from a child development course that I took previously:
DISCIPLINE VS. PUNISHMENT
Discipline is different from punishment because it teaches children to learn from their mistakes rather than making them suffer for them. In fact, imposing suffering actually shifts the focus from the lesson that needs to be learned to who is in control. As a result, punishment focuses on the parent being responsible for controlling a child's behavior, rather than the child controlling his/her own behavior, which is the focus of discipline.
In Positive Discipline, Jane Nelsen offers guidelines for using consequences, which she calls the Four R's of consequences. These four R's actually apply to all discipline techniques, not just natural and logical consequences. Whatever discipline technique you choose, make sure it meets the following four criteria:
* Whenever possible, REVEAL the consequences of misbehavior ahead of time so children will know what to expect the next time they choose to misbehave. "If you want to ride your bike, you need to stay on the sidewalk or I'll know you've decided to put it in the garage." Notice how the responsibility for the behavior and its effect are on the child rather than the parent. Can you tell how different this sounds than if the parent said, "Don't go in the street or I'll take your bike away." First of all, this wording gives the child the idea to go in the street (See "Don't say Don't!" July 1993 T.I.P.S.) then challenges the child to test the rule by wording it like a power threat.
* The discipline should be logically RELATED to the misbehavior. Sending a child to bed or restricting a child from TV has nothing to do with riding a bike in the street.
* Present your comments in a RESPECTFUL manner that lets children know they have a choice about how they behave. "When I see you riding your bike in the street, I know you're not ready to ride it safely and need to put the bike away." Notice how different this sounds than, "That's it, get out of the street! I'm taking your bike away for the rest of the day! You could get killed out there!" When we speak to children in disrespectful ways, they respect us less and tend to talk back at us disrespectfully more often. We earn others' respect by showing respect to them first.
* Provide a REASONABLE solution that will allow children an opportunity to correct the behavior while the lesson is fresh in their minds. "You can try to ride your bike again on the sidewalk after lunch." Notice that the time limit was a matter of hours, rather than days. Always make the time limit as minimal as possible, but long enough to emphasize the lesson. Also, notice that the correct behavior was presented as a choice. The parent is respectfully revealing the discipline again before giving the child another chance. Each time the child violates the rule, increase the time limit gradually. If you restrict children from a bike for a week the first time, they'll spend more time dwelling on their resentment than thinking about the lesson. If they make the same mistake again, they're likely to lose the bike for a month!
Children need practice at being good -- and we need to be honest with ourselves and decide whether our goal is to teach positive behavior, to show who is in power, or to get revenge. If any one of the Four R's is missing from the discipline, it turns the technique into punishment, which has Four (new) Four R's: Resentment, Rebellion, Revenge, and Retreat (lying, learning to not get caught, running away). If your child reacts in any of these ways, review how you presented your discipline. Chances are, one of the Four R's of Discipline was missing. But don't worry, children always give us another chance to learn from our mistakes!
From the galleries of Paris's Musee d'Orsay to the stage of New York's Metropolitan Opera.
As the world adjusts to a more homebound lifestyle—at least for the time being—cultural institutions are opening their doors to the internet, allowing people to enjoy their art, music, and more from across the globe. continue reading...
Whether your child has a slow-burning fuse or explodes like a firecracker at the slightest provocation, every child can benefit from anger management skills.
As parents, we lay the foundation for this skill set by governing our own emotions in the face an angry outburst.
Next time you are dealing with a tantrum from a toddler, or cold shoulder from a teen, put your best foot forward by trying one of these 26 phrases:
1. Instead of: Stop throwing things
Try: When you throw your toys, I think you don't like playing with them. Is that what's going on?
This is a guest post by Ben: parent to two young music students and someone who works closely with music teachers (but is not one himself). We hope to provide a unique perspective that hasn't been provided before, and that it can help all of you music parents out there!
When parents are actively involved in their child’s development, studies have shown that the benefits are enormous. To name a few examples, involved parents lead to: continue reading...
WRITTEN BY NEIL MOORE ON OCTOBER 21, 2016 IN NEIL MOORE.
Simply Music Founder and Executive Director Neil Moore has devoted decades to the possibility of music as a lifelong companion. He has spoken to countless parents who share this vision but are still echoing outdated mindsets that don’t encourage that wonderful relationship with musical self-expression. In this far-reaching conversation, the first in an ongoing series, he outlines a whole different viewpoint that could redesign the musical future for parents and students alike.
