[Shannon Flaherty]

Each of these music experiences have played a vital role in my practice of music therapy. I have grown more self aware of how I use each experience throughout the day with different clients in different developmental stages. For example, I have a group on 2 – 6 year olds, all with various developmental needs. I have found myself looking for reactions in the awareness and trust stages, however, I have noticed the older children moving forward into independence and control stages. It has been a challenge thus far to meet the needs of such a varying group, keeping the participants in the later stages engaged without jumping too far ahead of those in earlier stages.

In general, I think this course has expanded my observations in a group setting and has helped me point out the clients’ significant reactions to parents or caregivers.

[Shannon Flaherty]

SINGING:
awareness – hears and uses pitched vocalizations.
trust – pitch matching as a beginning form of communication. Important to point out to parents. Use less varied or abrupt changing pitches.
independence – melodic babbling. Encourage parents to listen/notice child’s babbling.
control – following melodic shape/structure, may not have correct words but performs for others.
responsibility – child follows melodic shape, pulse, and meter of familiar songs. Child is reproducing and playing with musical material.
PLAYING INSTRUMENTS:
** watch/listen to what children do with instruments and point out to parents. let children participate how they can so you can observe what stage they are in.**
awareness – listening, responding differently to sedative vs. playful music.
trust – picking up instruments, brief play. Time and tempo increases throughout this stage.
independence – touch/feel/play different instruments purposefully, encourage parents to allow child to play instrument however/whenever they want.
control – start/stop & practice. Encourage parents to wait and observe children’s responses.
responsibility – steady beat, connection between children/parents.
MOVING:
** watching movement instead of moving themselves is OK, brain is firing similarly due to mirror neurons.**
awareness – instinctual/natural movement. We as MTs support their movement.
trust – repetitive movements, synchronized with start/stop, not usually synchronized to rhythm. Stage where patting knees and clapping hands happens. patting knees is easier.
independence – isolated body part movement. Intentional response to movement.
control – imitate learned musical movements, internalization of music as expression.
responsibility – connect musical movements to sequence.
LISTENING:
awareness – recognizes vocal timbre. The MT should be aware of own vocal timbre.
trust – recognizes changes in familiar melody or soothed by familiarity of melody. A familiar melody can be helpful tool for easing tantrums.
independence – affect matching musical timbre.
control – still listening, facing towards music, wide eyes – encourage parents to let child listen to music, no need to move.
responsibility – respects and understands music created by others.

Haley, that is a wonderful observation. It’s amazing that we all watched the same videos and read the same material but have come up with different interpretations to support our personal experience.

[Shannon Flaherty]

I am fortunate to get to observe many children in Sprouting Melodies classes 1, 2, and a sibling class. I find the sibling class particularly interesting because it serves pairs of siblings ranging from 6 months to 2.5 years. In that class alone, I can see developmental levels from awareness to control. The eldest participant in group, the 2.5 year old, often needs extra challenges in the songs, is given more opportunities to make choices, and acts as a leader for the group. Meredith frequently challenges her with the song structure, especially with anticipating stops in the song. She doesn’t often sing, but participates frequently with instruments and demonstrates different vocal dynamics in her spoken language.

[Shannon Flaherty]

I had already picked up on a few of these songs throughout the weeks working with Meredith and observing others at RMTS. I used a few in a session on Saturday and they really helped me assess where the participants were developmentally. It also helped me further explain to the parents and caregivers what to look for and assure them that their child’s responses were O.K.

Thank you for all those wonderful resources Erika! I look forward to checking those out.

[Shannon Flaherty]

Cultural awareness is important even when measuring responses. There are some bilingual children in the Sprouting Melodies classes I have been observing and their responses might be the same as the other participants but their verbalizations differed. One participant’s mom translated some of her sons verbalizations to me throughout the session and, although they might not have sounded like the expected english response, he was saying the words in the other language.

I love that there are such a range in responses to this question. Erin, your insight from overseas is particularly interesting. I can imagine that it would be quite a challenge relearning some of the familiar children’s songs that have been embedded in us from such a young age.

Caitlin, I love the wide range of music you use to fit the preferences of each of your clients. It can definitely stretch our music abilities to switch genres throughout the day and always come up with new client preferred music.

[Shannon Flaherty]

I agree with what Juliana said and many of you have furthered – discussing the WHY part of our work is a great way to promote transparency with the goals of our sessions. This knowledge and discussion of the WHY is what sets us apart from other musical professions.

Since I began observing Meredith in Sprouting Melodies classes, I picked up a few of the helpful tips she often shares with parents. It is interesting to hear similar information from Beth and create a deeper understanding of the knowledge behind it. I am beginning 3 groups (unrelated to Sprouting Melodies) this weekend, the first being a group of 2-6 year olds. Although it’s a wide age range, the information I learned this week while studying the slides has helped to ease my anxiety of starting this new group. I am now more excited to share my knowledge with the families and support the participants development in the best way I can.

[Shannon Flaherty]

I agree with many of you that posted already! It is difficult to pin-point what is my most valuable takeaway from this weeks’ content. I enjoyed Beth’s tips on how to inform parents of the different developmental stages. It was also valuable to highlight what we as professionals can looks for as “red flags” in a child’s development and thus support the caregiver and child in their path of development.

Erin – I love the idea of a quick glance cheat sheet for the stages of development. It could potentially be a useful resource to offer to parents as well!

It was wonderful to review all of these different stages and begin further synthesize the developmental psychology course I took in college with the MT experiences I have had thus far.

[Shannon Flaherty]

Hello everyone! My name is Shannon Flaherty. I am a new professional working with the wonderful team at Roman Music Therapy Services all around Massachusetts’ North Shore. I graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2017, completed my internship at The Music Therapy Center of California, where I worked mostly with children and adults with developmental/intellectual disabilities and older adults in assisted living facilities. I have continued working with these populations at Roman Music Therapy Services and expanded my caseload to include clients in hospice, adult day facilities, special education classrooms, children with psychological needs, and family centered/community based music groups.

I have had the opportunity to observe Meredith in a few SM classes. It is amazing to see how well she connects with the families and connects the families together, all while meeting the children’s needs. I am excited to learn more about the songs, structures, and reactions I have observed in the SM classes thus far. I look forward to taking on a few SM classes in my caseload in the future.

I am eager to start this training with you all! It’s incredible to read about your backgrounds and current work. I look forward to learning from and collaborating with everyone!

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