[Jaycie Voorhees]

Our Salt Lake community has a LOT of kids. It’s not uncommon for there to be families with 4+ kids, and sometimes up to 9-12 (although that doesn’t seem as common with the people I know my age). Married couples also tend to start their families earlier than in most other locations and start having children in their early twenties, which makes for a lot of young mothers. With that, there are a lot of services out there, and I know of at least 4 different types of music programs offered closeby–Music Together, Kindermusik, Music Garten, and another Parent Tot music class that I saw a flier for the other day. So I have a lot of competition, but I also have a lot of children around! One of the biggest challenges for me is finding a way to connect with those moms and to show what’s different about my program.

We also have a high number of children with special needs, and last I checked we had the highest rate of Autism in the country. Because my practice focuses on children with special needs that means there is a lot of potential for children I can serve, and it’s just getting the word out there on how valuable this service is to them.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

As MT-BC’s, we are not boxed into a music curriculum, but are able to adapt groups to the unique needs of the participants instead of sticking to an outlined regimen. We have mad skills to adapt and meet individual needs! We also have the ability to meet the needs of those with special needs and delays and use techniques in behavior modification, reinforcement, etc. I also love the idea of introducing sign language and other communication techniques to help parents learn more ways to interact with and understand their children from a young age.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

I feel that I have a unique connection with young children that has evolved over the years into a strength. I honestly never saw myself working with children, and even in college the idea was quite intimidating to me–I mean, what do you DO with those little ones? However my first 5 years as an MT were at a school, and I developed not only a deep love for the children themselves, but also learned that my interactions with these kids, especially through music, brings out quite a lot in them. In order to maximize this potential, I continuously seek to learn how to best meet their needs, help them grow, and utilize music as a driving force in the process.

I have also developed a new perspective in the past few years as I have been a parent and seen things from a totally different angle than I had before. I totally get that parents want their children to reach each milestone, and have felt that sense of worry in delayed progression as well as a sense of pride when my child is “ahead of the game”. I believe this helps me be more supportive to parents, especially because i totally get that things just get crazy at home sometimes, and it’s not always easy or realistic to apply things that others suggest. I always tell parents, “just keep doing your very best, know that others love and believe in your child, and they will keep growing!” I had one parent tell me once “I like talking to you because you have hope for my child”–when apparently everyone else was quite negative. There is something powerful about simply loving the children you work with and communicating that love to their parents.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

This has been a great way to integrate this information! Thank you!

PLAYING INSTRUMENTS: Awareness: Close fingers over a musical object when placed in palm, Trust: Use hand to grasp for short periods, shake simple instrument when grasped, Independence: grasp and shake, relinquish hold on an instrument and transfer hand to hand. Control: grasp mallet or stick to play instrument, play fast to slow and slow to fast. Responsibility: Play rhythm patterns on a two handed instrument and participate in musical call and response.

SINGING: Awareness: Turn eye gaze toward sound of singing, Trust: make purposeful pitched vocalizations in response to singing, Independence: Imitate short vocalizations and animal sounds, Control: Adjust quality of vocalizations or dynamics to match the mood/dynamics of music, Responsibility: Sing familiar songs while playing simple instrument, melodic rhythm, or basic beat.

LISTENING: Awareness: Alter movements/vocalizations in response to silence in the music. Trust: Display affect changes in response to emotional content of music. Independence: Seek out source of music. Control: Anticipate beginning and end of a familiar song. Responsibility: Follow 2 & 3 step musical directions.

MOVING: Awareness: Move entire body/tolerate being rocked or bounced. Trust: Move entire body rhythmically in response to music/tolerate movement of body parts rhythmically. Independence: Move whole body rhythmically/alter movement in response to changes in the music. Control: Isolate body parts to move rhythmically/adjust speed of movement to reflect music. Responsibility: Purposely alter movement patterns/maintain a rest position while peers are moving.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

Hearing more about these areas of focus during a session was quite validating to me, as I have come to structure and plan my sessions to have elements that fall under singing, instrument play, movement, listening (not as often, but usually incorporated into the instrument play), relaxation, and/or stories.<br />

Singing: My hello and goodbye songs are usually done with voice only, although I occasionally have the children play instruments during goodbye. I also like to find songs that incorporate call and response elements (such as “Victor Vito” with kids in the responsibility phase and older), or improvising songs for call and response or simply joining in to familiar tunes.</p>

Instrument Play: I always incorporate some kind of instrument play, whether it be non-directive with the students playing and exploring while I sing familiar tunes, or singing about particular instruments, exploring various sounds one at a time (i.e. “listen to the sound of the maraca, shake-shake-shake), or providing specific directives of how to play their instrument. I also like to incorporate turn taking with instruments, which moves into the listening area a bit too.</p>

