[Mary Kerrigan]

I too like some of the other therapists here try to involve all four experiences in all of my sessions. Again I work primarily with adults with developmental disabilities and it is a wide spectrum of abilities from those adults still at the stage of awareness up to responsibility and unlike the emphasis in sprouting melodies I don’t always have the ability to split people into groups according to their level of abilities which I believe would create a better experience. I find the most consistent and beneficial is the singing and listening. Especially for my clients in the stage of awareness and trust, they truly are hearing and responding to the music through slight vocalizations or eye gaze and facial expressions when hearing a familiar and preferred melody/song. The most difficult I find amongst any of the musical developmental stages is the movement and instrument playing. Many of my clients will fit into one musical developmental stage for singing and listening, but may fall in a different developmental stage for movement and instrument playing. I am hoping to use some of the information from this week’s module to become more aware of what my clients are doing during these experiences and try to start where they are at and build from there. Is it possible to be in different musical developmental stages for each of these experiences? I feel as though for many with the exception of the especially naturally rhythmic individuals that either they don’t have control over the intrinsic rhythm of their bodies or they are not listening to the music as I believe they are which causes them to play and move not rhythmically to the music. I hope I made sense.

[Mary Kerrigan]

Singing: Awareness: open and closes mouth in attempt of singing, occasionally vocalizes when taking big breaths or laughing in response to music. Trust: Cooing and increased purposeful vocalizations more closely matching the pitch and sound of the music. Independence: Increased accuracy in pitches of a melody and still cooing but sounding as though using a few words here and there. Control: Uses more elements of the music in own singing and babbling, awareness and more accuracy in matching familiar melodies. Responsibility: Adding more spice to the familiar melody, will experiment more purposefully with dynamics, rhythm, meter, etc.

Playing Instruments: Awareness: Creates eye contact with instrument or will move head in direction of instrument sound, tolerates touch and direct interaction with the instrument. Trust: Increased touch of the instrument with hands and other body parts, stronger independent grasp and play with the instrument as well. Independence: Increased curiosity of a variety of instruments and experimentation of how to play, possibly banging instruments together, more purposeful play of the instrument. Control: Increased awareness of how their instrument play fits in with the music. Responsibility: Increased awareness of musical elements of his/her instrument in response to the music being played for example using steady beats and consistent rhythm, dynamics.

Moving: Awareness: Wiggles and turns head to sounds heard, uncontrollable movements in response to music. Trust: Increased awareness of sudden musical elements or even simply starting and stopping the music, movements begin to match those although still not as controlled. Independence: Increased awareness of body parts and how they can be used or moved, beginning to use each body part with more control and purpose. Control: Increased awareness of movements of others in their environment and trying to match those movements, finer control of movements. Responsibility: More challenged by adding sequence to the movement experience, doing actions in a certain order and number of times within the song.

Listening: Awareness: Can identify parents and specific familiar people in their environment by timbre of voice, sensitive to sudden timbre changes. Trust: Increased awareness of familiar songs and melodies, which can be comforting and distract from negative behaviors. Independence: Increased awareness of elements of music and will display this in their playing and movements to match the music more closely. Control: Will stop actions when hearing that music has stopped. Responsibility: Increased awareness of how their music fits in with the group rather than only being focused on his/her own music and movements.

[Mary Kerrigan]

I have found that many of the children I have worked with in the past tend to enjoy the traditional, typical children’s songs and folk songs. I immediately could recognize “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” in the video because that is usually a very popular one and I tag on movements and and sound effects like throwing a lasso and singing “Yehaw” or waving and saying “hi there” for each verse. I then with that song even ask them well “she” is visiting so what are some of your favorite activities that you can do with her and we try to come up with a silly sound and movement that they have fun with. Usually we will end the song with going to bed and yawning or snoring which the kids usually think is very funny. I have also had a lot of requests of Laurie Berkner songs and pop songs as others have mentioned from Taylor Swift especially but also Meghan Trainor and One Direction etc.

[Mary Kerrigan]

Again as I have mentioned I am not really working with any children right now but I have been practicing with my infant cousin. Myself and my cousin both had a great time with “Wiggly Jiggly Car” and I ended up teaching the song to his mom and he now often will come over to her lap and sit on it and start pulling her hands over him to have her sing it. It’s nice to see their bonding over it because his mom would continually just have me sing to him (which I am the designated song leader within my family because they all believe they cannot sing) but his mom actually is singing the song confidently now and enjoying those moments with her son when he is laughing and also enjoying her creating the musical experience. Another song that we have been having fun singing is “Where is My Face?”. He especially loves peek a boo and hiding and jumping out at you. His older brother who is 5 has even started to catch on to the melody and words and will play this game with him while singing it is really great seeing the family involvement.

