Let’s Stay Together: Collaboration in Inclusive Early Childhood Music Therapy Settings Ellary Draper, PhD, MT-BC University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama Laura Brown, PhD, MT-BC Ohio University Athens, Ohio
Collaboration is at the heart of service delivery for music therapists working in early childhood settings. In 2012, most (54.6%) of the over 750,000 children ages 3 through 5 with disabilities were educated in regular early childhood programs (e.g., Head Start, preschool classes) for at least 10 hours per week (U.S. Department of Education, 2014). With more than half of the children in inclusive classrooms, it is likely that many of the 13% of music therapists working with infants and children (AMTA, 2015) provide services to children in those inclusive early childhood classrooms. The role of the music therapist in inclusive early childhood education settings requires not only knowledge of regular and special education practices, but importantly, skills that lead to successful collaboration with classroom teachers, including music teachers and other therapists who may be working with children in inclusive settings. Even in inclusive settings, music therapists continue to face barriers to collaboration. For example, professionals can have high caseloads which result in tight schedules that do not allow time to collaborate in meaningful ways. Also, although there are fewer separate preschools, there continue to be separate classrooms in many early childhood settings. Separate classrooms may nurture the mistaken idea of separate territories and may keep some professionals from collaboration to avoid “overstepping
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their bounds.” Despite these barriers to collaboration in educational settings, some districts are moving to a fullinclusion model; related services are being delivered in regular classrooms as part of a “push-in” model, and there is an increased need for effective, efficient, and meaningful collaboration to provide high quality services for our clients. In addition to the increased quality of services, collaborating with other professionals provides opportunities for children to practice the important goal of generalization of skills. Collaboration on key principles of successful inclusive teaching practices (e.g., Jellison, 2015) can lead to the design of meaningful transfer activities for inclusive settings, and ultimately positive outcomes related to long-term goals. With careful consideration, music therapists providing services in classroom settings may maximize the numerous opportunities to support students practicing IEP goals in music classrooms (Draper, 2016) and other inclusive classrooms (Obiakor, Harris, Mutua, Rotatori, & Algiozzine, 2012; Odom, et al., 1999) when they use a team approach. The American Music Therapy Association’s professional competencies list interdisciplinary collaboration as a skill for entry level music therapists, including developing
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