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research-article2015
RSM0010.1177/1321103X15613645Research Studies in Music EducationSalvador
Article
Music instruction for elementary students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments: A case study
Research Studies in Music Education 2015, Vol. 37(2) 161–174 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1321103X15613645 rsm.sagepub.com
Karen Salvador
University of Michigan-Flint, USA
Abstract Although elementary general music specialists teach students with a variety of exceptionalities every day (Chen, 2007; Hahn, 2010; Hoffman, 2011), many music teacher preparation programs do not adequately address exceptionality (Salvador, 2010). Articles regarding “strategies that work” appear perennially in the professional literature (e.g., Hammel, 2004), but these strategies have seldom been the subject of empirical research in peer-reviewed literature, and none of these articles pertain to how music teachers modify instruction to meet the needs of students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments (CI) who attend music with their self-contained categorical classes. This qualitative study details the practices of an elementary general music teacher with regard to music instruction of students with moderate to severe CI, both when these students were included with their fourth-grade peers and also when they attended music with their self-contained class.
Keywords children, intellectual disability, music education, music education policy, music play, special education
Introduction The fourth-grade music class is designing their upcoming performance. For the song Sandy Land, the students decide that everyone will sing the melody first, then half the group will sing the melody while the other half sings a harmony part, then they will add melody bells on chord roots. Ms. Davis brings out the melody bells so that they can practice, and many students wiggle, whisper, and giggle, wide-eyed at the possibility of being chosen to play the bells in the performance. Even in their excitement, several students immediately suggest Zack should be one of the players, because he usually plays the bells while the other fourth graders play their recorders. Ms. Davis facilitates nominations and an anonymous vote. The class cheers when they learn Zack will be one of the bell players in the concert.
Corresponding author: Karen Salvador, PhD, University of Michigan, 126 French Hall, 303. East Kearsley, Flint, MI 48502, USA. Email: ksalvado@umflint.edu
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Later that day, in music with his classmates who also have intellectual disabilities, Zack demonstrates how he will play bells in the performance. His timing coincides with the first beat of each measure in the recorded music, just as it should. Ms. Davis passes out scarves to the other students so they can move to the music while Zack plays. (Field Notes, May 17, 2010)
For six weeks in spring of 2010, I had the privilege of watching Carrie Davis1 as she taught elementary general music. Specifically, I was observing her assessment practices, and tracking the ways she applied the results of any given assessment in her instruction to meet the music learning needs of individual students. By happenstance as much as design, my observations included one fourth-grade class and one class for upper-elementary students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments (CI).2 Two students with Down’s Syndrome, who I’ll call Zack and Katie, attended music with both classes. Although my research was focused on assessment practices and their impact on individualization of music instruction, my attention was consistently drawn to Ms. Davis’s teaching interactions with Zack and Katie. I noticed differences between how she taught these students in their self-contained class and their inclusive class, and also noted changes in the students’ musical and non-musical behavior in each setting. This offered an opportunity to explore the characteristics of music teaching and learning for students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments in both mainstreamed and self-contained settings. The purpose of this study was to examine how one elementary general music teacher individualized instruction to meet the music learning needs of students with moderate to severe cognitive impairment (CI), whom she taught both with their fourth-grade age peers and with their self-contained upper-elementary CI class.
Methodology This study followed a qualitative, instrumental case study design. A case was examined to provide insight into the specific issue of how a teacher individualized instruction for exceptional students (Creswell, 2007). The participant was purposefully selected (Miles & Huberman, 1984) because she provided an exemplary teacher perspective concerning areas of music education about which many teachers are inexperienced or uncertain—assessment and individualization of instruction. This article presents one case study from a larger, multiple-case study investigating how three elementary general music teachers used assessment to individualize music instruction. The questions explored in this paper emerged naturally from observation of Ms. Davis’s teaching, not out of exploration of the existing literature. Therefore, this report of research presents themes through narrative vignettes, describes and examines each theme, and then discusses each theme in light of extant research.