[Mary Kerrigan]

I am not currently working right now with any little ones, but I have been experimenting some of these songs and more closely observing my cousin’s son who is about 19 months old now and he was born 12 weeks premature. He absolutely loves music and has gravitated towards it since he was in the NICU. It is really interesting now to see him starting to move from Trust to Independence. He is mimicking sounds more and really enjoying exploring and playing all of the instruments. He especially loves the musical surprises and will hysterically laugh and become more engaged when you have a period of silence and then quickly make a sound or strike the drum. He will then do the same thing almost trying to surprise me then and if I over exaggerate my response it makes it even funnier for him. His newest thing is now dancing to the music. He enjoys spinning and bouncing at his knees to the beat of the music and most times he is pretty close to steady rhythm to the music. I think the biggest thing I took from this stage for myself as the music therapist and practicing with my cousin is that it doesn’t matter where or how the child is present within the circle or with me as long as they are engaged in the musical experience. I kind of have always had it stuck in my head that they have to be sitting close and interacting directly with me in order for them sometimes to get the most out of the musical experience but watching him he is a bit of a wanderer in the area but he is listening and responding vocally or motorically with instruments or with his body and it is so wonderful to see and experience as the therapist. His mom is really excited that I have been practicing a lot of this music with him too!

[Mary Kerrigan]

I am a practicing music therapist, however, I primarily work with adults and my work with children is more in later childhood and adolescence. So I too am not exactly sure yet how I will impact early childhood music therapy based programs except that I hope to spread the experience to my area by actively running Sprouting Melodies groups after completing the training. I am hoping to open more eyes to the benefits of music therapy for young children. Many people tend to assume that music therapy is for developmentally delayed children or adults rather than for “typcial” healthy children. I hope that by providing the Sprouting Melodies program in my area I will gain more support and advocate more for our field and bring some joy and happiness of course to those families seeking a wonderful experiences such as Sprouting Melodies.

[Mary Kerrigan]

This was a great and very needed refresher for me in early childhood development because 1. as a few others said as well I do not have children yet, so I have not personally experienced these developmental stages and 2. it has been a while since college when I had originally taken lifespan development and 3. I unfortunately don’t have many opportunities, working primarily with adults, to work and see in real life these progressions from birth to 48 months. Honestly all of the information for me this week was a valuable takeaway. I was thinking about my premie cousin though as I watched the video and read through the chapters in the book because he is slightly delayed in some areas in accordance with his actual age rather than his “supposed” age.

I agree as well with others who have commented about getting parents to open up and become comfortable interacting in a playful, fun, child-like way with their children. It was hard for me even in college to become comfortable with myself to act silly in some cases during practicum experiences or even experiential in the classroom, but now it’s such a natural response to act silly and playful with children I work with because they really will respond to that interaction. I mean it’s fun so who wouldn’t! I am lucky I get to play and act that way and have that be my work! It was great this week using our imaginations by using the scarf as our child and taking part in being silly and jumping and acting like a kid again. I think that is an important part as the provider of sprouting melodies to encourage this with the parents and allow them to have as much fun as their children within the experience.

[Mary Kerrigan]

Hello all! My name is Mary Kerrigan and I am a music therapist in the Worcester County area of Massachusetts. I am currently working full-time with adults with developmental disabilities ages 22 to about 90 through a non-profit human services agency based in Worcester, MA. I am also a member of the Roman Music Therapy Services team part time in which I receive most of my opportunities working with children and adolescents which I love! I received my bachelors degree in music therapy from Immaculata University in PA in June of 2012 and have been practicing as a professional MT ever since. I am currently in my last 2 credits of my Masters in Music Therapy degree online through Colorado State University and I just recently earned my certificate as a Neurologic Music Therapist in February of this year. As much as I do treasure and enjoy my work with the adult population, ever since I decided to study music therapy and become a music therapist, my passion in the field has always been in working with children. In December of 2014 my cousin gave birth to her son prematurely at 30 weeks and he was in the NICU for about 2 months. He is now a thriving 1 1/2 year old and doing great and in the time since he was born he has shown such an incredible interest in music. My family has always supported my career but I think in watching my little cousin connect and develop through music, my family finally, truly understands what it is that we as music therapist do and the power of our field. This personal experience and my desire to continue to work towards increasing my experience in working with children, especially early childhood, now has inspired me even more to pursue the Sprouting Melodies training and I hope to practice more as Sprouting Melodies provider in the future! I have enjoyed reading everyone’s posts and your experiences and am excited to continue this training with you all!

