Adult-modelling approaches in ASN

For children with more serious and complex needs, with no language and minimal intentional response or motor control,
the freeplay approaches (Modelling by adults) allow Educators and Support staff to provide children with simple but
beautiful pattern and information-rich musical experiences, with untuned percussion and pitched bells played around the
children, and sometimes on their bodies, or with hand-on- hand techniques, helping the children to participate with passive
movements.

This is very often very pleasurable and engaging for children, with mostly an observable change in demeanour and calm
concentrated listening, and sometimes where able, rhythmic movements along with the music. This can happen every day,
and can be tailored to different themes and topic areas, and tailored to suit individual children’s preferences and needs,
and can link in well to approached like sensory stories.

In this video, staff are playing untuned percussion with a drum groove, with the lead educator calling 'half-time', 'normal-time' or 'double-time', so that each educator plays at different speeds relative to the beat of the drum groove, to provide a shifting but co-ordinted pattern of sounds and rhythms around the children. Yo can see use of hand-on-hand playing to involve children more physically with the music, sensing the passive movements through their proprioceptive receptors, which will integrate with sound information coming into their auditory processing pathways. Similar approaches can involve pitchd bells, counting up to 4 or 8 and playing on a number of choice, and the use words to create songs and chants- which can relate to topics being explored, or include the names of the children.