Researcher lens For three years as an undergraduate student, I worked in group homes for adults with moderate to profound developmental disabilities part-time during the school year, and in the summers I worked full-time at a summer program for young adults with moderate to severe developmental disabilities. I also completed all coursework and clinical practica for a music therapy degree, although I did not undertake an internship and am not a certified therapist. My first full-time job after I graduated was as an activities therapist at an inpatient rehabilitation facility for adults with traumatic brain injuries. In both the group home and rehabilitation settings, I was responsible for delivering therapeutic programming, accompanying clients into the community, and assisting with personal hygiene and other self-care. Through these work experiences, I had Downloaded from rsm.sagepub.com by guest on November 29, 2015
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already interacted with exceptional populations before I began teaching. I taught elementary general music for four years in schools that housed categorical classrooms for students with moderate to severe autism spectrum disorders and emotional impairment. My graduate work in music education, undergraduate work in music therapy, experiences in group home and rehabilitation settings, and my tenure as an elementary general music teacher all informed my observations of Ms. Davis’s teaching.
Participant and setting At the time of data collection, Carrie Davis was completing her eighth year teaching general music. She taught all the students in one elementary school, which included K–4th grades as well as Young Fives, Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE), and Cognitive Impairment (CI) categorical classrooms. Ms. Davis holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education, and completed the final two credits of her master’s degree in music education the summer directly following her participation in this study. She is certified to teach music in grades K–12, Spanish in grades 6–8, all subjects in grades K–5, and K–8 self-contained classroom.3 Ms. Davis taught in a large school district located in a mostly upper middle-class suburb of the Midwest. Ms. Davis taught about 500 students per week in a well-supplied, spacious music classroom. Each grade level K–4 attended music class for 35 to 40 minutes, twice per week except half-day kindergarten, which met once each week. Young Fives and ECSE attended music once each week for 20 to 30 minutes, and the two CI classes each came twice a week for 25 minutes.
Data collection Data comprised observations of one fourth-grade class and one CI class each time they met from April 19 to May 26. Observations were cancelled on several occasions due to field trips or assemblies, and Ms. Davis was ill on one observation day. This resulted in 10 observations of each class as it met normally (40 minutes twice a week for fourth grade, 25 minutes twice a week for CI), plus one observation of the entire fourth grade at the dress rehearsal for an upcoming performance. Naturalistic observation. Observation of intact elementary music classes was the primary data collection procedure in this study. I attempted to be as unobtrusive as possible in order to have the least impact, but I recognized that my presence in the classroom had the potential to change the classroom climate. Occasionally, students would check for my reaction to some event, or they would talk, sing, dance or play to me or to the video camera. In general, students appeared accustomed to various adults coming in and out of the room and seemed to adjust quickly to my presence and to the video camera. I took field notes on my computer as I observed. Video. I video-recorded each observation, viewed the video one week after it was recorded, and filled out a video response sheet adapted from Miles and Huberman (1984, pp. 53–55). I also selected video excerpts to watch with Ms. Davis for verbal protocol analysis (VPA). In VPA, a participant is invited to view video of herself teaching, and to pause the video to describe or reflect on what she is seeing (Flinders & Richardson, 2002). This technique, also referred to as a “think-aloud,” can provide valuable information on the practices of teachers “in the moment.” Video excerpts for VPA comprised segments of teaching when I deemed Ms. Davis to be most focused on and/or successful with delivering instruction based on the needs of individual Downloaded from rsm.sagepub.com by guest on November 29, 2015
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students. Ms. Davis’s VPA session lasted nearly two hours, and was audio-recorded and transcribed for inclusion in data analysis. Interviews and journals. Ms. Davis also participated in interviews before and after the data collection period, and provided journal entries regarding the classes I observed. In the initial interview (and in follow-up questions via email), I asked about demographic characteristics of Ms. Davis’s students, school, and district as well as her philosophy regarding training in, and approaches to assessment and individualizing instruction. Journals were submitted by email in response to a standard journal prompt that I sent after each class I observed. Sometimes, I also asked specific questions about interactions I observed. The final interview occurred via email after I had developed preliminary themes in my data analysis. I asked about Ms. Davis’s impression of the themes and also solicited her comments on the examples from her teaching that I used to describe the themes.
Trustworthiness/credibility Three measures established trustworthiness of the data: triangulation, member checks, and peer review. I used multiple sources, including field notes, teacher journals, video response sheets, VPA, and interviews. These various forms of information and the viewpoints they represented allowed for triangulation of data (Miles & Huberman, 1984). In addition, transcriptions of interviews were returned to Ms. Davis for member checks, so that she could ensure accurate portrayal of her thoughts by editing or adding to the transcript. Ms. Davis was also asked to comment on the credibility of my initial data analysis as a further member check. Finally, my preliminary findings were peer reviewed by colleagues in the fields of elementary music and special education.
