I can't believe it is May already! I say this every time a new month starts, but it really does feel like it was just yesterday that we were starting the new school year. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I work full-time in United Cerebral Palsy's preschool and charter school, Early Beginnings Academy. I [...]
Today's post will wrap up Sing Your Heart Out week! Each day this week, I shared a new song that you can use in your music therapy sessions or music classes. Day 1: It is Time to Sing a Song ~ a song for building communication skills Day 2: I Am An Elephant ~ a [...]
Visual Stimulation Today's song will continue my series on Sense-ational Activities, those that target the five senses. I use this song when I am facilitating visual tracking goals and providing visual stimulation to my clients with severe and profound intellectual disability. Initially, I used this song in UCP's sensory room, which has a tube with water and bubbles that light [...]
This week I am on vacation from my job as a music therapist at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy. Yay! But, I'm not off from my work at Wholesome Harmonies! So, I decided this would be a great opportunity to share some new songs with you! Each day this week I will share a new song, [...]
One of my favorite session activities is using color-coded notation to teach children how to play xylophone, piano, and hand bells. Here is a video of two children I see for individual music therapy using color-coded notation to play the xylophone (or as my nephew calls it, the "ex-lophone :)). I didn't need to give them much [...]
When I come up with new activities for my sessions at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy, I often consult the teacher's lesson plans. Not only do they give me lots of great ideas for new song topics, but it ensures that my sessions are directly lining up with and supporting the classroom curriculum. This week, some [...]
Auditory Stimulation In honor of the beginning of Spring (although it always feels like Spring in Miami!) I'm continuing my series on Sense-ational Activities. Sense-ational activities are those that target the five senses. I've shared activities that provide olfactory stimulation, tactile stimulation, and multisensory stimulation. Today's post will focus on an activity I use to provide auditory stimulation. [...]
I love my job. I'll just say it. I have been employed full-time as a music therapist at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy since 2006. I remember when I first started the job thinking "This feeling will pass. It will become mundane." But it never did. I still wake up in the morning and am excited [...]
Today I'd like to share one of my most popular songs, and it's about...BODY PARTS! I use this song frequently with the children I work with who have special needs and it's always a hit. For older children, you can make the song more complex by using body parts such as: neck, shoulder, back, and [...]
"Every week had 7 days, every week has 7 days!" The 'Days of the Week' Song is often heard being sung through the hallways of UCP's Early Beginnings Academy. For my preschool and Kindergarten children, this song teaches some very important concepts: - Every week has 7 days - The names of the days of the week [...]