Movement: I always incorporate movement with young children as well, and because I work primarily with children in the responsibility phase I use a lot of creative songs that also ignite the imagination and other cognitive skills (i.e. “the Goldfish Song”, “Monster Boogie”, and “We Are the Dinosaurs”–you can tell Laurie Berkner is a favorite of mine!). With younger kids I do more structured and center-based songs that help the child focus on their own body.</p>

Listening: I love turn taking games where everyone plays instruments together then we listen to one person, then all play together, then listen to another, etc. I also like to occasionally bring in new types of music and see the child’s reaction to different styles as we listen and engage. With these older kids I also recently did a “Day of sharing” in which each student had a chance to play or sing anything they wanted for their peers. It was a great opportunity for listening and learning to appreciate what others have to offer, and they did great! (although we did take several sensory breaks through movement games to keep their focus).

[Jaycie Voorhees]

I used the “Do You Wanna Make Some Music” song in both group and individual sessions and just loved seeing the excitement it brought up! In my individual session I was working on the child making his wants and needs known verbally–making requests–and the song was a nice catalyst as I changed the lyrics to label some of his preferred instruments (i.e. do you wanna play the xylophone? or do you wanna play the drum?) and he was able to respond verbally with his request. In the group setting with about 18-20 kids age 3-5 I used it and it naturally turned into a game where they suggested an instrument then we would act out how to play that instrument. The kids were so eager to give their suggestions and the music was quite captivating for them. In the same group I also used “Will You Come” as a movement intervention and they were well engaged.

I don’t currently work with children younger than age 3 and all of them are functioning at the Control and/or responsibility levels, so I look forward to an opportunity to utilize songs that address needs for younger children or those who are developing in the Awareness, Trust, and/or Independence areas.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

When my first child was just a few months old I remember sitting with him propped up on my lap on the couch and making up various songs to see his responses. He was in the awareness phase and it was so fun to see him developing joint attention, facial presence, and even some vocalization. I sang songs about his feet and moved them in different ways and it’s fun to now place that in the category of “songs about me”.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

Growing up in Utah means I have been surrounded (and part of) a community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While many of our church hymns are similar to those of other religions and US culture in general, we do have many songs that are unique to our own hymn book and children’s songbook. Songs such as “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree”, “Do As I’m Doing”, and “If You Chance to Meet a Frown” are popular songs from our Primary Children’s songbook with which many children in our community are familiar. I personally love these songs and work with many children who show very strong responses to them due to familiarity and exposure. It’s always tricky though to know whether they are appropriate in a group setting with children who may not have the same exposure simply because they belong to another faith. In any case, that music is a strong part of the LDS culture here in Utah.

[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!

[Jaycie Voorhees]

Hello fellow MT-BC’s! My name is Jaycie Voorhees and I was born and raised and am currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have been an MT-BC for 7 years now and despite my original intentions of working with adolescents, I have found my passion is working with children. After an eclectic internship with a variety of populations, I worked at a center-based school for students age 3-22 with severe and profound disabilities for 5 years while maintaining a small private practice on the side. Once I had my first child I put more emphasis on my private practice, Harmony Music Therapy. While we serve a variety of populations, the bulk of our clients through Harmony are children with special needs age 2-12. These are both private clients as well as students from a private Montessori school contract. I personally work 2 days per week at the Montessori School and have other independent contractors fulfilling the rest of our contracts/client work so I can be home with my two kids. I have a 3 year old and an 18 month old and another on the way this August, which means I will have 3 kids 3 and under! So not only is this course going to be helpful in my clinical work, but will also be very interesting as I will soon have 3 of my own kids who fall under the early childhood age group!

We currently have a partnership with a local Early Intervention program who sends us kids for 3 months at a time for inclusive developmental music therapy groups. They require that we have “typical” kids already enrolled, then they sponsor kids to come to our groups. This has been a great relationship but I have found it very challenging to find ways to bring in typical kids and it always ends up being my own kids or my friends with their kids. I would LOVE to make this more of a community program that parents want to join. I also want to start early childhood music programs at some local preschools. In taking this course I am seeking more understanding of musical development, marketing skills geared toward early childhood music programs, and an increased arsenal for providing high quality music and music therapy programs that appeal to all types of children and parents.

So bring it on, I’m excited to learn!

[Jaycie Voorhees]

Katie I would love to hear more about your adult program! I am just starting up our first program for adults with special needs tomorrow (Thursday) and am very interested to hear more about what you have done. Do you have a website or a way to share more of your ideas?

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