Data analysis For this article, I revisited all transcripts and video response sheets from the larger study with fresh eyes, looking specifically for data relevant to the topic at hand using the constant comparative method of data analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). In this inductive analysis, I looked for themes that recurred within the data. I identified representative examples of each theme, and I also looked for unusual or exceptional occurrences related to the topic of this study. As I collected the data and in a subsequent complete reading of all video review forms and transcripts, I made a master list of emergent topics, which I then analyzed and sorted into messy, overlapping theme groups. I assigned each potential theme a color, and read again, highlighters and post-it notes in hand, seeking specific evidence and/or descriptors of each theme; highlighting and flagging them. Finally, for themes that were adequately represented in the data, I created a table in which vignettes and quotes were searchable by theme. The resultant main themes included: (1) readiness to teach exceptional children, (2) inclusive practices in fourth-grade music, and (3) instruction in the self-contained setting.
Results Readiness to teach exceptional children When I started here, my principal said, “Oh, don’t worry—just do music therapy with them.” And I said, “I don’t know music therapy!” [The principal replied:] “Oh, sure you do,” And I said “Oh, no, no, no …” She [the principal] said, “Just try something. You’ll be fine. Just sing about wiping your nose or something.” Downloaded from rsm.sagepub.com by guest on November 29, 2015
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… From the beginning, I was just trying something new every time [the CI class] came. My first year, I had no idea what they were capable of doing, because I hadn’t been given any more information than “Don’t worry about it right now, you’ve got to get to know the whole rest of the school” from their teacher. And I’m like “No, please, give me a little bit … The expectations, at least?” (Think Aloud, pp. 14–15)
Ms. Davis felt unprepared to teach self-contained classes of students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments. The topic of her preparation (or lack thereof) emerged with regard to her ability to modify and/or adapt instruction for these students in mainstreamed music classes and also was a consistent thread in her discussion of teaching the self-contained classes, as in the quote above. Upon leaving her teacher preparation program Ms. Davis knew that she would teach children with a variety of cognitive, musical, and physical needs; and yet she had not considered that some of those students might be non-verbal, just learning to walk, and/or still experiencing their environment by putting objects in their mouths. She certainly had not been exposed to methods for music instruction of self-contained classrooms for students with these exceptionalities. She was at a loss for what to do, and the principal and special educator in this case did not offer any specific requirements, strategies, or advice. Elementary general music teachers in schools all over the United States teach students with a variety of special needs every day (Chen, 2007; Hahn, 2010; Hoffman, 2011). Despite the ubiquity of exceptionality, many music teacher preparation programs do not include specific training with regard to teaching exceptional children (Salvador, 2010). Moreover, even those undergraduates who receive some instruction regarding exceptionality may not feel wellprepared to work with students who have moderate to severe impairments (Hahn, 2010; Hourigan, 2009; Linsenmeier, 2004). Articles regarding “strategies that work” appear perennially in the professional literature, as elementary music teachers and researchers share promising practices (e.g., Hammel, 2004). However, these strategies have seldom been the subject of empirical research in peer-reviewed literature, and none of these articles pertain to how elementary music teachers are modifying instruction to meet the needs of students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments who attend music with their self-contained categorical classes. Collaboration with special educators could help mitigate this lack of preparation. When Ms. Davis sought out her administrator and the CI teacher, perhaps their inexperience with music instruction made them wary of offering suggestions. However, a survey of elementary music teachers revealed that when special education teachers offered specific information about characteristics of students with disabilities, this appeared to affect curriculum design and delivery in music classes (Chen, 2007). Participation of music teachers in Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings and other collaborative goal-setting and information-sharing sessions has been cited as helpful in mainstreaming (Hahn, 2010; Hammel, 2001). These practices may also be helpful to music teachers as they apply what they know about music instruction to their work with categorical classrooms of students with exceptionalities.
