[Jonni Fogerty]

The families I work with often need assistance developing communication skills with their children for connecting/bonding with the child, providing basic needs more easily, and in order to aid in handling difficult behaviors. These families are often very busy with multiple commitments and time restrictions. That is why FMT is community based and provides home based services. The needs of the community include more funding sources for programs, more direct support staff to work with individuals with disabilities (there is often high turnover with these jobs), and music classes that children with special needs are able to fully and actively participate in. The community I work in is unique because it is a small college town. It provides high diversity with the university culture and local rural families. Also, the town is very supportive of arts and open to individuals with disabilities. My community attracts families who have loved ones with disabilities due to the great services that are already available.

[Jonni Fogerty]

We use all four of these music experiences in most sessions with our clients of all ages, as multimodal experiences not only help to engage clients, but also allow us to target multiple domain areas within one session. The course material has given me a clear perspective on how to structure activities and interventions using these four different experiences in a developmentally appropriate sequence, which will be helpful with training music therapists and educating parents as we further establish our early childhood program.

[Jonni Fogerty]

Singing – Awareness: Turns to look at mother singing. Trust: Vocalizes in the tonality of the song. Independence: Imitates short vocalizations. Control: Sings entire phrases using approximate melodic contour. Responsibility: Sings stepwise intervals.

Playing – Awareness: Touches a drum with an open hand. Trust: Explores the drum with hands and mouth. Independence: Strikes the drumhead with hands. Control: Plays the drum with a basic beat and starts/stops with the music. Responsibility: Takes turns with peers in group rhythm playing.

Moving – Awareness: Bops full body to the music. Trust: Allows mother to use HOH to assist in clapping to the music. Independence: Imitates clapping hands to the music. Control: Sustains hand clapping independently to familiar song. Responsibility: Claps rhythmic patterns while singing.

Listening – Awareness: Smiles when the MT plays consonant pitches on the guitar. Trust: Looks at the guitar when the MT stops playing. Independence: Smiles and laughs as the MT changes dynamics and tempo of the song. Control: Stops playing to listen to the MT play or watch another child play. Responsibility: Sits attentively and listens as the MT goes around the circle and allows each child a turn to strum the guitar.

[Jonni Fogerty]

My practice is situated in South-Central Indiana in a small town with a large university. There is a diverse musical culture present. Each fall there is a world music festival that celebrates music from many different ethnicities. The university has band, orchestra, and choir concerts as well as recitals, operas and musicals throughout the year. The traditional music of the area centers around Bluegrass and Country music. Additionally, the city sponsors a summer music program each year in which it invites different local artists to perform in the city parks 3 times per week.

[Jonni Fogerty]

Beth has written some excellent songs! I really enjoyed learning the different song categories this week and especially Beth’s explanations of the musical elements that provide the songs with the functional qualities for their intended purposes.

[Jonni Fogerty]

In my current position, I provide supervision to music therapists who primarily work with children and adults with developmental disabilities, but I do not directly provide services at this time. This information has been a great review of child development for me and will assist me as I support and guide the therapists within my agency as they work with their clients and as we further develop our early childhood program. As I reviewed the material this week, I was often jotting down notes about important things to remind the therapists I work with to keep in mind in their work with young children.

[Jonni Fogerty]

The most valuable takeaway from this week’s content for me was the commentary Beth provided as she discussed developmental milestones. In particular, the advice to provide parents in regards to some of the more challenging aspects of early childhood development such as biting, “lying”, moral concepts, and defiance. I especially appreciated the advice to instruct 12-18 month children to “trade” items, since they are not yet ready to share.

[Jonni Fogerty]

Hello. My name is Jonni Fogerty. I have a bachelor’s degree in music education from Augustana College and a masters degree in music therapy from Illinois State University. In the past, I have provided music therapy in long term care facilities, day centers, and private schools. I have taught early childhood music education courses for undergraduate education majors and provided early childhood music classes through a music conservatory. Since 2007, I have owned a music therapy agency in Bloomington, IN and contract five music therapists to provide services in the surrounding areas. We serve individuals with developmental disabilities as well as older adults. We have provided early childhood music classes and music therapy groups in the past, but currently only serve this population in a 1:1 setting. I am in the process of exploring branded, marketable programs to expand our early childhood services and was very happy to meet Meredith and Elizabeth at the Great Lakes Regional Conference in Rosemont, IL and learn about Sprouting Melodies. I am excited to gather more early childhood tools and materials and learn more about what this program has to offer!

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