{"id":60683,"date":"2024-11-15T15:34:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T15:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=60683"},"modified":"2024-11-22T10:13:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T10:13:02","slug":"deafblind-children-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/deafblind-children-music\/","title":{"rendered":"How we use music to support children who are deafblind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three-year-old Arthur is the star of our latest Christmas appeal. He\u2019s deafblind<\/a>, with limited vision and hearing, but he absolutely loves music and sensory play. Here, his support worker Nicky explains how important music has been for connecting Arthur to the world around him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Arthur,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arthur is a delightful little boy. But when I first met him, it was hard to see much of his character. He was quiet and not very responsive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a very gentle start. We very gradually introduced him to music and activities that helped him come out of his shell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, goodness me, you can see his character! He\u2019s a very cheeky chappy, and he absolutely loves music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Help a child like Arthur feel the magic of Christmas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arthur is the star of our 2024 Christmas Appeal. Every child should feel included at this very special time of year. Please give what you can this Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donate<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

How we introduce a child who is deafblind to sound and music<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In my first sessions with Arthur, I let his mum take the lead, because I believe parents are the experts on their own children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first things I tried getting Arthur to play with was a handheld chime bar. These are metal tubes that you can hit to make musical notes, like a xylophone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started by very gently bringing it to Arthur and letting him feel it. We slowly built up his awareness and confidence \u2013 now he reaches out and plays it himself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then brought a resonance board<\/a> for him to try. Resonance boards are boards that children sit or lie on to feel the vibration \u2013 or \u201cresonance\u201d \u2013 of sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resonance boards can be great for children with visual and hearing impairments, but not everyone likes them, because the feeling can be intense. It\u2019s really important to introduce them slowly and observe closely the child\u2019s reaction, looking for subtle signs that they are happy or uncomfortable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Arthur really likes playing the chime bar on his resonance board. He can hear some sound through his bone-anchored hearing aid, but with the resonance board, he can also feel the vibrations of the sound. He really enjoys feeling that strong feedback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can really see when Arthur enjoys something and when he doesn\u2019t. If he doesn\u2019t want to do something, he clams up. But when we put him on the resonance board, he loves it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music isn\u2019t just fun <\/strong>\u2013<\/strong> it\u2019s important for learning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another thing I introduced Arthur to was a sound-activated strobe light. This helped him start to make more sounds as a baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, I would wait for him to make a sound, then copy it myself, but louder, to activate the light. After a while, he started to get it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing the impact of a light coming on when he made a sound, helped him to start vocalising more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Arthur,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One day, he even blew a raspberry \u2013 that was music to my ears! Even a raspberry sound is communication. I joined in, because it\u2019s all about joining the child where they\u2019re at, encouraging them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing we do is body songs \u2013 singing songs about body parts while touching those body parts. Songs give children so much information, because there\u2019s not only the words, but the rhythm, the sound, the feeling. This helps them learn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often when I meet families, they\u2019ve been told lots of negative things about their children, and everything they can\u2019t do. The joy of my job is discovering all the things they can <\/em>do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling Christmas through music<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Music is especially important for children who are deafblind like Arthur at Christmas time. We try to engage children in Christmas through their senses, using smells, bells, fairy lights and everything else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We support Arthur and other children to play with things like baubles and pine tree branches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things the children love most of all at Christmas is the sound of wrapping paper. We make sure we get really crinkly, really shiny paper for them to play with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the sounds of Christmas, with its carols and jingle bells, are vital for communicating the festive spirit to a child who is deafblind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And seeing a child like Arthur, who started life being a bit less responsive, lighting up at Christmas time is a delight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he\u2019s discovering the world, and he\u2019s discovering that it\u2019s a great place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n

Help a child like Arthur feel the magic of Christmas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arthur is the star of our 2024 Christmas Appeal. Every child should feel included at this very special time of year. Please give what you can this Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donate<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arthur’s support worker Nicky explains how important music has been for connecting Arthur to the world around him.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":60691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[1332],"class_list":["post-60683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-nicky-burgess"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60683"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=60683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}