[Kate Potrykus]

I’ve found myself noticing a lot of other child-development classes through music and the arts as well, Nicole. I’m sure they can be as equally beneficial as the Sprouting Melodies classes, but it would be interesting to see what kind of credentials/training/background knowledge the people who offer those courses have. There is some inherent developmental benefit to engaging in social activities with other children, but a course like this (and perhaps some that we’ve seen advertised) is truly geared toward specific developmental milestones.

[Kate Potrykus]

I like to try to include a little bit of each of these four music experiences each time I work with a client. I use movement to work on following directions, social skills, and self expression. I use singing to work on the development of speech and prosody – inflection, articulation, and audibility. For my non verbal clients, we play within our singing as we vocalize on different pitches and explore the voice. Playing instruments is another great experience for learning social tasks such as turn-taking. Playing instruments in a group setting also contributes to a sense of belonging. I probably use listening the least, but often it is use to redirect off task behavior, to calm and relax, or even to work on identifying emotions.

[Kate Potrykus]

Singing

Awareness: Vocal, pitched ooo’s and ahhh’s
Trust: Imitating pitched vocalizations, maybe even in a call and response-like format
Independence: Vocalizing using more consonant sounds and perhaps some familiar words
Control: Singing repetitive parts of songs with familiar words. Humming or vocalizing on familiar melodies without words.
Responsibility: Able to sing full songs but my play with timbre, rhythm, and other musical elements like volume. Might even experiment with lyrics.

Playing Instruments

Awareness: Explores instruments without the intent of playing in response to the music – reaching out to them, picking them up briefly, putting them in mouth, etc.
Trust: Using instruments slightly more purposefully – a few shakes of a shaker, hitting a drum a few times. Not yet consistent rhythmic patterns, but exploration with rhythm and pulse.
Independence: Playing instruments with more purpose – using a mallet on the drum, experimenting with alternating hands using shakers or using both hands to shake.
Control: Responds to starts and stops in music by stopping and starting instrument play. Can maintain more steady rhythmic patterns.
Responsibility: Able to interact with peers in rhythmic activities such as call and response and follow the leader. Can lead group instrument playing and can follow group instrument playing.

Moving

Awareness: Movement changes in response to the presence of music and then again to the absence of music. More rhythmic movements (wiggling of limbs, for example) when music is introduced.
Trust: Waves hands or kicks feet when music begins and stops movement when music stops. More purposeful movements to music.
Independence: Tapping feet, patting knees, reaching arms up – all in response to music. Recognizing the movement of specific body parts as dancing and moving with purpose to create a physical change.
Control: Can play follow the leader with movement. Can learn short dance patterns and can physically respond to vocal music cues to change movement.
Responsibility: Can remember dance patterns, create own, follow others.

Listening

Awareness: Moves head and eye gaze in direction of sound. Shifts eye gaze/head in response to different timbres (shift eye gaze from therapist to parent when parent sings)
Trust: Will sit calmly and attend during familiar music. May get antsy or look away during unfamiliar music.
Independence: Reaches out for musical stimulus, shifting of body proximity to musical stimulus as the music changes. Creates smaller body movements during quieter music and larger body movements during louder music.
Control: Shifts attention from playing with instrument to attending to the musical stimulus. Can follow musical directions.
Responsibility: Can take turns playing music and listening. Can engage in call and responses.

[Kate Potrykus]

I have yet to have a chance to try these songs out on actual kiddos, but singing through them, I can already start to see where I can use songs like “Hold on Tight” and “Wiggly Jiggly Car.” Particularly for children who have some more sensory needs, the physical feeling have having arms wrapped around them or bouncing on a lap make those songs perfect! Until this course, I was making up songs with similar themes for one child I work with in particular because she is very motivated by movement. Now I have some new songs to introduce to her!

