Music's in my Baby's Brain... how to use this to help her development?
March 12, 2019 6:38 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for resources and / or experiences of the role that music, in any form passive or active, can play to aid development in babies and children, from as young an age as possible.
I'm especially interested in anything relating this to kids with structural brain disorders, or other neurological conditions diagnosed pre-natally or in the very first years of life.
1 and a half years on from asking this question here, about discovering the bombshell that my, then unborn, 2nd daughter has a rare brain malformation, with an extremely wide spectrum, from relatively minor to as-bad-as-could-be, developmental implications;
I am now the father of a one and a bit-year old who is doing better, developmentally, than we could ever have hoped for back during those horrendous times. Feeding, looking, sitting, crawling, standing have all come to her on a completely "normal" schedule; she'll soon be 14 months old, seems just about to start walking unaided and already has a growing vocabulary which she uses in appropriate contexts. Particularly in repeating "no" back to us when she's been moved away from getting her little mitts into places she shouldn't :)
One aspect of her blossoming self-ness, which we've keyed into in the past couple of months, is that she has a very developed sense of rhythm and reacts strongly to music; much more so and at a much earlier age than her older sister.
She absolutely loves to slap-drum anything in front of her, the high chair, table, couch, and will start doing this following the simplest little tapped-out rhythm from us.
She also always starts swaying and bum-shuffling, really well in time, along to any music that comes on, be it played by us or set-off, by her or her big sister, from the handful of awful battery-operated noisy plastic toys we own.
I'm only faintly musical myself, having plunked away poorly on an electric guitar for a few years as a teenager before discovering a since lifelong love of increasingly obscure electronic music; my wife is pretty much a-musical, in terms of production, and the only music she would profess a truly deep love for is 80s hair rock.
We're really keen to see if this is something that we can use to help our daughter's development; I have read anecdotes from adults with the same condition as her about how music ended up playing a big role in their ability to cope growing up and moving to living independently.
Any thoughts, resources, experiences or anecdotes on this would be much appreciated.
And thanks AskMe, both in advance for this, and in retrospect having gone back to that old thread for the first time in a long while and read over everything that people wrote in response to it :)
1 and a half years on from asking this question here, about discovering the bombshell that my, then unborn, 2nd daughter has a rare brain malformation, with an extremely wide spectrum, from relatively minor to as-bad-as-could-be, developmental implications;
I am now the father of a one and a bit-year old who is doing better, developmentally, than we could ever have hoped for back during those horrendous times. Feeding, looking, sitting, crawling, standing have all come to her on a completely "normal" schedule; she'll soon be 14 months old, seems just about to start walking unaided and already has a growing vocabulary which she uses in appropriate contexts. Particularly in repeating "no" back to us when she's been moved away from getting her little mitts into places she shouldn't :)
One aspect of her blossoming self-ness, which we've keyed into in the past couple of months, is that she has a very developed sense of rhythm and reacts strongly to music; much more so and at a much earlier age than her older sister.
She absolutely loves to slap-drum anything in front of her, the high chair, table, couch, and will start doing this following the simplest little tapped-out rhythm from us.
She also always starts swaying and bum-shuffling, really well in time, along to any music that comes on, be it played by us or set-off, by her or her big sister, from the handful of awful battery-operated noisy plastic toys we own.
I'm only faintly musical myself, having plunked away poorly on an electric guitar for a few years as a teenager before discovering a since lifelong love of increasingly obscure electronic music; my wife is pretty much a-musical, in terms of production, and the only music she would profess a truly deep love for is 80s hair rock.
We're really keen to see if this is something that we can use to help our daughter's development; I have read anecdotes from adults with the same condition as her about how music ended up playing a big role in their ability to cope growing up and moving to living independently.
Any thoughts, resources, experiences or anecdotes on this would be much appreciated.
And thanks AskMe, both in advance for this, and in retrospect having gone back to that old thread for the first time in a long while and read over everything that people wrote in response to it :)
This article from the CBC talk about five recent neurological techniques in healing the brain.
posted by saucysault at 6:59 AM on March 12, 2019
posted by saucysault at 6:59 AM on March 12, 2019
Bias note: I was involved in this project - The Royal Conservatory's Smart Start App might be a great way to try some things out. They really did do research on language acquisition and early exposure to music. The method they show (eye contact, interaction) is pretty solid.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:11 AM on March 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by warriorqueen at 7:11 AM on March 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Mother Goose on the Loose is a library program focused on early childhood development & school readiness. It's supposed to be a set of 10 weekly 30 minute sessions for parents & children (birth-5, I think). The librarian leading it is trained in this program and uses songs, music, finger plays, rhymes, rhythm, stories, etc. The focus is early literacy, but includes a strong music & rhythm core, too. The site explains the program in more detail. The map on the site definitely doesn't include all libraries that offer the program, so check with your local public libraries to see if they're doing it or if they know a library that is. You'll probably also run across some great homegrown programs at your library, too--mine offers Sing with Your Baby, a children's music series, and ukulele lessons for ages 4 & up.
posted by carrioncomfort at 7:36 AM on March 12, 2019
posted by carrioncomfort at 7:36 AM on March 12, 2019
Google "sip n sing"
posted by Dr. Robert at 8:25 AM on March 12, 2019
posted by Dr. Robert at 8:25 AM on March 12, 2019
Our local children's hospital has board-certified music therapists visit the NICU - so providing music therapy to children before their due date. I don't think you can get much younger than that. Their website talks about evidence-based therapy and clinical applications of music, but don't link to any sources. Still, that might give you some things to google. If you have a local children's hospital, their rehab department might provide music therapy lessons and perhaps your daughter's diagnosis will help it be covered. We didn't go that route but our public school district provides early childhood family education classes, and music was a key part of all the ones we participated in.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 9:03 AM on March 12, 2019
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 9:03 AM on March 12, 2019
I don’t have papers or studies to share but my sensory-sensitive son is also Super into music and sounds, so we have instruments all over the house. You can get bongos, a ukulele and a keyboard (with drum and synth sounds) for fairly affordable. Next like the milkman said, we expose him to lots of different music, especially anything with a funky beat. We show him learn to drum videos that teaches the fundamentals of counting and rhythm. He loves them. Also like the milkman, we keep it casual and fun. Lessons will start when he’s older but for now it’s the joy of music. We also give him lots of words to describe different songs (this singer is soulful, this one is growly, this is high pitch etc) and ask his opinion on what he hears.
Enjoy!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:19 PM on March 12, 2019
Enjoy!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:19 PM on March 12, 2019
Whenever this subject comes up in any form, I feel obligated to mention Raymond Scott's three-volume album, Soothing Sounds for Baby. While not research per se, it is music - wonderful, early electronic music - that was composed and designed for infant listeners: 0-6 months for Vol 1, 6-12 months for Vol 2, 12-18 months for Vol 3. The composer and musician, Raymond Scott, was just this wonderful, creative guy who, apparently, did do all kinds of research into infant neurology and how young minds respond to music, and composed the music specifically to "tap into" kids' growing aural capacities. The bonus is that the music is really good and catchy and not annoying at all.
I'm sure the research on which the albums were founded is outdated now, FWIW. But the music, in my opinion, holds up, whether or not you are a baby.
posted by Dr. Wu at 12:19 PM on March 12, 2019
I'm sure the research on which the albums were founded is outdated now, FWIW. But the music, in my opinion, holds up, whether or not you are a baby.
posted by Dr. Wu at 12:19 PM on March 12, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
https://www.musictogether.com
Yay for happy kid :)
posted by PistachioRoux at 6:50 AM on March 12, 2019 [2 favorites]