ConnSENSEReview Soliloquy v 4

ConnSENSE Review:Learning Together withMusic

by: Margaret Kardos

Product reviewed: Learning Together with Music
Center for Communication Disorders
Children's Hospital Boston
Price: $99.00

http://www.childrenshospital.org/clinicalservices/Site1850/mainpageS1850P21sublevel23.html

Learning Together with Music is great resource for early educators including preschool and kindergarten teachers, speech-language pathologists, music teachers, occupational therapists and physical therapists. The program demonstrates the use of simple songs combined with visual supports and movements to help young children develop skills in the areas of social competence, communication, movement and early academic skills.

The CD contains video clips of the children singing and interacting with over 10 songs. Having spent a significant amount of time over the years in preschool classrooms I have seen several excellent versions of a number of kids’ songs, but I must admit that I was very impressed with the comprehensive and organized way in which these songs were presented. The CD is narrated by Dorry Brown, M.Ed. a Child Development Specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston. I found the presentation so informative that I watched each and every song on the CD; as the video plays out, the goals for the children appear below the screen and include skills such as following directions, imitating motions, gestures and signs, number recognition, vocabulary development and making choices.

Each song in the video is acted out, accompanied by a variety of visual supports such as objects, symbols and pictures. I kept thinking of the hours that Ms. Brown obviously spent to preparing these materials and started thinking about resources where one could get similar pictures. That was when I noticed the tabs down on the right hand side of the screen, one of which was labeled “Printable Graphics,” another “Printable Teaching Guide.” I clicked on the first tab and much to my delight was taken to a page where the songs were listed; clicking on each song opened up a PDF file containing all of the graphics seen in the video for you to print out and laminate to your hearts desire. I also printed and reviewed the Teaching Guide and found it to be a very informative resource. Clearly these two resources alone are worth the price of admission.

Sometimes as special educators and related service providers we struggle with how to embed student goals into relevant activities. This CD is a perfect example of using the natural environment for teaching children. All kids sing songs in preschool and kindergarten, by adding some visual supports, modeling and opportunity for repetition and structured participation, students can achieve their goals without ever having to leave the classroom.

As an added bonus the CD contains two very simple video games that have been created by combining music, objects and actions. The Animal Song Game allows children to select an animal and then have it perform an action. The Sticky Bubble Gum Game lets kids stick gum on a character, facilitating development of positional language concepts. The games reinforce mouse skills or use of a touch screen as well. Learning Together with Music is a great resource for transforming what you already do, and combining it with what you already know, to turn it into something observable and measurable for reaching developmental goals while having one heck of a good time. Well done, Ms. Brown and the staff at Children’s Hospital Boston. Now if I could just get that little bubble gum tune to stop playing in the back of my head…