Simultaneous action, development, or occurrence. The state of operating or developing according to the same time scale as something else. “Some individuals do not remain in synchrony with the twenty-four-hour day”
–Google Dictionary
(For the similarly named song by The Police, click here.)
In human development terms, synchrony is the dance that happens between babies and caregivers, right around three months of age. In highly technical terms, it’s what makes adults go completely ga-ga when a baby smiles at them—suddenly, we get huge smiles on our faces and we start talking like we forgot all those grammar lessons from fourth grade.
Come into a Sing and Play Kindermusik class and observe the way moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas interact with their babies. Synchrony abounds. It is part of why Kindermusik is about developing the whole child, in this case, social skills.
Kathleen S. Berger, in her human development book, Invitation to the Life Span (2014), writes:
“One study found that those mothers who took longer to bathe, feed, and diaper their infants were also most responsive. Apparently, some parents combine caregiving with emotional play, which takes longer but also allows more synchrony” (pg. 141).
Interestingly the adults are the ones who imitate the babies, not the other way around. This explains why newborn babies don’t elicit the same response from us. They get plenty of oooh’s and aaaah’s, but no peek-a-boo games.
What happens when we don’t react this way, when we don’t give the kids this attention? Ed Tronick, the chief researcher on the still-face technique, shows us (fair warning, it might be really hard not to reach through the computer and give the child some love, but rest assured it doesn’t last long, and ends well):
So, obviously, this is something that comes naturally to us as caregivers, whether or not we’re enrolled in a Kindermusik class. But Kindermusik has given me is a large array of songs that I can sing to help slow me down during those routines and to engage in this responsiveness cycle with my children. I can spontaneously burst into a rendition of “Bubbles,” while I’m bathing them, “I See You,” when doing a peek-a-boo game, or “Little Red Wagon,” when I’m bouncing one of them on my lap waiting for the oil to get changed. And, gratefully, these are songs that I can actually tolerate listening to while we’re driving (unlike Other-CD’s-That-Must-Not-Be-Named).
And, as I have said before, I especially love coming to class and having that time with them there. While I strive for it daily with my kids, it is the one place where I can come and just be truly present with them—no laundry to worry about, homework to get done, or kitchen floors to mop.
Warning: You may get a flashback to 9th grade biology reading this blog post, and you may feel compelled to flirt with the cute kid sitting next to you. Or, you may find yourself with an uncontrollable urge to sink lower into your seat to avoid the teacher’s gaze. But hang in there, there will be no test or grade afterwards. It’s just something to think about when you’re in class this week.
The corpus callosum is the part of our brain that facilitates communication between the right and left hemispheres of our brains. The bigger the corpus callosum is, the better the coordination between our right and left sides of our bodies. Research shows us that the absence of a corpus callosum can be problematic, leading to difficulties with vision, hearing, sleep, attention span, just to name a few.
When I was younger, I learned that the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, and vice versa. We now know that the division between the hemispheres is not so simple. Both sides of the brain are active whenever we do something, even though each side has a specialty.
I learned the other day that left-handed people continually confront tasks that demand they use their non-dominant hand (Berger, K. (2014) Invitation to the Life Span. New York City, New York: Worth. [180]). For instance, they shake hands with their right hand, but eat with their left. Or, they figure out how to use right-handed scissors (with their right hands) because left-handed ones are not as common in schools. (The other day I had to use a pair of left-handed scissors, though I worked them with my right hand! Holy Cow! Everything felt completely upside down!)
It may be this back-and-forth that causes left-handed people to have bigger corpus callosa than us righties. And, there is some evidence to suggest that people who are left-handed may have strengths in creativity and an ability to access both hemispheres of the brain. Judy Garland, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Simon, Michelangelo, Carol Burnett and Jim Henderson were all lefties.
In class, your child may reach for an instrument with her right hand, or her left. Of course, in Kindermusik class we would encourage a child to do what comes naturally in that regard. However, we also work on activities that develop coordination between the hemispheres—actions that require both sides of the body (running, skipping, even gentle baby massage in the infant class). It’s one more way that we are helping in the development of the whole of your child.
