framework in this course.

[Toni]

Hello! I’m Toni Neff, and I have a private practice in Gallup, New Mexico. I serve all ages and abilities. I was employed for 15 years as a MT in the public school setting, serving students with exceptionalities between the ages of 2 and 23 years. During that time, I received training in Music Together, Musikgarten, and DIR/Floortime; and implemented portions of those programs along with my own MT interventions. While those are all wonderful programs, I was motivated to take this course because I want to offer early childhood music groups as part of my business. I feel that becoming a provider of a branded, research based program will be more marketable than simply saying that I offer early childhood music groups. I love that Sprouting Melodies is developed by MT’s for MT’s *and* that this is not a canned program… it is “by the child not the book”! A perfect combination! I fully intend to become a Sprouting Melodies provider. I hope it is affordable to get started! I look forward to learning new things and getting to know my teachers and classmates!

[Author]

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