Music class - 5 Sept 09

There were only 2 students who turned up today, including my son. So it was great to have the time to gain knowledge from the teacher on early childhood development. There were many things he talked about that I hope to remember, so I'm blogging it down before I forget.

1. Guide the child according to his current level.
My son is the youngest in the class and coupled with his gross & fine motor disability, he is markedly behind the others. I'm not concerned about that. I do not compare my son to them in a negative way. Instead I look at what the other kids can do more as a guidepost to know what are the levels to take my son towards.

The teacher was saying to us, the mums, to work with the child at the level he is. So, for my son, in terms of music, he's at the level of learning rhythm & not yet positioning of the keys & certainly not yet finger positioning.

When asked if my son has progressed, he said that my son is responding. He elaborated that my son's lips are moving to sing.

My son is also pressing down on the piano key when he guides his hand towards it when playing the Twinkle Twinkle song. But for the second round of playing that song, he doesn't press. Not sure if he doesnt because he's tired or he's lost interest as he's just done it already.

My son has been singing the Old Mc Donald song at home for the past 3 mths- singing it in the name of the music notes. ie. fa fa fa do, re re do, la la so so fa. He does ok with this first stanza but towards the end of it (so so fa), I noted that he somewhat runs out of breath. When he goes into the chorus, he gets excited & speeds up the fa fa fa, fa fa fa, etc until he loses track of the rhythm.

The teacher taught me that I can rest my palm on his chest to feel his rhythm when he sings if he's not audible.

2. Multiple Intelligence
Dr Howard Gardner proposed that people have different strengths that go beyond the standard IQ tests. To know more, just google the phrase "multiple intelligence". Very interesting stuff. His soon to be kindergarten incorporates MI into its teaching.

For my son, he observed that his strength is in the logical/reasoning area. He suggested I expose him to nature & science. This strength will do him good when it comes to maths. Uhm, I had placed teaching him maths on the backburner over the past few months, emphasising instead on his motor skills & phonics. There's already so much to do on this motor skills!

I didn't realise he's got that strength. All the while I thought he was visually strong. He is very observant. He spots things that I or my husband dont. He knows so many makes of cars. He loves to observe cars passing by & naming the brands. I had previously written about this.

I play pattern/sequencing activities with him, using his wooden blocks & using printed pictures from http://www.learningpages.com/ & other free pre-schooler activities website. I'm half way through making a new batch of activities mainly for speech work but incorporating pattern/sequencing activities too. I will write a posting on that later.


3. Finnish education system
The teacher shared with us that he's reading a book written a Taiwanese lady (hence in chinese, which sadly I dont know) about the education that her daughters received in Finland. Apparently, the Finnish system emphasises on developing each child based on his or her own strength, unlike the 'traditional' system here where information is 'spoon fed' to kids & then required to sit for a test on it.

I do remember reading in the papers that the Finnish system was the best in the world according to UNESCO (or something like that) but I think it might have been on 'inclusive' education ie. kids with special needs get mainstreamed & customised education. I'm not sure on specifics, but the impression I got is that it's really good & it should be the way forward for other countries to emulate.


4. Journal
He again suggested that I should therefore journal my son's progress. So, that's also one reason why I'm so enthutiastically writing on my blog again. In the past 2 days, I hadn't written anything (partly because there are some issues on the home front that had been heavy on my mind), but I'm back now!


5. Phonics
He noted that phonics is the in thing now, with many kindergarten teachers teaching it. But that they dont really understand it, backing it up with an example he gave. Uhm...I wonder if he was talking about me too cos I'm teaching my son phonics, using whatever Montessori Literacy skills resources I can get my hands on. I had written before that I feel like a half baked teacher, which I acknowledge, but I just do what I can & hope I've not done damage to my son.


6. Eye Check
The teacher suggested again that my son go for an eye exam. He related stories of other kids who discovered they had eye problems. He said some kids are hesistant to participate because they cant see clearly & that we should address this possibility in my son. This was brought up again this time round when my son had to move his head very close to the mini keyboard before pressing the key.