I take guitar lessons with a local studio. As part of that experience I participate in “band class,” where we learn how to put together different songs—it’s great ensemble work. Every once in awhile, we play out in public. A couple of months ago, one of my friends, an accomplished musician, came to see our band perform. Afterwards, he gave me some very specific observations, such as, “You all stayed exactly on beat, and I was very moved by listening to your version of Landslide. You threw in a little country lick on that one song, too, I noticed.”
While he could have said, “You guys did great,” he refrained from giving us any judgment of “good” or “bad.” Often, when I hear, “You guys did great,” something happens inside me that mistranslates such praise—I often think, ”Yeah, but you’re just saying that.” By having him tell us what he noticed in particular about his performance, without judgment, I felt completely elated at what we had accomplished. I knew that he had been listening intently, and I knew what things in particular we had done really well. Nothing was mistranslated in my brain, and I walked away having courage to do even better and believe in myself as a guitarist.
Becky Bailey, in her book Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline: The 7 Basic Skills for Turning Conflict into Cooperation, writes about children’s innate desire to be seen, rather than judged. (My experience playing the guitar that night goes to show that this desire probably doesn’t go away when one becomes an adult.) She goes on to explain: “Noticing children is an excellent way to encourage them. Describe what you see to your child and leave her free to make her own evaluations of her efforts or accomplishments” (pg. 130).
What I find even more amazing is that, according to Dr. Bailey’s work, when we notice children, we “stimulate their frontal lobes.” (pg. 130) Why is this important? The frontal lobe of our brain is responsible for reasoning—it can help regulate the emotional part of our brain, or the amygdala. The more developed our frontal lobe is, the easier it is for us to calm ourselves when we’re upset. The ability to calm ourselves is critical. Of course, for preschoolers it means fewer or less intense tantrums. But even into adulthood, when the consequences of being upset can be more devastating, regulating emotions also helps with addiction or anger management, for starters.
Dr. Bailey gives us three steps, a little script, to help us notice our children and give constructive encouragement (pp 131-2). Of everything I have learned from this book, I believe that these three steps have been the most helpful.
1. Call your child by name, or use “you.” [I have found it’s helpful to say, “Look at you!”—It puts some enthusiasm in my voice.]
2. Describe what you see your child doing. [Just this morning I said to my oldest daughter, “I noticed the other day that you needed to have a black leotard washed for school. You remembered what your teacher asked of you, you got your laundry sorted and started, and you waited around to switch the laundry!” It helps me, too, when I can be as descriptive as possible about what I noticed. Realizing just how much effort my daughter put into completing this task on her own allows me to take a moment of mindfulness, in gratitude for the young woman she is becoming, and in awe of what she is capable of doing.]
3. End with a tag—a little note about the value or attribute that you are trying to instill in your child: “That was a lot of hard work,” or “That was very thoughtful. Thanks!”
As for you parents and caregivers at our studio, here’s an observation: I notice many of you bringing your children to class and getting excited with them at the things they are doing. You engage in bonding with your kids, and I see how you are attentive to their needs. You have courage to crawl around on the floor with your little ones, and make silly faces when Miss Carol asks us. Such a thing really adds to my Kindermusik experience. Thanks for being a part of the Song of the Heart family!
My son, when he was about 18 months old, once said the word “puppy” (his favorite stuffed animal), and that was it for another year. He seemed neurotypical in all other aspects, but I was still concerned that he wasn’t speaking. I had done some sign language with my oldest girl, but at that point got serious about signing with him. I increased my vocabulary, showed him as many Signing Time videos as I could get my hands on, and noticed a drastic change. Where he had previously taken me by the hand, walked me over to the fridge, patiently waited for me to open the fridge, and pointed to the milk, now he was giving me the sign for MILK. It was as if we flipped a language switch in his brain—he seemed to understand that there were symbols (signed or spoken) for things he wanted or needed, and he could use those to communicate. With the introduction of sign, his language abilities took off.
Obviously, correlation doesn’t prove causation—my experience with my son isn’t a viable science experiment. Lucky for us, though, there are researchers who have studied this, and their findings are similar. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn have found that kids who learn sign language have better overall language skills than those who don’t learn sign—they have “bigger vocabularies” and “(use) longer sentences.”
