[Mark Dunford]

5 Words: Vocal, playful, exploratory, energetic, spontaneous,

Try facing and engaging your child when they’re making music, notice their response now face other group members and notice your child’s response. Expect your child to intermittently engage and disengage in active music making, and that is totally OK. It’s always helpful to play and sing along so you can act as a model for you child and other children in the group. Allow for extra time for your child to put away/take an instrument. The clean up song and modeling through other children will help facilitate those transfers without forcing it and potentially upsetting the child.

Gathering: Sit down with ME
Greeting: Hello
Bonding: Wiggly, Jiggly, Car
Song about Me: All of this is Me
Movement: Can you Follow Me
Instrument: Dancing in the Middle
Goodbye: Music Time is Over

[Mark Dunford]

I use mostly use Remo frame drums and Meinl shakers. We also have colorful plastic maracas, scarfs, afuche’s and ocean drums.

[Mark Dunford]

I’ve never worked with 0 – 9 month olds but I have nieces and nephews. I noticed how their vocalizations and fidgeting would stop when I started singing to them and they would look up at me. They visually tracked the source of the noise and seemed to have some sustained focus on me. I noticed the same behavior when I would match their vocalizations.

They really paid attention to me when I would gently strum a guitar while singing/humming. Although they’re easily startled they’re also very curious and attentive especially to novel musical experiences.

[Mark Dunford]

5 Words: Cocoon, Calming, Joyful, Quiet, waltz

Feel free to sing and play along if and when you’re comfortable. Don’t worry about being a “singer” your baby is soothed and comforted by your voice so use these songs at home. This is a great opportunity to be fully present with your baby. Please bring whatever supplies you may need in the room so you and your child are fully comfortable. There’re no expectations of your baby, simply listening is totally OK!

Embedded song: Just Like Me, Transition song: Good Morning to You, Gathering song: I Can You Can We can Sing, Bonding song: Wiggly Jiggly Car, Instrument Song: All Night All Day, Song About Me: All of this is Me, Transition Song: Music Time is Over

[Mark Dunford]

Jess – I like how you touched on how sprouting melodies also is a great avenue for parents to find support and comfort in other parents with similarly aged children. I’d imagine your social life can lessen or completely go away sometimes when having children so it’s great for parents to have that place where they can create friendships with other parents in their community.

[Mark Dunford]

Music therapy is a flexible and interactive set of experiences that is adopted to meet various needs of a community including early childhood and life span development, socialization, communication, recreational experiences and many more domains within various populations in a community. It acts as the glue for various groups in a community to come together and foster relationships and creativity while providing specific therapeutic benefits for the participants. Sprouting melodies provides parents with important bonding time with their children and developmental knowledge to assist them in navigating the various developmental levels their children are moving through.

[Mark Dunford]

Often when I speak with parents of children with IDD I work with they just say they want their child to simply be able to participate in a regular activity that they find joyful. There aren’t that many recreational options for children with IDD, developmental delays and Autism so parents are happy with a regular activity their children can thrive in and look forward to. Of course, we know MT is addressing this need for a regular activity but it’s also fostering development, social skills, and many other positive benefits. I also work with older people with dementia, cognitive decline, and schizophrenia who are definitely socially isolated and are in need of social bonding, shared joy, and opportunities to connect musically and socially with other people. Music therapy is also a great resource to reinforce academic and cognitive goals that may be related to school based sessions as well as emotional regulation and stimulation.

[Mark Dunford]

I use all four music experiences with a young elementary school class. Some days it’s more movement songs and less instrument songs other days it’s less movement and more listening and instrument songs. Using the iso-principle I find breaking interventions down into these four categories is useful in facilitating a fun, engaging and balanced session. Also, many interventions I do incorporate 3 or sometimes all 4 of the elements but those are usually worked up to in the session. I don’t use many interventions that focus exclusively on singing but I’m always leaving space and encouraging/praising vocalizations throughout the session.

