[Destiny Boyum]

There were a lot of interesting song ideas in the songs presented. I especially liked the musical thought process behind bonding songs, and am eager to attempt to make my own version of a bonding song. It was very helpful to be mindful of what musically was happening for different intentional purposes through song. I think that I will start being more intentional with my rhythm, and my fluidity both. I really enjoyed the gathering song “sit down with me and sing this song” to the tune of Ants Go Marching, and feel like it is one that I could easily integrate into my repertoire as soon as tomorrow! Also using the melody of She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain for a movement song – I really like that idea as well. I suppose it sounds like I am gravitating more toward the familiar melodies. The unfamiliar one that really stuck out to me was the hand swiping one about “Are You Ready For Music?” because I am the opposite and almost always feel reliant on my guitar, and would like to be more intentional about using just my voice and my body at times.

[Destiny Boyum]

I now recognize that I see kids in ranging stages of these developmental stages every day of my practice. I particularly think of the 1:1 kids that I have been seeing weekly. My first thought goes to a boy who is almost 4, non-verbal and developmental delay. I’ve seen him since he was just under 2 I believe. We have come a long way from working so much on independent sitting, and reaching, crossing midline, or even just grasping onto a shaker. Now I have had a little trouble defining where he is at now, but I would say he’s transitioning from independence to control. I am caught up slightly because he is very behind in language development, but he is doing other tasks that fit with control with his cognitive and motor abilities (pinching, stop/go, can follow directions in songs, using tools, isolate body parts and identify them). Looking at goals for control stage I think that they seem like appropriate goals in the near future, but he’s not mastered many of them. I do think he’s mastered many of the independence goals (appropriate clapping, banging objects together, enjoys musical surprises, keeps a steady beat, he even will use one finger to push down on desk tone bells, and can correctly identify objects and colors in books when prompted). I suppose I intentionally chose a scenario where I was unclear of his true stage, so I could give another example as well.
This afternoon I saw a 4m old infant in the awareness stage. She visually attended to me as I provided consonant and low-stim humming and singing with guitar accompaniment. She did not vocalize, but I did recognize that she turned toward the source of music, calmed to sedative and consonant sounds and ultimately fell asleep. Thinking of her as being primarily in an awareness level helps to think of more appropriate goals.

[Destiny Boyum]

I think that the community in Rochester, MN is pretty unique due to our presence of the Mayo Clinic. Inpatient I lead groups, but do mostly 1:1 visits. I tend to see a high number of patients from the Middle East (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE) and occasional waves of latin american families. Because of the clinic, many of these families are living in the USA with many children who are enrolling in local schools and staying for very extended periods of time. I have spent a lot of time in the past month learning songs for a patient from Puerto Rico and a patient from Guatemala. The boy from PR has been showing me traditional children’s songs in Spanish, but specific to their country. I have also been learning Moana, Coco, and Frozen songs in Spanish for him. I think that this is also a way of reaching out to others to respect their culture – ironically the kids in other countries still really love these Disney movies! So, for me, I have been having fun trying to use familiar melodies to me to learn their language for sessions. I do really like the ideas in the videos though about taking their melodies/rhythms and improvising with English.
I do think that Rochester is a unique mix of cultures, and I think that many of our doctors and staff even relocate here from different regions of the US and different countries. I feel a pressure to learn about the musical background of so many cultures, but really I find a lot of joy in having the clients and families share songs with me, or even if there is a huge language barrier, see what comes out in an improvisation. In some cases the arabic speaking families have started chanting and playing the drums, and it is very fun to play off of that and use it to build rapport. Long story short, I think there are many ways that we can honor differing cultures in the work we do.

[Destiny Boyum]

The challenges I have with kids under 6 months I think is knowing what I’m looking for. I am observing if they are tracking, if they are vocalizing, watching their facial expressions, if they appear calm or agitated (or sometimes watching the heart rate on the monitor)… But I have a hard time sometimes seeing the benefit of what I’m doing at this age – even though I know it’s there in the research! I really think it’s mostly due to my lack of familiarity with this age. Looking forward to feeling more comfortable.

[Destiny Boyum]

I like that you mention that families place a lot of trust in us, and that comes with a level of responsibility! I feel like I am hoping to increase my skills and ability to give parents useful feedback after this class more than I am now – because they deserve it! I want to be confident in what I am observing in their children.

[Destiny Boyum]

I am feeling inspired to start using a different lens and observing the kids I am seeing already with a new understanding. I think that this course is going to help me greatly to feel more confident in my practice, and in ways I am now feeling embarrassed at my lack of current knowledge in these developmental areas. I think that this will also change when I have children, but as a young professional who is not a parent it is hard to sometimes understand how a 2m old baby should look different than a 6m old baby. Looking forward to really solidifying my new skills, so that I am actually applying these concepts automatically while I assess kids and babies in the hospital, as well in our clinic.

Also, the book is very helpful for following along with the videos!

[Destiny Boyum]

I found myself very quick to engage with this material this week! Although I took an early childhood development class early in college, I find that we breezed through some of Piaget’s theories and I didn’t get a good grasp of what information was actually going to help me in my profession.

I particularly enjoyed the first part, of breaking down abilities and tasks that can be expected from 0-3 and 3-6 months, because I struggle with working with infants who are in this bracket. Now I can practice being a better observer of things like the rhythmic sucking, or particularly head control/aligning with spine while sitting up. I think it’s going to be so beneficial to have an approximate idea of when certain tasks should develop. I liked the few times that “red flags” were pointed out at certain ages as well – when babies should sit independently and when they should be pulling to stand. I am very excited to dig in deeper in how to really understand the musical development at each stage, but I felt that this was a very strong foundation for those of us who have little knowledge in these areas.

[Destiny Boyum]

Awesome! I did my undergrad at Augsburg, and now am working in Rochester, MN! Congrats on the new job.

[Destiny Boyum]

Hello! Testing my photo, as I did these steps out of order.

[Destiny Boyum]

Hi! My name is Destiny Boyum, from Rochester, MN. I have been board certified for a little over two years now, and have been working in Rochester for Healing Rhythms Music Therapy since January 2017 (on the same team as Emma, who commented above). I completed my internship in inpatient mental health at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, but now find myself working in a different world! The majority of my caseload (24 hours weekly) is inpatient pediatrics at St. Mary’s Hospital with Mayo Clinic. Other scenarios where I find myself working with children is at our local Ronald McDonald House, the Rochester Women’s Shelter, we are just getting integrated into a couple of local elementary school special ed classrooms, and probably most importantly I currently serve 12 individuals in our clinic space for weekly therapy. The majority of those are non-verbal children under the age of 5 (two are adults with varying degrees of developmental delay). When this course is finished I hope to be able to facilitate more effective groups in our clinic space, but also really feel informed and more confident when working with my 1:1 kids in clinic and hospital. I often feel there is an education gap between myself and colleagues that I work with in “sister” professions (occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech, child life specialists). So, I really hope that this course will inform my overall practice in working on developmental goals with kids in various settings, both individual and group. Thanks!

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