You’ll know you’re in a good learning environment when a teacher finds a way to engage verbal, aural and kinesthetic/tactile learning modalities into the lesson plan, as we all have ways that we learn best. For me, personally, I have to take notes (preferably in a textbook—it was heaven when I got to college). I rarely refer back to these notes, but once I have written them down, I remember them more easily. My daughter, on the other hand, needs to use manipulatives of some sort—she always works better when she’s cutting something, or moving something around. Muscle memory works to our advantage to help us recall certain concepts–by teaching children sign language, we engage their full bodies in the learning process.
As I recollect this process with my son, I find it hard to believe that the 8 year old child who is, at this moment, scrambling his own eggs for breakfast was that same kid who, even when he started speaking, was difficult to understand (because even once he became more verbal, we still did some speech therapy together). The journey of a mom is fraught with equal parts love and pain. Nevertheless, I’m grateful for all the ways he and I have communicated through the years, and have a special place in my heart for the way sign language helped us through a particularly critical period.
Last spring, Kindermusik dissolved their Sign & Sing class. At that point, Angela Horsfall joined the Song of the Heart community to teach Signing Time classes—and she’s absolutely fantastic! She has the benefit of being an Advanced Certified Instructor. There are still openings for the class, and we’d love to have you join us, regardless of your previous experience with sign.
Bell choir season is upon us. I attended just such a concert last weekend and left in amazement. (Well, also with some bells still ringing in my head, but since I attend bell choir concerts very rarely, that’s OK.)
(This isn’t the choir that I saw, but in researching this post, I found this clip of young high school students performing “Rolling in the Deep” and thought it was worth sharing.)
As part of the guitar lessons I’m taking, I play in a band. Even though I played in a band in junior high school, this is a whole different experience for me. Perhaps because I’m an adult now, and can appreciate the challenge of needing a drummer who stays on beat and the role my electric guitar fills have in creating the final piece. Perhaps it’s because there aren’t 15 trumpets to drown me and my little ol’ flute out. Perhaps it’s because, you know, we’re not a junior high band (I think, if there is a special level of heaven for junior high teachers, as so many say, then there is an extra special level for the music teachers).
At any rate, with some experience now playing in a group (and there are only 6 of us), I walked away from the bell concert with total admiration for the level of ensemble work that the bell ringers (upwards of 40 people) exhibited. For instance, as every bell ringer plays just one or two notes, when they play a chord along with other players they have to figure out how to either play with the exact same volume (if that is what is required), or, conversely, which note will stand out. Then they have to do this across time, as well, so that multiple players participate in similar dynamics.
Those are just elements of teamwork that take place during the song. What if someone is sick? Or breaks their arm? Do they have understudies for different notes? What about practicing? They must spend a lot of time and energy preparing for such a concert. Much of a hand bell choir’s skill involves chiming in (hah!) at just the right moment, so being with each other to practice is critical.
In the Kindermusik for the Young Child classes, students begin learning how to play in an ensemble. Such a skill transfers directly over to other activities (such as sports or schoolwork), but it also creates a great foundation for additional music ensemble work. Turn-taking, cooperation, steady beat and rhythm all come together when kids learn how to create music as part of a community. One bell doesn’t sound very interesting, but put 40 bell ringers together and something amazing happens. The same is true of our Kindermusik students—they see that, when they all come together in something, the group creates something that any one person can’t produce alone. I have really appreciated that my kids have been part of just such a musical community, in part because by doing so, my kids are learning how to navigate the complexities of a world where we must work together.
In the last few weeks, I have been learning about a methodology that many teachers of world languages are using in schools called TPRS, which stands for Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling. In my pre-mom days I was a Spanish teacher, and it’s been interesting to see how this methodology (new since I taught) meshes with what I have learned as a Kindermusik educator in terms of how any of us learns a language, whether it be our first one or our fifth.
