[Vanessa Quirarte]

Hi everyone,
My name is Vanessa Quirarte. I’m a board certified MT working in Northwest Indidna with individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. I mainly work with adults and we get reimbursed through the Indiana Medicaid Waiver Program. Lately, many children have been able to receive services and not be on a long waiting list. We have been getting many referrals for children as young as 4. I am taking this course to expand my repertoire and enhance my clinical work to better support the young children we are starting to see in our program. I look forward to learning and growing with everyone here!

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I am looking forward to offering a new program in my community that has been missing. I have been working with primarily adults with ID/DD and have seen the services and programs available to them. It is time to offer similar opportunities to our younger populations. I am exited to put my new found knowledge into play and share these wonderful ideas and strategies with my community. I think it will also be a great opportunity to promote and make the community aware of music therapy as a whole. Most of the participants will be young families, and this will be information and experiences that they will carry and share for the rest of their lives. What better way to share and grow the knowledge of music therapy.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

Some of the strategies I can, and will use, for creating a successful experience would be to continually observe and asses individual a group needs. Like other participants stated, knowing families and each child/ parent is also important. knowing the families creates opportunities for bonding aand greater trust between therapist and family.
Always keeping a clear line of communication with parents is also very important. .
Another strategy is to create a fun, inviting, nonjudgmental and nonthreatning environment for a successful experience.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I do not have much experience in leading groups with both a child and their parents/ caregivers. Like many of you have stated, a big challenge for me would be in creating an engaging environment and meeting everyone’s needs. Making sure that the parents feels comfortable enough to fully participate and engage. Making sure that each child gets individualized attention and that they are not overstimulated ( especially those younger babies) but still engage and stimulate the older children. Even though each child/ parent experience and bonding dynamics will vary in the group, I fell that it would be important to have a sense of coherency and create a bond among the group as a whole.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

Music for development supports a child’s natural developmental processes. These process include learning to talk and walk. It offers a safe and nonthreatning environment for a child to explore and discover himself/herself. It also allows parents to see their child’s developmental growth in a safe and inviting environment.

Music for skills building supports the child on specific goal areas. This can include learning how to socialize and follow directions. Like music for development, it offers a child a safe, nonthreatning environment to learn and practice acquired skills. The music experience for skill building is more individualized to meet each child’s needs.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

SM3

Accepting, active, emotion, purposeful, creative

Plan- Greeting: I’m glad you are here today. Gathers everyone and supports child’s creativity
Bonding: Swimming Together. Moves child towards independence.
Songs about me: My eye are on my face. Give child response time.
Instruments: I can move around. It is ok for the child to leave their parent’s side.
Goodbye: Thank you very much. Allow for socialization between children.

FS

Joyful, busy, sharing, support, together

Plan-
Gather: Come lets make some music. Inviting and brings everyone together.
Bonding: Hold on tight
Songs about me: Can you see me. Encourage interaction between siblings. Give older child a sense of leadership.
Instruments: You and me makes we. Older child can be a model to younger child.
Movement: I can move around. Older child can move about independently.
Goodbye: Familiar goodbye song and Thank you

[Vanessa Quirarte]

Excitement, discovery, playful, exploration, timbre variety

“It is ok to let you child go and explore his surroundings, he’ll come back”

“Your facial expression are very good”

“Your child has a good grasp on the maraca”

“Don’t worry if they put an instrument in their mouth, they are exploring. Just put it in the “need to clean bin” at the end of the class”

“Help your child clap by scooping your arms under their shoulders”

Gather/Greeting: Hello song with repetition and child acknowledgment. Hey, hey come and play to invite child and parent to the group

Bonding: Horsey carry me- encourage parent to give pauses, use facial expressions, and change voice timbre to engage child

Songs about me: All of this is me

Instrument playing: Come with and play- encourages joint music making

Movement songs: pick up your hands. Scarf can be calming and good for calming down before ending the class.