[Mary Kerrigan]

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The last children’s group I had worked with ranged from ages 5 years old to 10 with integrated typical and developmentally disabled children.  In this group I would say the majority of the members were in the control stage of development.  Many of them were very active and enjoyed much movement, loud instrument playing (particularly the drums) and singing.  Many would shout out or start to sing familiar songs without prompting in between some activities.

[Mary Kerrigan]

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I really liked how you categorized the music into the meaningful experiences behind them.  Currently working with only older adults with developmental disabilities right now, I did try to incorporate the transition and gathering songs into my groups and there was a great response to the music.  They particularly enjoyed “Are you ready for music?” and a few began to sing along with me at one point.  The other favorite was “Sit Down With Me,” especially because it was such a familiar tune for some of the participants and I usually try to incorporate syllables such as the “Tra-la-la” into most of my songs so as those who have a difficulty with some speech but enjoy singing can sing along more accurately at points in the song and they really enjoyed that!  I hope to soon have a children’s group to try out more of the music!

[Mary Kerrigan]

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I live in a very small town and there are many events that occur that usually involve live music.  The majority of this music I have found to be country or rock music.  There is one specific bar in my town that many people go to that plays only country music and many of the other locations in town where you can find live music on regular basis typically also has country cover bands or rock bands.  Even in my work with my adult clients most of the music requested is country and rock, both old and newer music in those genres.

[Mary Kerrigan]

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Like I have mentioned before I really don’t have much experience working with early childhood.  I was in the younger end in my family amongst my siblings and my cousins, but starting about 10 years ago my older cousins began to have children and I was their number one babysitter!  So I have been around babies and toddlers but never really worked musically with them.  Being one of the younger cousins in my family too I have never really been sought out for advice concerning development for children even after my training in college and taking some psychology courses regarding human life development.  I am still very young myself and I do not have children and because of that I still feel almost intimidated to give advice or be a resource to parents regarding their child’s development.  Of course having babies in the family and being around them quite often I have basic knowledge of where and what stages of development they should be at, but the information this week in the module really gave me more detailed information and knowledge about the stages and what to look for and expect. 
 
I really have a passion for working with children because I really enjoy seeing them explore and realize and become acquainted with new things and experiences, especially with music.  They have so much wonder that it amazes me to see them interact with instruments and the music around them.  I love to see their faces and reactions to all these things.  Even with the lack of experience truly working musically in early childhood I think it is my passion to work with this population is what I can bring to this experience and endeavor.    

[Mary Kerrigan]

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The most valuable piece I will be taking away this week is the very specific breakdown of the developmental stages of children.  Of course I have a gist from naturally being around children in my own family about what the typical developmental stage is and what should or should not be happening with children at those ages, but it was very important for me to get those details for each age range and breaking them down.  I also like others have mentioned liked the “Trade” concept rather than share.  I think that is clever approach to the idea and I honestly don’t think I would’ve thought of that.  I also sometimes forget that in this case it is okay and beneficial to be appropriately “playful” with clients especially because music can naturally be a playful type of experience.  It was a great reminder to be conscientious about that and bring it into play more in sessions.

[Mary Kerrigan]

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Hello Everyone! 
I am joining this group late, but better late than never right!  My name is Mary Kerrigan and I am a 2012 graduate from Immaculata University, in Pennsylvania, from the Bachelors of Music in Music Therapy degree program and will be a graduate student at Colorado State University’s online Masters in Music Therapy program this fall.  I finished my internship at Massachusetts Hospital School in June of 2012 and shortly after received my MT-BC.  In June of 2012 I began working full-time as a Music Therapist at Seven Hills Foundation, which is based out of Worcester, MA.  It is a brand new position and the facility has never had a Music Therapist before.  It has been a successful position over the past 11 months and I hope to continue my work there.  With Seven Hills Foundation I travel around to work in six of their Adult Day Habilitation programs with adults with developmental disabilities.  When I started as an undergraduate student I was mainly interested in working with children with developmental disabilities, specifically autism.  However my path in my career has lead me to currently work mostly with adults.  I am still strongly interested in working with children either part time currently or at some point in the future of my career, which has lead me to take interest in being a part of this course.  I do have some experiences in music therapy working with children but I feel it is not enough.  I am excited to learn more about working with early childhood population and gain ideas and new music to add and enhance my music therapy groups.  And to especially learn developing a more family based music therapy session as well.  

[Author]

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