For some, mentioning the words music and math in the same sentence just doesn’t fit. A lot of musicians and students of music would go so far as to say they aren’t great at math. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to let them know that they are much better than they think?
Whether in the classroom or at home, if there are children, there are likely to be challenging behaviors. That's because kids will be kids, and we all have our moments. While there are many appropriate ways to address challenging behaviors depending the child, the situation, and the need of the moment, we'd like to suggest a few creative ways to use music to respond to challenging behaviors.
A simple little children's song, even one adapted for the moment, can ease the transition times in a child's day. (continue reading...)
While some say laughter is the best medicine, it turns out that it’s not so bad for learning either! A new French study
found that humor helps toddlers learn. In the study, Rana Esseily and
her colleagues designed an experiment to see whether using humor
impacted the learning abilities of 18-month-olds. continue reading...
Sunday, April 26, 2015
How the brain reads music: the evidence for musical dyslexia
Music education in the western world often emphasizes musical literacy, the ability to read musical notation fluently. But this is not always an easy task – even for professional musicians. Which raises the question: Is there such a thing as musical dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability that occurs when the brain is unable to process written words, even when the person has had proper training in reading. Researchers debate the underlying causes and treatments, but the predominant theory is that people with dyslexia have a problem with phonological processing – the ability to see a symbol (a letter or a phoneme) and relate it to speech sounds. Dyslexia is difficult to diagnose, but it is thought to occur in up to 10% of the population.
In 2000, Neil Gordon, a retired pediatric neurologist, proposed the idea of musical dyslexia (dysmusia), based on growing evidence that the areas of the brain involved in reading music and text differed.
The idea that dyslexia could affect the reading of non-language symbols is not new. For instance, dyscalculia is the difficulty reading and understanding mathematical symbols. Recent research supports dyslexia and dyscalculia as separate conditions with unique causes (dyscalculia is thought to be caused by a deficit in spatial processing in the parietal lobe). If the brain processes words and mathematical symbols differently, why not musical symbols too?
Western music, like language, has a highly evolved coding system. This allows it to be written down and transmitted from composer to performer. But music, unlike language, uses a spatial arrangement for pitch. The page is divided into staffs of five lines each. Basically, the higher a symbol is placed on the staff, the higher the pitch.
Unlike letters in text, pitches can be stacked, indicating simultaneous performance (chords). Music also uses a system of symbols to indicate how pitches should be played. Symbols can indicate duration (rhythm), volume (dynamics) and other performance cues. Music also utilizes written words to indicate both the expressive features of the music and the lyrics in vocal music. Lyrics may be in languages not spoken by the performer.
Due to differences in the physical features of the written systems, it makes sense that the brain would read music and text differently. This appears to be the case – at least to some extent.
In the brain, reading music is a widespread, multi-modal activity, meaning that many different areas of the brain are involved at the same time. It includes motor, visual, auditory, audiovisual, somatosensory, parietal and frontal areas in both hemispheres and the cerebellum – making music reading truly a whole brain activity. With training, the neural network strengthens. Even reading a single pitch activates this widespread network in musicians. While text and music reading share some networks, they are largely independent. The pattern of activation for reading musical symbols and letters is different across the brain.
However, there have been cases where a more limited brain injury impaired reading of one coding system and spared the other.
Ian McDonald, a neurologist and amateur pianist, documented the loss and recovery of his own ability to read music after a stroke, though his ability to read text was unaffected. Oliver Sacks described the case of a professional pianist who, through a degenerative brain disease (Posterior Cortical Atrophy), first lost her ability to read music while retaining her text reading for many years. In another case, showing the opposite pattern, a musician lost his ability to read text, but retained his ability to read music.
Cases where music and language seem to be differently affected by brain damage have fascinated researchers for centuries. The earliest reported case of someone who was unable to speak, but retained his ability to sing, was in the 1745 article, On a Mute who Can Sing.
More recently, the Russian composer, Vissarion Shebalin, lost his language abilities after a severe stroke, but retained his ability to compose. Maintaining the ability to sing in the absence of language has led to the creation of a therapeutic treatment called Melodic Intonation Therapy that essentially replaces speech with song. This allows the patient to communicate verbally. These cases and many others demonstrate that music and language are to some extent separate neurological processes.
Differences in reading ability can occur even within musical notation. Cases have been reported where musicians have lost their ability to read pitch, but retained their ability to read rhythm, and vice versa. fMRI studies have confirmed that the brain processes pitch (spatial information) and rhythm (symbol recognition) differently.
