I designed an experience this evening that was successful in application. I recently acquired a set of Boomwhackers to use at the studio with my individual clients. I have one client with whom I am targeting fine motor development. This client has difficulty manipulating objects because he seems to be extremely sensitive to any stimulus on or around his fingers and hands. He has recently been able to use a mallet to strike a small tambourine that I’d been moving around his periphery to develop his ability to spontaneously exchange the mallet from one hand to the other, as opposed to twisting his entire body to accommodate only one hand. He had not be changing hands without cues before I introduced the Boomwhackers. I used one of the Cs as a target for his E, and found that not only did he strike my Boomwhacker with his wherever I placed it, he also changed his Boomwhacker of his own volition at midline. And, he kept a really nice beat to my singing “You Are My Sunshine” (while I moved my target high for “sunshine” and low for “hung my head and I cried”).
I appreciate the small steps that end up to be big.
I really love this. I am an elementary ed major and I had to make a lesson plan for my music class using boomwhackers. This helped me out a lot. Thanks
Hello Drew,
Thank you for reading. I am happy to know that you found some of my content useful. What did your lesson plan turn out to be, if I may ask? I am interested in learning more about all of the (many) musical applications in the educational system.
Please let me know if you have any more questions, or if there is a certain topic you’d like me to address here.
Thanks,
Erin