Inclusive practices in fourth-grade music Today’s lesson centers on the song Sandy Land. In the 40-minute class:
•• Students keep macrobeat and microbeat, separately and simultaneously, by swaying, tapping, alternating and combining these movements while Ms. Davis sings. Finally, the students are asked to combine macro and microbeat movements, to freeze and sing inside their heads when Ms. Davis signals, and to recommence their movement when she signals again. Now that they have heard the song about six times, the students identify the meter, tonality, and form. Downloaded from rsm.sagepub.com by guest on November 29, 2015
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Research Studies in Music Education 37(2) •• Students sing Sandy Land in unison while Ms. Davis sings a harmony part. Then, small groups of 2–5 students sing the melody while the rest of the class sings the harmony part. •• Students play chords for Sandy Land on boomwhackers, rotating so that everyone has a turn in the singing group, the I-chord group, and the V-chord group. •• Students read silently through music notation for Sandy Land projected onto the wall to find any notes they do not yet know the fingerings for on their recorders (in preparation for using notation to learn to play the song on their recorders as homework). •• Students take turns playing a harmony part on recorders in small groups while the rest of the class sings the melody. (Field Notes, April 21, 2010, edited)
The activities described above were representative of Ms. Davis’s fourth-grade music instruction, which typically included: playing recorder and other instruments; beat movement and body percussion; discussing the elements of a piece of music; singing melodies and harmonies; reading music notation; and swift transitions from activity to activity. The only regular feature of Ms. Davis’s fourth-grade music instruction that was not present in the class described above was movement in the form of folk dance or creative movement. Modifications. When students from the CI class attended music with their fourth-grade peers, some activities, such as singing and playing boomwhackers on chord roots, proceeded without observable modifications other than the assistance of a paraprofessional (e.g., Field Notes April 21, 2010, p. 2). However, during recorder instruction, Zack used “melody bells” to play the chord roots or the melody, depending on the song being played (Field Notes, April 19, 2010, p. 1). These bells were placed on the floor, and Zack played by striking a button on the top of the bell with the palm of his hand, resulting in a pleasant, mellow sound, and accurate playing was facilitated by color-coded notation and the assistance of a musically proficient paraprofessional. Through trial and error Ms. Davis discovered that this approach allowed Zack to demonstrate and develop his musical abilities: I didn’t think [Zack playing] every note of the song would work. So we started [color coding] the first note of every third measure. But then [I thought], OK, well let’s start with the first note of every phrase—you know, that is more musical. Maybe if he is hearing things somewhat musically, that will make more sense. And then, with Hot Cross Buns, he started to fill in some of the other pitches himself, and they were correct. And he did it with enough repetition, that we colored those in, too. (Think Aloud, p. 17)
Although Ms. Davis thought of color-coding on her own, this modification has been presented in the research literature as a way to help students with a variety of intellectual disabilities read music (e.g., Whipple & VanWeelden, 2012). Her use of an alternate instrument, while certainly not unprecedented in music therapy, is not explored in music education research literature. Peer assistance. Fourth-grade peers were responsible for most of the direct assistance that Katie received in fourth-grade music. Katie sometimes seemed withdrawn or off-task during recorderplaying activities. In one such situation, the student sitting next to Katie pointed with her finger for Katie to follow in the music (Field Notes, March 5, 2010, p. 2). While simply pointing in the music did not enable Katie to read it, Katie’s level of participation and positive affect increased. Zack was usually accompanied by a paraprofessional, who modified instruction as described above. However, one day Zack was assisted by a substitute paraprofessional, and fourth-grade students helped the “sub” find the correct bells for Zack to play (Field Notes, April 28, 2010, p. 2). I was surprised by the frequency of peer assistance, and also by how proactive and thoughtful
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the fourth-grade students were as they perceived needs and took action to help. I asked Ms. Davis about this and she replied: It’s fostered throughout the school … [We] encourage it from day one. Our counselor does special lessons on helping others. It just seems that [with] the inclusion of the cognitively impaired program, [the students] grow up knowing they have to help others. Because sometimes a friend can’t even make it across the room by themselves, [or] they don’t understand that direction from the classroom teacher … [The students] just jump in and do it [help], they are there for each other, they celebrate every little accomplishment. (Think Aloud, p. 10)
