[Amy Foley]

I feel that I incorporate many aspects of moving, instrument playing, and singing into my sessions as fairly separate music therapy interventions. For listening, I feel that with most clients I pair the other three interventions with listening by incorporating several musical changes (tempo, dynamics, rests, etc.) into the session. It is especially helpful for me to utilize different musical elements when I notice that a client may be losing focus or no longer as actively engaged. With students who are more in the control and responsibility stages, I typically incorporate ways for them to identify what they have heard in the music from what the song was about to how did it sound. In my sessions, I am constantly striving to keep engagement up by mixing and varying the types of interventions so that the clients are getting exposed to learning in music through several different types of interventions. It is also important to me that I have options for clients to have something in their hands if they need that to engage. With my preschool clients at a school for students primarily diagnosed with ASD, it can become difficult if I do not have something for them to hold onto at times.

It is great to see what others are doing as well!

[Amy Foley]

Singing: Old McDonald
Awareness – looks at, holds, and licks microphone
Trust – vocalizes into microphone with inflection of pitch at own timing
Independence – singing along to familiar song in microphone
Control – fills in animal from visual choices to familiar song in microphone
Responsibility – creates own lyrics to sing to song into microphone

Playing Instruments: Drumming
Awareness – touches drum with opened or closed hands
Trust – tap on the drum without sense of beat
Independence – sustaining engagement with the drum for entire verses, can imitate fast and slow/loud and quiet
Control – takes turns with the drum with a peer
Responsibility – plays basic beat on the drum and can imitate/create basic rhythmic patterns

Moving: Scarves
Awareness – reaching out to touch the scarf, accept it being put on head
Trust – making eye contact and smiling when adult moves the scarf near face, up and down, and hiding
Independence – grasping scarf for duration of song, beginning to move the scarf in basic imitation
Control – chooses own colored scarf from the bag, engages in imitation and moving the scarf, puts scarf away
Responsibility – creating own movements to share with others in the group

Listening:
Awareness – can recognize the sound of parent singing verses non-familiar adult
Trust – smiles to familiar songs versus unfamiliar songs
Independence – plays instruments or moves body in response to tempo and dynamics of music
Control – follows starts and stops of music and responds to cadences by beginning to anticipate changes
Responsibility – sits to listen to new music of others and is able to respond based on previous music experiences

[Amy Foley]

I have recently completed an assessment on a three-year old child diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Since beginning with him in music therapy about a month ago, he has transitioned from the independence stage to the control stage. When he started with me there was communicative intent, but he was grabbing at items he wanted instead of interacting with me as the therapist to obtain items or request them. He has since begun using some basic signs to indicate guitar, piano, drum, more, and please. He is sustaining engagement longer with highly preferred instruments and music experiences such as improvising on the piano, strumming the guitar, and singing into the microphone. Just today we began introducing the concept of taking turns and waiting by incorporating a song called “Please Wait” meant to provide a structured pause in the music where we remove our hands from the instrument, count to 3, and then begin playing again after we say “go!” He began to catch onto the concept by the third time through. Then we worked with the ocean drum to take turns being the one who moved the beads around. It will be great to watch him grow in music therapy through the control stage as he begins to understand more about his environment and interactions as he is just starting to move into this stage.

[Amy Foley]

I work in NW Ohio which is primarily rural. The families and clients I work with are primarily exposed to familiar children’s music such as lullabies and nursery rhymes. I have typically worked on stretching exposure to newer/less familiar children’s music so that the children are able to be exposed to some new songs. I provide resources for the families to find the songs at home if they are interested in them.

I am intrigued by some of your posts about the areas where you practice being a lot more culturally diverse than my area. It has made me think about also exposing children to music from different cultures.

[Amy Foley]

I focused a lot on the music for transitions this week as I have a few preschool clients who are struggling with transitions away from normal routine in the classroom or from their class if they are coming to music therapy alone or just with one peer. I loved the idea of keeping a transition song as moving forward and keeping the rest on the down beat such as in “Are You Ready for Music?”. I used a variation of this song this week with one client who typically refuses to walk out of his classroom and begins to cry during separation of his class, and by the second time through, he was able to come with me to the music therapy room. He still cried, but was not refusing to walk and even began running as we sang it as a fast verse and then walking as we neared the music therapy room and sang a slow verse.

[Amy Foley]

I think that the most valuable take away from this week was realizing how important the interactions are with the family members too. Sometimes I get nervous about saying “too much” about their child as I do not want the parents to think that just because I spent a half hour with their child, that I know them better than they do as parents. But, having key talking points and relating it back to things they may be seeing too can definitely help boost my confidence in this area. I have experienced a parent saying to me before, “do you even have a child?” as if I was not able to share information. So, I agree with others that the perception of young therapists at times is inexperience regardless of how much training and knowledge they have to share.

[Amy Foley]

I think that this week helped to open my eyes to wanting to create a music therapy assessment tool that aligns with the developmental stages. This has been something on my mind for years as I primarily use either the IMTAP or SEMTAP. In the special education system, most administrators and IEPs require a statement about “a typical peer is able to do ____.” I feel that having a music therapy assessment tool lined up with developmental stages would easily be able to show what a typical peer is able to do, as well as show if our expectations for children within the special education system are on par. I think about the preschool classes I currently lead, and after watching the videos this week, I feel that many of the expectations the staff have in those rooms are not developmentally appropriate or on par. This has just got my brain spinning and thinking about ways to assist in this process of understanding.

[Amy Foley]

Hi all,

Awesome that there are two others from Ohio!

My name is Amy Foley and I am currently working primarily in Findlay, OH. My music therapy business, Heartstring Melodies, LLC, provides individual and group music therapy services to children through older adults in NW Ohio. However, we have not yet ventured into children younger than age 3. During the day, I provide music therapy sessions at two schools for children primarily diagnosed with ASD. The school has a very behavioral approach, which I feel is fine for some classes. However, the preschool classes are struggling because their developmental needs are not being met and the expectations for their behavior are way beyond their years (ex: sitting in a chair for an entire 30 minute session without getting up or squirming in their chair!). In addition, my business will begin offering early childhood music groups this summer, so I am wanting to soak up all of the words of wisdom and best prepare by taking this course. I feel that the Sprouting Melodies training will help me with both the early childhood parent/caretaker groups and the preschool classes at the school during the day.

I look forward to diving deeper into this course!

[Author]

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