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Hi Jillian,
So glad to have you on board! This course will really fill in some of those pieces for you in early childhood music and needs and you’ll find Beth’s framework for early childhood musical development very helpful! I would also love to hear as the course continues if and how you think a Sprouting Melodies program might be incorporated into your pediatric hospice and palliative care setting. I am imagining a lot of possibilities!Great to have you here!
MeredithModeratorLisa, About your Song Swap idea, that’s something we are working on for the Sprouting Melodies Provider online forum! We are planning song writing contests and lots of ways to share successes and materials for groups!
Thanks for the idea!ModeratorThank you for all of your feedback everyone! I love the idea of the MP3 format for the songs. That is certainly easy enough to do, so we will work on that for the next run through this course. And when we have them, we will be sure to post them as resources on the Sprouting Melodies Provider Site as well.
Robin, I appreciate your feedback about how quickly I talk. Believe me, I was trying to speak very slowly in the videos! You should call me on the phone sometime and I’ll have a quick chat with you! 🙂 But thank you for the feedback. I will try to be more conscious of it and be sure the next videos and online trainings go a bit slower.
As far as clips from SM Sessions, we are working on that. If you haven’t already seen the clips on line, please go to http://sproutingmelodies.com/gallery/video/ and check out the videos from SM2 and SM3. I think you’ll enjoy seeing those!
We are working on getting more illustrative clips to go along with the training materials. It’s very difficult to schedule extra sessions for taping and make sure we get the perfect moments on video, but we know that it would really help to augment the course, so we are working on it.
Cindy, I completely agree with you about the online format. I was at first apprehensive about trying to create the community that we have experienced in the live trainings we’ve done for Sprouting Melodies. But we have also found that being able to digest the information over a longer period of time and put it into practice each week has made for even more learning opportunities. Also, having the online forum, it has really given us an opportunity to get to know each other.
We will distribute a class list with everyone’s permission so that we can keep in touch. And I love the idea of a Sprouting Melodies Networking get together at National Conference, so keep an eye open for that! Beth and I will be sure to make that happen!
Alyssa, Thanks for your thoughts about what you’d like to see next. Music Makers for 3-5 year olds, Special Sprouts and our newest class, Seniors and Sprouts(TM) will be the next ones to go online. We will also I think present a workshop on sign language and early childhood, so keep an eye open for that too!
Thanks again everyone! Keep the comments coming!
ModeratorThanks for your comments everyone! About the fee, one of the things I forgot to mention on our call, and I will send it out in an email. We have received feedback from the last group that the initial fee was a lot to budget for at one time, so we have come up with a payment plan. We can spread your initial payment over four months so that you can invest in building a Sprouting Melodies Program without breaking the bank. For Individuals, it would be $110 a month for 4 months, and for Agencies it would be 197.50 for four months. (This includes a $10 installment fee each month.) We will send out more info by email soon, but if you do want to become a Sprouting Melodies Provider, now or in the future, keep the payment plan in mind.
We’d love to have you join our community of Sprouting Melodies Providers!
ModeratorThanks everybody! Great ideas for in-services and for sharing key information from Beth’s book. Honestly, I think just by letting people know that these resources exist within our field, we elevate our standing on the team!
ModeratorHi Robin – This might be more info than you were looking for, but I couldn’t upload this document here, so it’s on here for you to look at! I copied and pasted a lot of the information. I just gave a presentation in January with a Sign Language Interpreter. It was wonderful! I’m actually thinking this could be our first online segment for Sprouting Melodies Providers. Wouldn’t that be great??? So here are the details from our handout and links to online resources. Send more questions and if anyone would like a pdf of the handout, send me an email at Meredith@RaisingHarmony.com. I’d be happy to send it to you!
Music and Sign Language: Consistent Tools for your Little One
January 9, 2013
Presented by Christina LaRock, CT/CI and Meredith Pizzi, MT-BC
Debunking common myths about sign language and language development
Children’s receptive language skills develop more rapidly than their expressive skills. Therefore, it is never too early to introduce sign language to your baby! Some people say to wait until your baby is at least 6 months old but deaf babies and babies born to parents who are deaf are exposed to sign language right at birth with no
adverse reactions.Learning signs will not interfere with/delay your child’s ability to acquire their native language. In fact, learning and using signs may actually aid in the acquisition of spoken language. American Sign Language (ASL) is not a universal language; each country has their own unique visual-gestural language. However, signed languages of the world do share
some common grammatical/linguistic features. And, regardless of whether you are using sign language or spoken language, facial expressions and body language play a key part when communicating with your little one. ASL is recognized as a formal language, and is the 3rd most used language in the US. Interestingly, more and more secondary schools and higher education institutions have added ASL as an option when fulfilling one’s foreign language requirement.Important Signs to Learn…
mommy
daddy
more
all done
yes/no
please
play
friend
eat
milk
sleep (nap, bedtime)
music
dance
to wantWhen signing with your baby, remember to…
Have their attention
Repetition is key–be consistent with the use of the sign & use it frequently
Teach the signs to the other people in the baby’s life (other caregivers, children, friends, sitters, etc) and ask them to sign with your baby too
Your baby is taking it all in and will eventually try to replicate the signs, “babbling” in sign just as they do with spoken language
Have fun signing with your baby and enjoy watching them learn and communicate with you in a very real and meaningful way!Resources for learning more about sign language, deafness and/or learing signs via
online ASL dictionaries:
http://www.msad.org/about (Family Sign Language Program)
http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/consumer/disability-services/services-by-type/deaf-hh/asl/
http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi
http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/languageandcognition/section2.rhtmlTo learn more about some of the benefits when communicating in sign language with your child, go to:
http://www.gallaudet.edu/clerc_center/information_and_resources/info_to_go/help_for_babi
es_(0_to_3)/language_development_for_babies/section_iv.html
http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/bookpage/MBFSbookpage.html
http://WWW.tinyfingers.com/articlenewbabytalk.html
http://www.drgreene.com/qa/baby-sign-language
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2009/teaching-your-baby-sign-language-can-benefit-both-ofyou/
http://video.about.com/babyparenting/Common-Signs-for-Babies.htmModeratorTamara and others who missed the call, it is available on the Week 9 page – Just click on listen to the recording and you can listen or download.
