[Leah Strand]

5 Words: interactive, connecting, relaxing, fun, and safe space

5 Sentences: Your child is enjoying the music, not just my voice, so it’s okay if you sing and share the music with them too. It’s okay if they just stare, music can be a lot to take in and they will interact and react when they are ready. You can use your own words to the tunes, you don’t have to sing word for word what I have, fit it to your life style. This is a great time to bond with your child as you can do it here and at home. If you have any questions or concerns I will be happy to listen to you and answer the best I can after the group!

Session Set up: For the session I would start with a soft hello song that transitions easily to good morning. This will demonstrate the adaptability to the melody as well as teach a simple good morning song to the parents to sing. I would then go into a bonding song such as row row row your boat. Starting at a place where we can grow with the group as more sessions occurs. If they re slightly older group I may go into wiggly jiggly car. Then I would go and do a transition song and explain to the parents how to use this in their own lives. After the transition song I would do a couple instrument and movement activities so the kiddos can explore the space and what’s in it. Then I would facilitate some sort of cool down song leading to the goodbye to make sure the session had some sort of flow to transition out of music.

[Leah Strand]

Music Therapy in community based settings have a lot to offer. Number one being that we are creating our own community of connections with others going group similar things in life. It’s a setting to explore others in your community and other resources as well. This course can offer parents a place to be parents. Figure out what works best for their child and what doesn’t. Finding others with the same experiences can also help. Parents talking to parents and music being the common ground to get together. This can also be good or the little ones. To be around other little ones who make the act the same way and getting familiar with public spaces and different people. All around music therapy has a lot to offer in community based programs.

[Leah Strand]

I have very little experience with children in the age range discussed this week. Although I don’t have much experience to share yet I can express the value for this weeks videos. It was really nice to start and think about those who join the classes t different times and how I may adapt my planned activities for them while also keeping pace with the more seasoned group members. Also the communication with he parents, very nice to get examples of our roles in their parenting journey. We as music therapists are there if parents need us and are here to help when things get confusing or frustrating, or even when things are going great. I love being a supportive resource.

[Leah Strand]

I am honestly not sure the need yet. I have just moved into the area and started my job. I feel like after a year I may be able to answer this question more in detail, but for not I am still feeling it out and looking for what I can help with in the moment.

[Leah Strand]

I try to be culturally aware with everything I do. In my internship I worked with a lot of kiddos and parents who were very different culturally. I was in Florida so the area and people were new to me being from small town Ohio. Things I had considered before, but never got to actively use were coming up. The main thing that kept coming up was holidays. I’ve always known not everyone shares the same holidays or beliefs, but I had never truly been in an area where beliefs religions and cultures were so different. So planning my sessions around our clients considering what they celebrated and what they didn’t played more of a role in my early experience.

[Leah Strand]

I really enjoyed the tickle song. I think the reason it was created and the others ways it can be used is wonderful. Anticipation can be a good tool for a lot of things. Perhaps unpleasant activities, new people, or places. Having this quick familiar song in your back pocket may do wonders with making a child feel comfortable in their space.

[Leah Strand]

That sounds like that experience made an impact on both ends! Awesome!

[Leah Strand]

In my internship I was working with a little girl who has autism. She would go in and out of phases for either letting music happen during a session or say “no stop, no music, no sing”. A big thing for her was control, she was in charge and we followed her schedule. This reflected her daily activities like go to sleep, wake up, go to school, eat lunch etc. So a lot of the time we were incorporating music in these things to hep with her verbal communication. I noticed that once I start to “unintentionally” hum music in the silence she would mimic the very same thing as if it was part of the routine. I go sneaky with my methods and indirectly incorporated music to go with the tasks we were doing. She was very much into the independence/control stage.

[Leah Strand]

I really like how you include that we as therapists are more in tune to the parents feelings and can recognize when we need to shift gears to help wherever we can.

[Leah Strand]

I think we as music therapist provide a value in family connectedness. There are so many things about music that connect even complete strangers, but the fact that music can help give structure and developmental cues to a young family is incredibly valuable. The lure of music being enjoyable and then it turns into functional use I think provides an ongoing presence for parents and their children. We offer an experience to be closer with their children and we provide a plan and structure to help throughout many developmental stages. Overall, I think we provide a valuable parenting tool for young and growing families.

[Leah Strand]

I have definably used movement, listening, and playing. Constantly with sensory regulation in single client sessions movement is a big one. Making it easier to regulate and take home what they learn with each movement has been great for the child and their caretaker. Stop and go I’ve used with more familiar songs and improvisation when making music both with me giving the directions and then giving the client control as we play together. Learning more about the intentional aspects of these areas will really help my musical cues for the future.

[Leah Strand]

Singing:
A) Using Pitch and vocalizing in songs
T) Matches pitch with you in parts of the song
I) Imitates patterns
C) follows and sings familiar songs
R) Can combine rhythm and tempo

Playing:
A) responds differently to different kinds of music
T) grasps/touches the instrument to maybe respond to the music
I) explores with intention
C) starts and stops with music
R) maintains the steady beat

Moving:
A) Act on instinct
T) uses repetition to move with the tempo
I) can isolate body parts to move with the music
C) dances to familiar learned movement
R) can follow a sequence

Listening:
A) Hears vocal changes to melodies
T) recognizes familiar music
I) follow the music to imitate intensity
C) stops, listens, changes
R) listens to music outside of themselves

[Leah Strand]

For awareness and trust you may see the child turn towards the music or away depending on how they feel about it, reach for you or the instrument you are playing or try to put it in their mouth to get a better feel for what they are experiencing. For Independence, control, and responsibility, a child may choose to imitate you whether that be vocally or if you are doing any type of movement. Along with movement they may display rhythm of some sort either entrained to the music or where they have their own internal beat they are following. Lastly, they may also go about picking their own instrument to play in the musical experience.

[Leah Strand]

I think you have some great tools that you use yourself and that you share with others from your own personal experiences. The best experiences I get to share with others are also things I have learned from first-hand experience.

[Leah Strand]

I think what I would personally bring to early childhood-based programs would be my knowledge and dedication to making experiences and environments more multi-sensory-friendly. I am a new professional with my intern experience the most recent I’ve had with children in a therapeutic setting. The biggest thing I learned was how to meet someone who was disregulated and help give them more tools to encourage self-regulation to achieve their goals. If you think about a child and the different milestones they encounter, they add new experiences and feelings into the mix and are constantly trying to figure the world out. This can cause too much stimulation or not enough. If you think about it, it can be challenging at times to do music therapy when something just doesn’t feel right within your own self. So For my perspective to look at how we can address sensory regulation first, I think this is a valuable tool for working with children to address their main goals.

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