Goodbye: Goodbye song with repetition and child acknowledgment. Also a thankyou song directed and each individual child as a transition out of the class

[Vanessa Quirarte]

Therapist, parents, and children a like need time to process. Varying energy during a session is necessary to keep children engaged and silence is good for response time. Our clinical experience of observation will aid us in knowing when individuals are getting overstimulation and bring down the energy and change timbre. The group dynamic may also effect the level of energy and the need for flexibility through out the session. Keeping predictability and repetition helps the child feel secure and engaged.
In my one and one sessions, when a client seems to be having a difficult time, I scale back the energy and move on to familiarity to bring them back in to the moment.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I don’t currently lead a childhood group. I liked how the presentation showed instruments that work well with this age group. I would use maracas and drums that are easy to clean. Small shakers with handles for a better grasp. Instruments with bright solid color as to not cause such a distraction. I would also choose instruments that produce soft sounds to reduce startling reflexes.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

Caring, bonding, calm, joy, inviting

“Keep singing, the baby is attracted to your voice”
“Good job in keeping a beat going on your baby during the song”
“It’s ok if your baby won’t sit still, try standing him up or laying him down”
“Look at the baby’s smile, he is fully engaged”
“just enjoy the moment, even if they fall asleep”

SM1 plan

Have recorded music in the back ground that is alm and inviting while the parents are coming in and setting up with all of their bags, car seats.

Hello: Hello to you. Acknowledge the child by using their name. It is repedetive and includes names.

Bonding: Row it faster. Familiar song to get parents started and focus on their child rather than the song.

Songs about me: Just like me. Enganing whole baby

Instruments: Sit with me and shake. Promote graspsing and releasing and show parents how they can get their child to grasp and release items.

Movement: Pick your hands up

Goodbye: Goodbye song with repetition and allows for name placement.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I have experience in leading a community music therapy program for children on the autism spectrum who’s ages ranged 7-11. It was also a unique experience because it was held at a cultural center and most of the families were Hispanic. The community that I was working in lacked programming and resources for families and children with disabilities. I noticed that the parents began to confide in each other and assisted one another with school questions, docotr questions, behavior questions, etc. I think that this also brought the actual group of children together because their parents came together. The cultural center also offered other classes, such as art, acting, guitar lessons. About three times a year, all the classes put on an exhibition to show off their achievements. My group performed and everyone had a part that fit their ability. They were fully integrated and accepted into the community. It was set up for success so that they may continue leading fulfilling lives an be part of their community.
The program also promoted music therapy and guided the parents to look at other services within and out of the school system.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I do not have clinical experience with babies 0-9 months. The most experience that I’ve had with this age group is with family and friends’ children. I also do not have my own children, but when I do, I will certainly have a foundation in their development. I look forward to learning more about this age range and create an opportunity to provide services.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

Although I do not work with many families of young children, the experiences that I have had with these families is that they want support and answers. They know that their child is not typical development and want to know what is ok and what is not. I also see a need for parent to parent support. I manage to catch conversations between clients parents/caregivers describing similar situations or behaviors to each other. They need self- assurance that it will be tough sometimes, but everything will ok.

I think that an early childhood program that is safe, fun, and educational would be a great opportunity for children of typical and atypical development to share experiences and motivate each other.

Within the community, as I stated before, there is not much support or programming for early childhood. Especially programming like sprouting melodies led by trained, professional music therapist. Children develope and take in so much in so little time during this age range (0-5). The stages of child development and music development presented in this course opened my eyes to the rapid change of levels.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I believe that music therapist have so much to offer to families. We can provide developmental support with flexibility to meet indivuadal needs and as a center for resources. Through our credentials and clinical experiences, we can offer parents and caregivers the safety of knowing that we are educated in not only music, but also in child development. This means, like many have said, we are not making music “at” the child. We are offering a well rounded musical experience that will allow for generalization in their lives. We also have the ability to clearly communicate with parents about their childs development and progress and/or possible needs.

Most of the parents of individuals I work with do not receive much support until they reach school age or receive Medicaid Waiver Services ( our funding source). Music therapy is not well known to families outside of the waiver program. Providing an early childhood program in our area would increase the visibility of music therapy and reach more individuals. The most important part of all of this is offering early intervention and making it accessible to our families.

[Vanessa Quirarte]

I tend to use all four levels of music development in my 1:1 sessions. I usually use listening in the middle of the sessions and towards the end. It gives my clients a break during session and gives an opportunity for relaxation before heading out. In reviewing the information from the course, it made me more aware of the specifics within each level, as well as, notice different types of responses and where they fit in the sequence of development. When I first started in the field, I foucused a lot on active music making (playing, singing, moving). It is refreshing to read about and learn that it is ok for a client to listen and observe and that learning is still taking place.
I am exited to observe the responses and how my clients work through the stages. I look forward to working with the younger population and putting ore of theirs information into play.

[Author]

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