Empowering students to handle their own problems seemed to result in some excellent solutions: A girl from the class walked Zack to the circle, and he tried to hug her. She firmly said, “Zack, no hug” and touched his outstretched arms in a way that held him back (both voice and touch were gentle and appropriate). He hugged her anyway by ducking under her arms. She patted him on the head, and stepped back. Another girl helped her disengage from him and get him seated between the two of them. Later, when the class moved to sit in a different area of the room, these girls helped Zack get up from the floor and settle into a new spot between them. (Field Notes, March 5, 2010, p. 1)
Students also were not afraid to seek help if they needed it: Zack leaned back against a classmate’s legs. She smiled at him and patted his head—perhaps not an age appropriate interaction, but very sweet. Then, Zack swiped her recorder cleaning stick and started to play “keep away” with it. She tried to get it back, but didn’t know how to handle it when he did not respond to the verbal cues she had been taught to use. The student went to Ms. Davis for help. (Field Notes, April 28, 2010, p. 2)
The degree to which a student is included in a multi-ability musical environment is determined in large part by the gatekeeping of influential class members (Moss, 2009) and how open the teacher is to students’ exceptionalities (Hammel, 2001; Haywood, 2006; Moss 2009). I was continually struck by how helpful, accepting, protective, and proud the fourth-grade students were of their exceptional peers (e.g., Field Notes, May 12, 2010, p. 3; Field Notes, May 26, 2010, p. 1). The school climate and Ms. Davis’s modeling seemed to be important factors in Zack and Katie’s social and musical successes in fourth-grade music class. Many of the activities common in fourth-grade music were far out of reach for Katie and Zack in terms of physical and cognitive ability. For example, they both lacked the fine motor coordination to cover holes on a recorder or use the tongue to control articulation. Zack and Katie also did not have the cognitive skills required to decode music notation. Neither of them matched pitch with their voices, and Zack rarely used words, let alone attempted to sing. To adapt and modify instruction to meet their music learning needs, Ms. Davis sometimes changed the nature of activities and relied on peer helpers.
Instruction in the self-contained setting Early childhood approach. After her first few years of “trying something new every time they came” (Think Aloud, p. 15), Ms. Davis adopted an instructional model for her self-contained CI classes based on an early childhood instructional approach. Ms. Davis learned about this approach, sometimes called “Music Play,” in a Music Learning Theory (MLT) early childhood certification course (Think Aloud, p. 17). In Music Play, instruction is informal (Gordon, 2003).
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There is no particular expectation for student response or participation, and the early childhood music teacher varies the musical content and props according to student responsiveness in order to foster participation and musical development. That is, although the teacher may have a lesson plan in the form of a list of possible activities (songs, chants, movement) and related props (drums, egg shakers, scarves, puppets, etc.), this plan is used as a menu of possibilities to meet the emergent musical needs of individual students as they become apparent in the moment. This informal mode of instruction is not typically used in elementary music education. Elementary music teachers often have plans that are structured in a certain order, in which activities are allotted a prescribed amount of time, and which include specific learning goals or expected responses. Music Play optimally would start at birth, so the early childhood certification course encourages teachers to expect and value responses that range from involuntary vocalizations or movements to purposeful vocalizations and motions, and could even include accurate, recognizable musicking such as moving to a beat or singing a song (Gordon, 2003). In an MLT early childhood music class, children are given constant opportunities to respond through vocalization/singing, movement, chanting, or improvisation, and their ideas are sought for how to structure activities. Teachers engage individual students in improvised sung, chanted, movement, or percussion conversational exchanges that are structured to foster individual musical development at the child’s level. Student responses (vocalization or movement) are welcomed, and it is acceptable and expected that some children may simply absorb the musical environment. There is no “right” response. The following vignette synthesizes moments from several observations to allow the reader to “experience” some of Ms. Davis’s method of informal instruction in her music classes for self-contained classes of students with CI: Ms. Davis starts singing: “Look who’s here, it’s a friend of mine.” This song incorporates each student’s name, and the student who is named accompanies the song on an instrument. The instrumentalist also gets to choose how the other students move. Today, it is bongo drums, and Zack plays first. Zack wants the other students to move like a pirate (swinging a bent arm, squinting an eye, and saying “argh” after each phrase of the song). He shows this movement rather than verbalizing; he rarely speaks. His drumming seems random, unrelated to