Early Music Education = Better Language Skills

This year at Metcalf, we have increased music education programming for students in our younger grades.  I have been assisting Ms. Mattoon (our outstanding general education Pre-Kindergarten teacher here at Metcalf) with weekly music classes in our Pre-Kindergarten classrooms.  We are using John Feierabend's music and movement curriculum, First Steps in Music for Preschool and Beyond in our classes.  Metcalf was honored to host a conference with Dr. Feierabend in September where many professionals (both from Metcalf and other schools/organizations) were able to learn from the author and practice his techniques.

I am no stranger to music education and firmly believe in the value of music education for all children. I actually began my undergraduate work as a Music Education major before switching to Communication Sciences and Disorders and graduated with a Minor in Music.  In the evenings, I am currently teaching a few private piano students (and have done so since high school).  During my work as an Early Intervention therapist, I often incorporate music and movement into my speech, language and listening therapy sessions.  Formal research aside, I have anecdotally seen that music education helps increase children's attention, problem solving skills, social language skills, and language skills/concept knowledge.  Plus...music is just good, plain FUN!  Music enjoyment, skill and knowledge are gifts that serve individuals from infancy through adulthood.

Today I read an article posted on Facebook by the Auditory Verbal Center of Wheaton:  Theory: Music Underlies Language Acquisition.  There is a lot of research out there that supports the value of music in brain development...and this is just one short illustration of that.

So today...give it a try!  Sing, dance and be joyful with your children and students!

Listening and Spoken Language Preschool Program at Metcalf

The 2013-14 school year brought an exciting new program to Metcalf...the Heart of Illinois Low Incidence Association (HILIA) Listening and Spoken Language Preschool!  Check out our flier for more information (click on the image to enlarge)!

New Blog!

This is presently my third school year at Thomas Metcalf Laboratory School and one of my personal goals for this school year was getting a Speech/Language blog up and running...so here we go!  On this blog I plan to share some of the things going on in room 104 at Metcalf (our speech room!) as well as provide resources for parents and teachers regarding speech and language milestones and tips for working with children who may have speech and/or language related difficulties.  I also plan to post information periodically for undergraduate and graduate students working toward degrees in Speech-Language Pathology.  One of the big (and very exciting!) parts of Metcalf School is our affiliation with Illinois State University as a Laboratory School.  We are privileged as professionals here working at the school to work and train talented undergraduate and graduate students working toward degrees in related fields including (but not limited to!) education, psychology, speech-language pathology, audiology, special education, and more!

Feel free to post questions or e-mail me at rlbrunn@ilstu.edu.  Stay tuned, as I hope to begin to post regularly to this site.  Later this week I will be attending the ASHA convention in Chicago, IL and hope to have many new tidbits from that to share!