His CST therapist also asks if we've done an eye exam on him recently, noting how my son is hesistant in moving forward at certain areas in her house. She's been asking every few months.

I too noted in previous posting on this blog that he was more keen on the larger font cards than the smaller ones.

We've been postponing the visit to his opthamologist, which is due when he's 3 yrs old because he's already been so traumatised by hospitals & doctors. Now that he's reacting much better to his pediatrician, it may be time to make an appointment, when the H1N1 is under better control.

His opthamologist is based in the same hospital he was born in & we saw here a few times when he was an infant/baby because of the higher risk of eye problems given that he was born permature at 32 weeks. The results of the eye exam back then showed that he didnt have any problems & he has 20/20 vision. We were told he didnt need any more exams until he was 3.

In the past, his eye exam entailed first dripping a liquid into his eyes & leaving it there for 20mins so that the pupils would dilate sufficiently. The doctor would use an metal instrument to forcibly keep the eye lids open for her to do the exam with other instruments she had. She assured us it is not painful, just uncomfortable. For a young baby, it was traumatising to say the least, being forced to be still & having things done to you. He cried so badly. He was very scared everytime we went to her clinic for an exam. But, as I say, it maybe time to for that exam, especially when he's about to go to pre-school.

music class today

Music Class
He started his weekly music class in Feb'09. He only became comfortable after 2 months there. Today, he was a lot more comfortable/confident – e.g. went forward to teacher when other students do the same without me prompting; he approached the teacher for the white board marker & wanted to draw even though not his turn yet

- Class starts with each child playing "Twinkle twinkle" with the teacher: he wanted to play it instead of being guided by teacher. He can’t as yet, so at times he played the wrong keys. It’s ok for now cos I do not practice that piece with him at home & it shows he’s becoming a bit more confident.
- he drew music notes but needed step by step instruction
- teacher gave him markers with different thickness to stretch his pincer grasp muscles a little
- he tried to clap according to rhythm (5, 6, se-ven, 8) but cant yet
- he "sang" simplified version of the minuette - teacher plays one note at a time & gets him to follow e.g. teacher plays the note "la" and asks him to sing "la"
- he played the chorus of "Old Mc Donald" (it's just the note "fa" repeated many times) on the mini keyboard & on the musical bell – he was better on keyboard than on bell. He could almost get the right timing with the keyboard
- he still grips the other children's hand too tightly during circle time - when he's excited, his muscles tighten.


Unlocking the door
- he needs to stretch up to reach up to the height of the keyhole;
- I've to place the key into the keyhole inside first, then he's able to push it in fully;
- he now knows the direction to turn the key when unlocking (anti-clockwise);
- he can now turn the key but needs help when actual unlocking (the "click" moment) because it's needs a bit more strength (wrist movement);
- after unlocking I've to pull the key out a little, then he can pull out the rest of the key;
- used his left hand to pull down the lever cos right hand holding key;
- balancing & co-ordination required (cos he’s on tip toe) when pulling down the lever & simultaneously pushing open the door

Painting
- He did hand printing, hand painting, painting with brushes of different thickness
- these help with hand eye, fine motor, grasping, creativity

Bananas in pyjamas
- today’s episode was all on nursery rhymes with action E.g. I’m a little teapot; Here we go round the Mulberry bush; Head & shoulders.
- we carried on that theme (action songs) in the restaurant while waiting for the bill

Dinner at restaurant
- I placed some ice chips on hands to stimulate senses
- He used both hands to grasp (palm grasp) the glass & raise it up & down. I allowed it cos it helps open up the palm & it wasnt a fancy restaurant
- We played games to get him to stretch arms wide open & high up E.g. when he spots aeroplane (it's outdoor dining), or sees a long bus pass by
- We made up games to get him to move his arms based on the cars passing by (we use his interest as much as possible)
- I tried to massage his muscles near his shoulder blade but he was too ticklish