Thanks Alyssa for your comments and your feedback! Yes, it can be overwhelming, but not when you’ve got such a great group of colleagues to help you through it! Beth and I are really committed to early childhood music experiences that support the whole family and we are delighted that so many music therapists agree with us. We look forward to having you join us as a Sprouting Melodies Provider when the time is right for you! And yes, we will be here to help you get it going!ModeratorAlyssa, You are right on about the time and hardwork! Beth and I keep coming back to the 3 P’s – Professionalism, Persistence and Passion! You must have those three things in place to carry any new program forward. You have to believe in it fully, believe in the value so that you can ask others to pay you fairly for your time and experience, you have to provide great, professional services, and then just be absolutely determined to persevere through all of the challenges. And isn’t that what life is all about in general?? Persevere with Passion!
ModeratorSo I’m reading this as Family Sprouts is going on in the next room and your descriptors are right on target!! 🙂 What a joyful, fun and busy group – accommodating all individuals and active throughout!
Thanks for all of your insights here everyone! It is wonderful to see and read all of your thoughts on the Sprouting Melodies classes! You are all really absorbing the information presented and finding lots of ways to apply it! Thank you!ModeratorHi Everyone,
Just wanted to chime in with a couple of links here.
http://www.westmusic.com/1002405-kids/k5020-kids-drums/remo-kids-percussion-frame-drums.htm
These are a great quality and pretty inexpensive. We buy maracas direct from Hohner and West.
Love these ones from Lynn Kleiner, and they are cheap!
http://www.westmusic.com/1002405-kids/k5050-under-age-3/k5050a-bells-shakers/remo-lynn-kleiner-lk-2426-01-maraca.htm
These ones are less than $2 each and sold as a pair – I can’t speak to their sound though. I don’t have any of these.
http://www.westmusic.com/1002405-kids/k5050-under-age-3/k5050a-bells-shakers/basic-beat-bbha01-toddler-maracas.htmWe will also have starter kits available to new Sprouting Melodies Providers of the must haves through Raising Harmony.
About cleaning instruments, I always ask the nurses I’ve worked with in school and hospital settings and have always gone back to household disinfectant wipes because they do work at killing all of the germs. I haven’t heard of the hydrogen peroxide idea, Lisa.
And as far as building up your collection of instruments, slow and steady is fine! It took me a long time, years, before I invested in an ocean drum or other “cool” things! A drum, a tambourine, some shakers and scarves can go a very long way!
ModeratorGreat Contributions everyone! I want to reiterate the importance of the gathering songs and body movement songs. The little ones love doing the clapping, patting knees and stamping feet at this age, and with consistent repetition of songs each week, they are able to practice, master and anticipate the movements. Be sure when you plan on a gathering song, you think through which one you would do for this particular age group.
There are lots of these songs out there. We use Gather Round most often, but sometimes it’s the Wind is Blowing it’s cold outside, Brr, Brr.. or Come and Sit with Me, or other similar songs.If you don’t already have an age appropriate song like this in your repetoire, it would be good to learn some more! Beth has lots of great songs in her song book, and if you don’t already have it, you can get it through Raisingharmony.com/shop and my team of music therapists are Roman Music Therapy Services just recorded our first full length CD in November and we have a couple of these songs on there too. You can get a copy of the cd at romanmusictherapy.com/buygatherround. And of course, you can use other songs as well, just remember back to the conversation about music and song structures in early childhood development. In the Sprouting Melodies Provider online forum, we are setting up a song upload feature so that we can share our songs with each other to always increase our song options!
ModeratorHi Everyone, I’m popping in to post my comments here – I love reading all of your thoughts on SM1. This is such a wonderful class to lead! I love seeing the babies grow and change each week.
Excellent job coming up words, statements to share with parents and sessions plans. As Beth mentioned earlier, save these! They will come in handy when you become a Sprouting Melodies Provider! And we sure do hope you will! 🙂ModeratorThanks for thinking this through everyone! I have found that by looking at these details, we are much more equipped to articulate to parents exactly what we see in their young child’s development. It also helps us to relate musical development to overall development and growth and to anticipate and plan for what will come next developmentally. Keep up the great work everyone!
ModeratorAngie, What a learning experience!!! That is a classic story!
And isn’t it a great song? Our families love that song! Yesterday I did Wiggly Jiggly in one of Sprouting Melodies 2 groups, and the kids were intitiating “Oh, Oh, Woah!” and the little guy I had on my lap was really controlling his body to move left and right and start the bounce. Such a fun song! I’m going to put in a little plug here for Beth’s song book. If you don’t have it, it is amazing!!! You can order it online at raisingharmony.com/shop for $29 plus shipping and you’ll get 101 awesome songs that you will be able to use in many, many music therapy settings, including Sprouting Melodies.
Thanks for sharing, Angie!ModeratorAngie, Thanks for recognizing and acknowledging your own reluctance to recognize your strengths and value as a music therapist. I feel passionately that the value of our services is extremely high! When we reflect that in our how we communicate about our services, families will be drawn to us! But we have to believe it ourselves!
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