A TPRS educator may teach very differently from the one you may recall from your own Spanish I days. She or he does not spend an hour conjugating verbs or giving lengthy explanations about what a present progressive verb tense even is. Nor does he or she teach vocabulary arranged by thematic topic (“Today, we’re studying ‘body parts’” ) without any context. Rather, in a TPRS class, the teacher and students, together, create a story in class, building on vocabulary with which the students are already familiar. Teachers expose their students to hearing many repetitions of only about three new phrases or vocabulary words in a lesson before they expect the kids to speak, and they teach grammar through natural use. Additionally, they ask their students to give an appropriate gesture or physical representation when they hear the new words. Vocabulary is taught in context (describing the main character of a story, an elephant, perhaps, will include some animal words, some body part words, as well as physical and emotional descriptive words). TPRS teachers encourage a playful and personal atmosphere, often asking silly questions about the story they’re telling or making sure that the vocabulary and stories reflect vocabulary that is germane to the students’ lives. After telling stories in class, the group moves to reading, and finally to free writing. Throughout the process, the class may sing little songs or create pictures of the stories they tell.
While the TPRS methodology isn’t without some controversy (mostly from those expecting a traditional foreign language approach), research supports its effectiveness. “In speaking, writing, vocabulary and grammar . . . TPRS has consistently outperformed traditional teaching, and has at least equaled traditional teaching in every study.” (“Show Me the Data: Research on TPRS Storytelling“) To me, this is no great surprise. It is exactly what we do in Kindermusik, and even what we do naturally as caretakers for our little ones. Of course, Kindermusik is more than just a music and movement program. It is about teaching the whole child, and language acquisition is a large component of that whole-child development.
In my daughter’s Kindermusik class last week, for instance, they created stories together about being frogs—what do the frogs do? Eat bugs, hop from lily pad to lily pad, and swim. They used gestures, including the ASL sign for FROG, and hopped and swam from lily pad to lily pad. They sang songs about frogs (my daughter loves the finger plays and requests them when we’re driving), and this month on the @home Kindermusik site the story is Frog Went a-Dancing, which includes a repetition of certain phrases and of course a lot of silliness (animals are speaking and each has a dancing song).
I don’t recollect ever explaining to my children that there is a difference between past and present tense verbs—instead, I use the verb tenses as they come up. Naturally, it takes kids awhile to figure out that “eated” is actually an irregular verb, but not because anyone sat down and said, “the verb ‘to eat’ is irregular and will be conjugated differently in the past tense.” No–eventually, with enough repetition and reading, our kids figure it out. Participating in Kindermusik helps with all of this critical repetition.
You will notice that our Song of the Heart Kindermusik studio supports language acquisition in a variety of ways, not just what happens in a Kindermusik class. Having puppeteers come for our Fall Festival exposes children to stories, thereby enriching vocabulary and helping them create meaning of the world. We have books for children to read while they wait for their class to start, or in the hall while they wait for their siblings to finish class. The educators incorporate natural gestures for words as well as American Sign Language instruction—both within a Kindermusik class and as part of a separate Signing Time class you can take with your little one. (Teaching your children ASL in and of itself has proven to be a fantastic way to help them develop language.) Taking a ukulele class encourages older students to learn a more sophisticated vocabulary—music-specific words as well as the more complex words that we find in other songs (the same holds true for the other music classes we offer for big kids).
Clearly, as humans we need connection with others. Language acquisition is an important part of that connection. Of course, not every child follows a neuro-typical path to developing language skills. Nevertheless, exposing our children to as many research-based best practices will give them great opportunities to receive the love and nurture that comes from communicating with others. Storytelling and reading are such important components of that communication and I appreciate being part of the Kindermusik studio where we nurture that connection with our kids.
Every once in awhile, my son goes through a stage where he trips and falls over his feet at every turn or bonks his head on the corners as he’s rounding from one room to another. Sure enough, shortly after I notice one of these phases, I also notice that his shirt sleeves are a little too small and his pant legs are a little too high off the ground. (Ugh! We JUST bought you those!) While his new size may be only just noticeable to my eye, it’s clear it even a small growth spurt means that his body can’t quite figure out where it starts and stops.
Have you noticed that in a Kindermusik class we might play a “follow-the-leader” type game? What about going for rides in the laundry baskets or swinging in a towel? Sometimes we make a big tunnel of hula hoops for the kids to go through. All of these activities are designed to increase our children’s propioception, or their ability to move through space with fluidity. In the ever-expanding “Wow! Our Bodies Can Do That?” column of awe, we can list: “they send our brains constant information about where and how we are in space.” This is what allows us to kick a soccer ball or use scissors.
