Fall, really?

Oh my gosh! Where did the summer go? It seems we were just singing about warm weather, swimming and all the fun activities that summer brings. The kids are back in school and the leaves are starting to turn! I was looking for some new ideas for Fall activities and ran across the DLTK website, which is chock full of activities, games, recipes, poems and even a few songs. I'll be posting some new musical activity ideas for Fall in the next month, but in the mean time you should check out this web page: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/index.html 

 

http://www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art_autumn.htm

Where is Fred? Song for Communication Skills by Meghan Callaghan

Today's wonderful post and video entitled "Where is Fred?" was provided by Music for Special Kids guest blogger Meghan Callaghan. Meghan is a Board Certified Music Therapist and the Director of Music Therapy Services at Flagstaff Music Therapy in Flagstaff, Arizona. Get more information on Flagstaff Music Therapy through her website:http://www.flagstaffmusictherapy.com/
or her Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flagstaff-Music-Therapy/194503357241547

“Where is Fred?” Song for Communication Skills

For those of you who work on speech and communication goals with young children, here is a great resource to add to your bag of tricks! I wrote this simple song to help support skills such as learning prepositions, turn taking, articulation, and using descriptive language. This activity a hit with little ones, it’s very fun and playful and keeps their attention time after time.

I use a wooden frog rasp as a prop. Between each verse, the therapist or teacher hides the frog. The child searches for the frog as the first two lines are sung. After singing, “Where is Fred?” the child has the opportunity to respond, and the therapist can help cue or re-direct the child if needed. The verse finishes with everyone singing together “Fred is under the drum” (for example).

“Where is Fred?”

Funny Fred the funny frog
Funny Fred is hiding
Where is Fred?
(spoken response)
Fred is ___________________________ .


©Meghan Callaghan

Adapt it!
Use pictures or small stuffed animals instead of a wooden frog rasp.


You can change the animals name if working on particular articulation goals (for example: “Silly Sara the silly snake” or “Jumping Jim the jumping cat.”)
Take turns hiding the prop with the child.

Music For Special Kids Review

A review of my book "Music for Special Kids" from the Autism Society of Michigan.

It has often been discovered that when you say something to a child with autism, he won't respond, but if you sing to him, he will, and it could be that he's using a different brain pathway than for language. Music is one of the best ways to reach children with autism and other disabilities and Pamela Ott's book Music for Special Kids: Musical Activities, Songs, Instruments and Resources is a delightful treasure trove of ideas for ways to use music in the classroom and at home with children with learning challenges, such as ADHD and children on the autism spectrum. The author starts out with a short chapter on how to use the book, since this is not a book about music therapy and this is geared towards teachers and parents, not professionals. Then, after the Introduction, she starts out with singing, including different kinds of songs, such as Hello Songs and Call and Response Songs. For each song, she shows the words for each song and suggests ways that it can be changed, for variety and to increase the child's learning experience. She also shows examples of song cards that have pictures to go with some songs, such as the Wheels on the Bus, to stimulate interaction to help students with making choices. This is a neat way to add visual input to songs, especially for kids with ASD, who are often visually oriented. There is a section about various instruments, including handbells, keyboards, Gathering drums and glockenspiels, along with activities that often include the use of color for matching keyboard keys to different colors and notes and for matching colored handbells to their corresponding colors and playing the handbell with that color. Each exercise describes the set of skills that activity purports to teach, along with instructions and illustrations of that activity. The illustrations are black and white, even thought the author heavily promotes the use of color, but black and white illustrations may be clearer and easier to see. The instructions are easy to understand, which is a real boon to teachers who don't have the time to look up obscure terms. I like how the sections are divided by instrument, so a teacher can find activities for drums or for the xylophone (included with the glockenspiel in that section). There is also a section for activities using rhythm, which is not only a part of music, but of everyday life as well! Nothing about the benefits and wonders of music is left unsaid here and there is even a chapter on using music to help kids identify feelings in themselves and others, that includes having kids adapt the song "If You're Happy and You Know It" to other emotions such as being angry or sad and they have to move accordingly. There is also a chapter on teaching concepts of music, such as rhythm and making the staff with the various notes. I applaud the author for writing this book - schools need to include music! Not only do I value what the author is doing for kids with special needs though the use of music, I love, love, love the gorgeous cover design with the colorful twisting musical note!

Click Here to order your copy of Music for Special Kids: Musical Activities, Songs, Instruments and Resources

Song Games

Chapter 2 of "Music for Special Kids" highlights fun song games that can be played with one child or a group of children. Song games are defined as games that make use of a predetermined musical component, such as melody or rhythm or a known song.

One song game that I use quite frequently is based on the song Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. It's a terrific song to use to increase attending skills, participation and the ability to make a change in routine. You can find the directions for this song game here: http://www.musicforspecialkids.com/search/label/Head%20Shoulders%20Knees%20and%20Toes

Other song games highlighted in the book are:

What's That Song?

Song Puzzles

Singing and Sequencing and

The Sing and Whistle Game

To find out more about the Music for Special Kids book go to the Jessica Kingsley Publishers website: http://jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849058582

Music for Special Kids - Now Available!

I am SO excited to announce that after 9 months of writing, editing and waiting, my book Music for Special Kids has been released and is now available for purchase through Jessica Kingsley Publishers! I'm very happy with how it turned out and hope that it will be a terrific resource for many parents, teachers, caregivers and music therapists!

The 192 page book contains tons of songs, musical activities, instrument activities and resources to augment your use of music with children in the classroom, in therapy or at home.

Over the next few days, I'll highlight some of the chapters of the book and what you'll find inside.

The first chapter is entitled "Singing" and includes Hello Songs, Omitting Words or Sounds in a Song, Replacing Words With Syllables in Familiar Songs, Nonsense Songs, Call and Response Songs, Songs to Teach Academic Concepts, Adapting Familiar songs, Sing and Read Books and Song Cards.

To find out more, or to order your copy, please go to the Jessica Kingsley Website found here: http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849058582

Easter Egg Song and Game with Egg Shakers

I usually don't break out this song until the week before Easter, because it tends to be a real favorite of my kids and they want to play it over and over and over!  

I find it's a good song to use to encourage participation and interaction and depending on the presentation, it's a good one to use to encourage taking turns!

I use a set of egg shakers as the eggs - the more colorful they are, the better! I choose someone to be the "hider" and one to be the "finder". The finder closes his eyes and sings the Easter Egg Song (the leader can assist with the singing) while the hider hides the eggs. I encourage children to finish hiding the eggs by the end of the song, giving the hider a framework of time for completion and let's the finder know when to open his eyes. Once the song is over, the finder then begins to search the room for the eggs. Once found, the children can change roles.

This can be played with a small group or with just a leader and student.

Easter Egg Song

(to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Easter eggs, Easter eggs

Where are you?

Yellow, red and green and blue

Hiding here and hiding there,

On the table and under the chair.

Easter eggs, Easter eggs

Where are you?

Yellow, red and green and blue.

Spring Makes Me Sing!

The calendar says Spring - even if it may not look like it outside quite yet. At least we're going in the right direction! I love Spring! I love to hear the birds singing and see all the plants and trees wake up from the long winter. Spring truly does make me want to sing - so, I wrote a very simple song entitled just that - Spring Makes Me Sing! This is an excellent song to sing with the very little ones and to encourage singing, communication skills and interaction with special needs children.

Try substituting other sounds for the la, including ma, ee, ahh, ba, oo, etc.

Happy Spring!!