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Moderator
Quick reminder to save your Sprouting Melodies 1, 2, 3, and Family Sprouts Frameworks. They are great to have when you leave the training.
May 25, 2022 at 12:22 pm
in reply to: Share some of your experiences with children of this age and level.
ModeratorI enjoyed reading each of your submissions. Thank you all for you thoughts and insights.
ModeratorWhat great insight! Such a good reminder about holding space and being with others.
ModeratorHi Greta,
Thank you for your insights! I think your settings protocol for cleaning may be really useful for other settings with COVID and the Flu. What is the material you use on the drum to minimize wear and tear? Also, what products are you using to clean the instruments?
May 4, 2022 at 6:24 pm
in reply to: What are the needs of the families and communities that you work with?
ModeratorI appreciated how each of you were able to really look at your communities, identify their needs, and also see the value that you can bring to these families. Remember to save your submissions so you have them after you completed the training.
ModeratorThis exercise is really great to help with thinking about how progression happens within development. I encourage you all to save your submissions so you can look at them again when you are looking at goals and objectives.
May 4, 2022 at 6:16 pm
in reply to: How have you used these four music experiences in your practice?
ModeratorHi Maggie,
Excellent point! It is imperative that we use reflexivity and provide culturally responsive music therapy services.
Many religious faiths have specific rules regarding how music and music instruments are used. Another example, in the Orthodox Jewish faith. Boys who have been bar mitzvahed (this happens at age 13) they are no longer permitted to listen to women sing. Also, during shabbos (day of rest- happens on Saturdays) services men and women sit separate in the shul (Temple) and only the men are permitted to sing during the service.
ModeratorHi Greta,
An important reminder of the need for cultural reflexivity on our part to honor and respect the cultures of the people we support. Thank you for sharing.
ModeratorWhat wonderful insights! Thank you. The term for improvisation in music therapy is clinical music improvisation and clinical music improvisation skills :).
ModeratorWhat a wonderful example of how we embed songs within our day! I love how you engaged your other child’s help too!
One of the many important parts of family music programs is supporting the parents and giving them the tools to use music at home in every day life. I had many families come back to tell me how a particular song helped with diaper changes, getting in and out of the car, transitioning to bedtime, and etc. I remember one family telling me how they were able to support their little one at the end of dinner by singing Elizabeth’s “Music Time Is Over,” but changing it to dinner time is over. The kiddo had been throwing food all over when they were done eating (very common with little ones). The dinner time is over helped the kiddo to communicate with the parents when they were finished eating instead of throwing their food off the high chair.ModeratorSomething to keep in mind with “short” songs is that children learn through repetition. Also, each time you repeat the song you will be singing it different, for example you change the tempo, dynamics, timbre, articulation, and etc. Shorter songs also lend themselves well to clinical music improvisation which opens up opportunities for creativity and exploration.
ModeratorJee,
I resonated very deeply with your post. As I shared in Week 1, I was starting my own private practice and Sprouting Melodies program when I had my daughter. I had pregnancy trauma due to several severe complications that occurred during the entirety of my pregnancy and then subsequent postpartum anxiety. It was a very challenging time and I had minimal support.
It would have been amazing to have a program to bring my kiddo to and especially one run by a neuroaffirming music therapist. My 8.5 yo is asynchronous in her development, all anyone ever told me was how advanced she was, and I fell into the hole of ableism worrying all the time about her development along with comparing her to other children. Fast forward many years and it turns out my kiddo is neurodivergent and has several disabilities that were not detected until she was past the early childhood years. As a parent I would have greatly benefitted from learning about supporting and advocating for these disabilities and my kiddo would have benefited from accommodations. Due to being twice exceptional (where she has disabilities, but is also gifted in many areas) all any professionals ever saw was this highly intelligent child that was a “anxious.” They attributed her anxiety to her intelligence and the anxiety I struggled with as a parent. It turns out that most of her anxiety was due to unsupported needs with her sensory, auditory, and visual processing.
I would have also benefitted from a therapist informing me that disability is not a dirty word and children with disabilities have full lives like any other child. As a therapist, I had great empathy for my clients and their families and I could always see the competence in my clients. As a parent, it is really a different experience and you are too close to have the kind of clarity you have as a therapist with someone else’s child. I’m truly grateful to the disabilities community on social media, my graduate program, and a close autistic friend who have supported me and taught me so much. These experiences helped me to embrace my own neurodivergence and have taught me how to be a better parent to my child.
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