[Mark Dunford]

Music therapists provide a unique space for total expression and acceptance. Kids are praised and encouraged to be express themselves and allow their unique musicality to develop as they are. Music therapy meets kids and their families where they are and seeks to understand what the parents may want to get out of music therapy. While also illuminating parents/caregivers to all the wonderful and significant musical interactions their kids are engaging in within music therapy sessions and how those can be indicators of development/growth/self-expression, joy and anything else a child may experience in music therapy and/or over the course of treatment. Music therapy can also be a unique and fun bonding experience for kids and their parents/caregivers.

[Mark Dunford]

Singing: (A) – Using pitch in vocalizations. (T) – Matches pitches at least half the time. (I) – Babbles with melodic inflection. (C) – Follows melodic contour of familiar songs.
(R) – Incorporates pulse and meter with melodic contour

Play: (A) – Respond differently to sedative versus play song music. (T) – Briefly uses pulse and meter. (I) – Independently briefly and purposefully explores a variety of instruments. (C) – Follows music by stopping and starting with it. (R) – Maintain a steady beat.

Move: (A) – Instinctual Rhythmic movements. (T) – Repeated movement connected to external events, music. (I) – Able to isolate and move individual body parts. (C) – Imitates learned musical movements. (I) – Uses musical movements in a sequence.

Listen: (A) – Recognize change in vocal timbre. (T) – Recognizes familiar melodies. (I) – Begins to match intensity of movements to intensity of music. (C) – Stops action to listen to music. (R) – Actively listens to other’s music.

[Mark Dunford]

I haven’t gotten a chance to use any songs yet as I don’t have many age/developmentally appropriate clients but I’ve been planning on trying “Car on my Knee” next time I see a young boy on the ASD I work with. He’s sings glissandos on an “e”, he’s very physically active and loves manipulating objects in his hand. I think this could be a great way to further engage him in reciprocal activities.

[Mark Dunford]

I work with clients as young as 4 and as old as 82 at RMTS. Most of my clients are from english speaking backgrounds. I do work with some younger students who primarily speak Spanish so I’ve used some Spanish lullabies and sung some popular nursery rhymes in Spanish. In some of my high school groups students share Spanish songs from popular artists like Marc Anthony, Bad Bunny, and Enrique Iglesias.

[Mark Dunford]

While facilitating sessions with a client who is an 8 year old boy with Developmental Disabilities, and Hydrocephalus I repeatedly see features of the Control developmental level. He spontaneously dances after making a song choice and will verbally fill in a lyric in a quiet speaking tone without any melodic contour.

I also work with a 4 year old boy with ASD. He often shoes features of the Independence developmental level. He often sings glissandos on an EE vowel sound, taps on drums when prompted, and babbles with some melodic intonation.

[Mark Dunford]

Awareness: Turning head to look at source of music, Facial affect changes, Reaching hand out towards source of music.

Trust: Can locate sounds at a distance, Respond to music with repetitive movement, Matches pitches half the time

Independence: often and able to sing descending major seconds, sing a glissando, Isolates body parts to move rhythmically

Control: make choices, follows melodic contour of familiar song, Dances spontaneously to music, Imitates words of songs before pitch and rhythm

Responsibility: maintain a steady beat, Recognize and reproduce loud and soft sounds, Can sing in major and minor keys
Identify low pitches easier than higher pitches

[Mark Dunford]

I’ll bring a sense of playfulness and silliness to hopefully capture babies attentions and imaginations. I’ll meet them where they are in literal ways like matching their perspective by laying down as well as their general affects. I love how lots of responses are touching on providing nonjudgemental spaces where kids can act out any behaviors and it’s not going to be criticized. I’ve had many elementary school sessions where staff are apologizing to me for a child’s behavior with no real consequence stemming from that behavior. I’ll bring a fresh perspective where I don’t look at behaviors as problematic and help to reinforce to parents that you don’t have to apologize for said behaviors.

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