[Kate Potrykus]

I’m finding that, in my area, that there is less diversity in cultural music. There is plenty of diversity and musical exploration to be done within those difference cultures, but most children that I have worked with in this area prefer American pop, rock, or rap music. I also find, like Elizabeth, that younger and younger children are being exposed to pop music and other music over the children’s songs we grew up knowing, singing, and loving. Even then, I’ll prep music for a new group or individual and find that just because they are a 20-something year old, they have zero interest in hearing today’s top 100. In fact, I’m seeing that many children in my area are drawn to the music that their parents have exposed them to – which often happens to be classic rock! Other popular songs in my community among younger people are the ones they learned in music class in elementary school – Fifty Nifty United States, The Cat Came Back, and other more traditional folk songs. They sang these songs every year during elementary school and they’re easy to remember. So I’ve also found I get a lot of positive feedback from using those.

I know there are other cultures and traditional music in neighboring communities which I am hoping to experience more once I can start offering Sprouting Melodies classes! Just how this week’s lesson said that children should have their musical horizons expanded, it is always nice as a music therapist/musician, to have your musical horizons expanded too!

[Kate Potrykus]

I currently work with a young girl who I observe to be somewhere in limbo between the Trust and Independence Levels. I find her fascinating to work with because she is, developmentally speaking, delayed in much of her functioning. When I first met her, she was presenting more in the trust level of music development – part of this probably had to do with the fact that I was a stranger. Now I’m seeing her develop into the independence level of music development and it is so fun to watch! I find I have to explain to mom and dad how big it is that she is developing musically, even if they can’t always pick up on the subtleties of it. For instance, last week, she began approximating speech by forming the shape of the vowel in the songs. She also responds heavily to the silence between verses and between songs. She let’s the silence settle, and then attempts to communicate (though due to disability, her communication is very limited).

Although my example is of that with a child who is developmentally delayed (and was actually referred to me due to developmental regression), it is still fascinating to see how she fits into these developmental levels. Now let’s hope that these musical developments will generalize to other facets of functioning!

[Kate Potrykus]

Since my only experience working in early childhood has been as a special ed paraprofessional, I find that I am very understanding of developmental differences. In other words, I don’t worry too much if a child identified as “typically developing” is not achieving the same developmental goals at the same pace as others – I’m used to seeing much greater developmental delays. I think in an age where parents are quick to try and diagnose their children with a reason for their “shortcomings,” (or maybe “missed milestones” is a nicer way to put it) it is important for there to be professionals with the knowledge to help them understand that sometimes their child just needs a little more time than others. I believe that is something I would like to bring to early childhood music therapy programs. I want to provide my knowledge of early childhood development and an inviting environment in which parents can ask questions and express their concerns regarding their child’s development. Most importantly, though, I want to provide an environment in which children can explore and understand their social world, work on developmental milestones, and engage in music.

[Kate Potrykus]

My biggest take away from this week is, like may others said, a greater understanding of the timing of developmental milestones. Parents are often asking for insight regarding their child’s development and whether they should be concerned. Having the language to express to them that these timelines are not set in stone – that all children develop at their own pace – gives me the confidence to address parent concerns.

I also thoroughly enjoyed making my own connections between these typical development milestones and the role music can play in fostering them. As a music therapist, figuring out how every aspect of a person’s functioning can relate to music is something I do automatically – even just for fun! So I am very much looking forward hearing and reading about the developmental stages from a musical perspective!

[Kate Potrykus]

Hello everyone!

My name is Kate, and like Nicole, I’m a new private practice owner in Northern Virginia. The practice, NeuroSound Music Therapy, has been up and running since July and I currently work with adolescents and adults with various developmental disabilities. I was drawn to the Sprouting Melodies program for a multitude of reasons, the first being that I recently met Meredith at the Mid-Atlantic Region Conference, and she convinced me that this would be a great course! I’m already loving it.

Another reason is that of all populations, I have the least experience with using music therapy in early childhood development. I spent several years working at a special ed preschool and have worked in clinical settings with children who fall in this age range, but I am excited about developing my knowledge and skills for working with this population in a musical setting.

There are many music programs for young children in my area, but nothing like Sprouting Melodies. I cannot wait to become a provider and offer my community an excellent early childhood development program through music!

Kate

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