Children in western cultures are taught to read text, but not always taught to read music. Even when they are, inabilities to read music are not generally treated as a serious concern. Many gifted musicians are able to function at a professional level purely learning music by ear. Among musicians, there is a wide range of music reading proficiencies. This is especially apparent with sight reading (the first performance of a notated piece). Identifying musical dyslexia could help explain why some musicians read well and others don’t.
New research is shedding light on how music education may help improve children’s reading and language skills.
In a study from Northwestern University, researchers demonstrated
that children with a better sense of rhythm were able to more clearly
process sound in their brains – a trait that has been linked to stronger
reading and language proficiency. Continue reading...
(Below is a break-down from the "Read all About it" article by Susan B. Neuman, a professor of childhood studies, in the Parent and Child Magazine.)
Choosing Books by Age
birth - 1 year
Look
for small, brightly colored books with photos of babies and familiar
objects like balls and bottles. Draw attention to the objects by saying
things like, "Look at the ball," or point to pictures and ask, "What's
that?"
1 - 2 years
Look
for sturdier books that can be handled and carried; few words on the
pages or simple rhyming themes. Talk about the pictures - you don't
necessarily have to read the book to tell the story.
2 - 3 years
Look
for silly or funny books with subjects like food, animals, or making
friends. Simple word books are good choices. Keep stories short and
read them with few interruptions. Then, re-read them.
3 - 4 years
Look
for books that tell simple stories with a beginning, a middle, and
end; stories that relate to life, like overcoming fear; information
books about children's interests. As you read ask your child questions
about the story: "What do you think will happen next? Why?" Keep them
engaged to improve their early literacy skills.
5 - 6 years
Look
for stories and information books that evoke children's lively
imagination and interests; books about space, machines, time, and other
cultures. Ask your child to tell you what interests her most about the
story. Use open-ended questions to encourage her to relate her ideas.
Allow her to ask questions as you read.
Shared by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.
This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. You know that nice feeling you get when you listen to your favorite tune? What about music that can actually be medical therapy? It does exist. It's prescribed for illnesses from speech disorders to autism, Alzheimer's, even cancer.
Take the case of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. After she was shot in the head earlier this year, one way she learned to talk again was by singing her favorite songs, like this Cyndi Lauper tune. Click here to listen or to continue reading.
SINGING, dancing, drumming and playing the guitar to children with disabilities helps improve their social and motor skills, Australian therapists have found.
For one hour each week, Queensland University of Technology's Kate Williams and a team of music therapists would sit on the floor with a group of disabled children under five years old, joined by their mothers.
"We have a guitar and we use our voice ... and bring along a whole lot of instruments that are accessible and motivating," said Ms Williams.
"Linguists, psychologists, and neuro-scientists have recently changed their long held opinion about the relationship between speaking and singing. The latest data show that music and language are so intertwined that an awareness of music is critical to a baby’s language development. As children grow, music fosters their communication skills. Our sense of song helps us learn to talk, read, and even make friends.
"Brain areas governing music and language overlap. Music and language have much in common. Both are governed by rules and basic elements (word and notes). In language, words make phrases, which combine to make larger phrases and eventually sentences. In music, notes combine and grow to form a melody.
"The neurological ties between music and language go both ways; a person’s native tongue influences the way he perceives music. The same progression of notes may sound different depending on the language the listener learned growing up. Speakers of tonal languages (most Asian languages) are much more likely than Westerners to have perfect pitch. All languages have a melody that is unique. Infants echo the inherent melodies of their native language when they cry, long before they speak."
How Group Drumming May Improve Low-Income Student Behavior by Meredith Melnick Thursday, December 9, 2010
Students in poor communities are among the most vulnerable to social and behavioral problems, often caused by environmental stress. These same kids often lack adequate access to emotional health care, and their schools don't typically have the resources to offer individual counseling.
What's more, in many poor communities, researchers say, psychological counseling often carries a stigma--something for "crazy" people--and can be viewed with suspicion, as a gateway to potential legal trouble.
To help improve social and emotional behavior in disadvantaged students--who account for some 40% of children under 18 in the U.S.--Ping Ho, founder and director of the UCLArts and Healing Center, teamed up with some unlikely partners, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and drum-maker Remo Belli, to create an arts-based behavior therapy. (Continue reading...)
Nearly 20 years ago a small study advanced the notion that listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major could boost mental functioning. It was not long before trademarked “Mozart effect” products appealed to neurotic parents aiming to put toddlers on the fast track to the Ivy League. Georgia’s governor even proposed giving every newborn there a classical CD or cassette. Continue reading...
