[humanser] Monitoring behaviors in young children

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

Thanks so much for the feedback on my last post.  I'm overdue in
saying it, but the feedback on assessment was pretty helpful.  I've
gotten pretty comfortable using my facility's assessment tool, and
feel I am able to pay attention to the kids well enough to classify
their social engagement and interactions accurately.

However, I'm getting ready to start my solo assessment in a few weeks,
and there are still a few behaviors I have trouble catching in group
sessions.  For example, I can hear if students pick up their
instruments when they are supposed to stay on the floor, and have some
techniques to get them to leave the instruments down and take their
hands off of them, but I have a few students who like to put
instruments in their mouths, and I can't hear specifically when they
do that even if I hear they have picked up their instrument.  Of
course, this is a safety issue as I have to know which instruments
need to be sanitized right away after sessions to keep other children
from getting sick.

I also have a few kids who have the ability to be verbal but either
have difficulty doing it all the time, or are choosing to not talk in
our sessions some or all of the time.  I've estarted prompting them to
use their words, but when they continue to nod or shake their heads
I've been unsure how to respond.  Unfortunately, some of the teachers
at this particular school have been viewing music therapy as their
free time or babysitting, so they have not been helpful with catching
some of these behaviors I can't see.  My supervisor does step in if
need be, but he wants me to be as independent as possible so he tries
not to unless he sees an exchange like this happening.  We're supposed
to have more involved teachers next semester furing this new
assessment period, but I still want to brainstorm better ways I can
manage the mouthing and nonverbal responses on my own.

Thanks,

-- 
Kaiti Shelton