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I think music therapy brings a lot to the table in a community, especially in a small community like mine. We know how to use music to engage EVERYONE and more importantly, know how to adapt it so everyone at any level can participate. Ways I have been using it with baby/toddlers as well as elementary kids provides early exposure to music that kids may not receive otherwise. This will hopefully instill a life long passion, or at least appreciation, for music. When I educate my community about every little thing that I do, alot of people respond with “wow I didn’t know that was possible.”
ParticipantI think music therapists provide parents that “extra” engagement with their children via music. Many parents don’t know how to use music at home or how to use it to engage with their child so we can really help provide them with another outlet to bond with their baby/toddler. We can also give them the “courage” to do so!
October 29, 2020 at 4:28 pm
in reply to: What are the needs of the families and communities that you work with?
ParticipantThe families in my community with young children simple need something to do. We live in rural Iowa, so anything for young kids is at least an hour away. When I started my baby/toddler classes back at the end of Sept. I heard so many comments like “I’m so glad we finally have something to do!” Our library only runs things in the summer for school-aged kids so that is primarily why I started my groups to begin with: to give families something to do with their children.
October 18, 2020 at 5:07 pm
in reply to: How have you used these four music experiences in your practice?
ParticipantMaura–same with the Head, Shoulders….! I used it in my baby group last week because I have a few older babies in there. A couple of them could do a few of the movements, but I mainly encouraged the parents to point to the body parts or help with movement. I definitely need to think of something else to encourage babies to move on their own in their respective levels!
October 18, 2020 at 5:06 pm
in reply to: How have you used these four music experiences in your practice?
ParticipantI use singing, moving, and instrument play quite often in each of my sessions. I use a lot of the “lap/bouncing” songs for my baby group and use a song called “Loosen Up” for my toddler groups to move different parts of their bodies. I also do a lot of free movement for the toddler groups to favorite songs. For the babies, I encourage them to grasp small instruments and play them for as long as or as little as they want. The singing comes naturally in the toddler groups–if they know it, they’re going to sing it! I mainly encourage the parents to sing in the baby groups and hope to get some babbles in there too.
ParticipantZoe that is such a good story! It kind of makes me giggle because I have a 4 y/o at home who gets rather upset if I change anything about her “normal” music experiences. It’s great that you are able to make that connection now.
ParticipantMaura, I bet leading a session with the family in the car was a first! 🙂 I am using this song in my group tomorrow, so I enjoyed reading about your experience with it!
ParticipantJezin, I like how you encourage the families to lead the songs you may be unfamiliar with! It’s a great way to connect them, especially if they’ve been in the hospital for a long period of time.
ParticipantI live in a rural area, so there isn’t much diversity when it comes to culture. The families I work with are generally familiar with the traditional songs (i.e. “You Are My Sunshine”, “Twinkle Twinkle”, etc.). I have had a couple families where music just is not a focus in their family, so some kids do not know the more traditional songs (“Mary Had a Little Lamb”). I do always ask families on registration forms for favorite songs/music genres so that way I am prepared.
ParticipantI used “Hold on Tight” with my baby group last week and they LOVED it. Moms really enjoyed bouncing the babies and the babies had smiles and coos the entire song. The only baby who did not enjoy it was my own! I think this is due to the fact she has a 4 year old sister who is “beyond” that and so she felt she was beyond it as well. 🙂
I also used “I Like This Song” with the toddler group and added some things to it. The toddlers really enjoyed exploring with their different instruments. I added a “stop” in their to make it a game, and then I added a little tremolo to get them to shake more.
ParticipantSeveral years ago, I had a 4 year old client (I do not remember what her diagnosis was). She was in the trust level of music development. She was very leary of me and any instrument/prop I brought in. She would occasionally reach out and touch instruments and play them for a few moments, and then she would stop and go find mom. I encouraged mom to sit with us and play the new instruments with her daughter, and eventually she built up “tolerance” to playing for longer periods of time. If she did leave our general area, she would turn and locate the sound of my guitar or a drum I was playing to try and call her back. I did not see her for very long so I did not get to experience her moving through the other levels.
ParticipantThis is so fun for me to answer this week because I led my first early childhood groups a few days ago and LOVED seeing all the different responses!
Awareness: The child may vocalize a random pitch, alter movements depending on the music going on, and turn their head toward a sound.
Trust: May make purposeful vocalizations, reach out to touch instruments, and understand sound/silence by looking toward sound when it is quiet.
Independence: May make intervals with voice, move rhythmically, recognize familiar music
Control: Can play a rainstick appropriately, requests favorite songs, requests favorite instruments
Responsibility: Listen to others music preferences, participate in a musical call and response, sing/move at the same time!
ParticipantI am getting ready to start my first Early Childhood groups this week! I am nervous but excited to begin! I am hoping to bring a different perspective than the “norm” for music groups by using my MT background. I want to be sure to meet each child where they are developmentally as well as give them an opportunity to explore music on their own.
ParticipantFor some reason I cannot figure out how to directly respond to people’s comments so I’ll do it here:
Zoe-I bet this content will be especially helpful when developing goals/objectives for your littles! I don’t work much with young kids with dev. delays, so I am sure it can be easy to get “stuck” in that mindset!
ParticipantThis was a nice refresher, and even more fun this time around now that I have a 4 year old and a 1 year. I found myself nodding along and going “yep” with a lot of the stages.
My biggest takeaway was to remember that kids go through these developmental stages at different points, they don’t all appear once they turn 18 mo or 24 mo. (Something I keep reminding myself as I watch my one year old progress through the stages). It will be helpful for me to remember this as I plan and adapt my early childhood groups.
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