Propioception is basically what my son lacks when he falls out of his chair. He’s 8, now, and finally better; but, for a long time I was convinced that one day I would get a call from his seventh grade math teacher saying, “Your son is a dream to teach [hey, as long as this is my fantasy, I’ll hope for the best], but he always falls out of his seat.” Nevertheless, his balance on a bicycle is far greater than that of my 2-year-old nephew’s. Clearly, we develop these skills over time and with practice, including participating in activities such as the ones we do in Kindermusik. (I suspect this is probably why my son is even as good as he is!).
Check out this great video that explains just how important movement is to our bodies. I really appreciated seeing just how normal it is for there to be fingerprints all up and down the walls in my house. Maybe this will help me react with more patience next time I’m scrubbing up.
Incidentally, propioception is also one of the things that police officers are looking for when they administer field sobriety tests. If you drive by a New Year’s Eve traffic stop and you see a driver out of her or his car walking a white line, will you remember to come back to the blog and tell us that you saw first-hand what can happen when somone’s propioception was compromised?
(Important note: There are some real, neurological disorders that may present themselves in children who seem to be atypical in developing their sense of body awareness. If you suspect that something is “off,” please pursue appropriate avenues to get help in diagnoses and resources.)
Before becoming a full-time, stay-at-home mom, I was an English and Spanish teacher to middle school students. I am passionate about the power of education to change the world, especially when it comes to giving our kids literacy skills.
At my daughter’s preschool “Get Acquainted Day,” the other day, I picked up a brochure titled “Raising a Reader, Raising a Writer: How Parents Can Help.” Of course, it caught my eye—I’m a sucker for how-to lists that may help me be a better parent. The pamphlet was published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), which “serve(s) and act(s) on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources.” Among other things, they offer accreditation to various preschools throughout the nation, requiring that those schools meet certain policies. To be clear, whether a school is NAEYC accredited does not make the difference between a good preschool and a bad one (it can be cost-prohibitive, for instance, for small preschools to fulfill all the obligations). However, it does mean that this pamphlet comes from a reputable source.
Certainly, sometimes when I read stuff like this, it can be a bit of a trigger for me. “Oh, great. More ways that I’m failing my kids.” But not this time! Though the list I include doesn’t reflect everything I read in the pamphlet, these are the bullet points that made me smile.
• Talk, sing and play with your child: Talk as you do simple, everyday things together . . . recite nursery rhymes and do fingerplays, games, and action songs.
• Choose books with care: Look for books that relate to what’s happening in the child’s life at the time • Slow down and have fun: Follow the child’s cues (while reading a story). . . . now and then try skipping an expected phrase to see if the child supplies it.
• Read it again. . . & again: There’s a lot for a child to take in, and children need and want to go through a book more times than grownups can imagine.
So why did they make me smile? Because even though there’s laundry to do (all the time—does it ever STOP?), and even though I sometimes find myself on Facebook more often than I ought to be (Miss Carol’s posting some fantastic links these days that suck me in.), I know that participating in Kindermusik has been a great way for my kids to develop their literacy skills. At least in this regard, I feel like I’m able to set aside some of that ever-present mommy-guilt.
Because every time I sing “There once was a frog who lived in a bog,” I’m doing one of those fingerplays they suggest, and I’m singing and engaging with my kids. I know that the books that our studio chooses are quality storybooks. And since they relate to what we’re working on in Kindermusik, they’re helping to link my child’s real-life experience with the world in print. In Kindermusik we talk a lot about “following the child.” We take our kids where they’re at and build on their skills, rather than get frustrated at what they aren’t doing. This idea doesn’t pertain to moments when we’re on the carpet doing a play-along. It extends to everything we do, including story time. (If you’re in doubt about this, watch your child’s educator respond to the children’s cues next time they’re reading—you’ll see them pause, answer questions, and get just as excited as the child who shouts, “Hey! I have one of those at my house!”). Finally, we know that kids thrive on repetition. This is why some of our activities are repeated from week to week. It’s also why some of our activities are repeated, but with a twist.
Yes, I do work for the studio, so I’m paid to brag about them. However, I would do it for free. Kindermusik is more than a music class-it truly does support developing the whole of my child.