the song. The students are seated in a circle. Three paraprofessionals are dispersed around the circle, seated on the floor next to students who need the most physical and social assistance. At the end of the song, Zack chooses Maria to have the next turn, and takes the bongo drums over to her. Maria asks the students to wiggle their eyebrows as their movement, and she plays the bongos on the beat. Eyebrow wiggling looks funny and it’s hard to sing and wiggle your eyebrows at the same time. The adults giggle along with the students. This song is familiar, and many students sing. Singing abilities vary widely: Allie sings loudly and accurately. Katie drones the words in a speaking-voice monotone. Other students (Andrew and Cara) sometimes respond with grunting vocalizations, and still others, such as Zack, are silent. All three paraprofessionals sing and model the movements, and seem enthusiastic even on the 11th time through the song. Chuck is not singing, and says he is not having fun. He says he wants to go to gym and he is worried he missed it. Ms. Davis continues the activity, and one of the paraprofessionals talks to Chuck, reminding him he is expected to participate. By now, everyone has taken a turn with the bongo drum. In the course of worrying about gym class, Chuck mentioned that he would like to play with a ball. Ms. Davis puts the bongos away and starts “Roll the Ball like This,” a song in minor that incorporates a ball as the prop. She did not plan to sing this song today, but it succeeds in pulling Chuck back into participation. After a few iterations of “Roll the Ball like This,” a student vocalizes in a rhythmic way, and Ms. Davis echoes the vocalization. (It sounded like: uuhhhh—ooooo buh buh). Another student copies Ms. Davis, and this leads to a series of chanted conversational exchanges, in which Ms. Davis seeks to engage each student.
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Ms. Davis used informal music instruction based upon MLT Music Play for her self-contained CI classes. The above anecdote demonstrated her use of student ideas (how to move, whose turn would be next, etc.) and incorporating unplanned activities to draw a student back into the group (“Roll the Ball like This”). In her informal teaching, Ms. Davis allowed for a variety of group musical responses, such as singing and movement, as well as individual responses such as playing the drums, improvised sung or chanted “conversations,” and singing when cleaning up. Ms. Davis stated that she is expected to teach social skills during CI music classes. Therefore, she incorporated an emphasis on socialization goals—learning each other’s names, taking turns, passing things nicely, participating, and following directions. This presented some difficulties, because Ms. Davis preferred to adhere to the informal music instruction ideal of voluntary participation, but the CI room goals included encouraging maximal participation for each student (Think Aloud, p. 17). Although Ms. Davis’s decision to incorporate Music Play into her teaching was not based on research, there is some support for this approach in the literature. MLT’s early childhood teaching methods were not simply intended for children under a certain age, but were designed for students in music babble—those who could not yet match pitch or keep a beat—regardless of chronological age (Gordon, 2003, pp. 108–111). This informal approach to music instruction may be adapted for students of any age who struggle with matching pitch or finding beat, so it is age-appropriate for this specific group of upper-elementary CI students. Furthermore, MLT early childhood music instruction provides a framework for music learning at the musical and cognitive functioning level of these students. For example, several students in the CI class were nonverbal, and Music Play incorporates and values the responses of nonverbal participants. Although MLT early childhood instructional methods are not specifically intended for elementaryaged special education populations, Ms. Davis is not the only teacher to adapt these methods for older children with exceptionalities (Gruber, 2007; Stringer, 2004; Valerio, Sly, Gruber, & Stockman, 2011). Furthermore, some elements of Music Play are similar to the creative music therapy described by Nordoff and Robbins (2007), which is widely used with children and adults who have moderate to profound developmental disabilities, although for therapeutic rather than music educational goals. Paraprofessionals. I was struck by the musicality and professionalism of the three paraprofessionals who accompanied the 11 CI students when they attended music (e.g., Field Notes April 19, 2010, p. 2). I asked Ms. Davis about the evolution of this excellent collaboration: Let’s see … [I said] “In music time, thank you so much for keeping behavior [under control], can you model the singing for them, too?” And some days [when adults start conversations], I will just stop and say, “Are we ready?” … [paraprofessional] said, “Now, some teachers don’t like us to do anything and sit in the corner, some like us to sit with the kids, and some like us to do what the kids are doing, and some like us to help them but not sing, what do you want?” And I said, “Well, here is what I would love …” (Think Aloud, pp. 13–14)
It seems that Ms. Davis’s success working with the CI class is due in part to skilled paraprofessionals with whom she has negotiated for a positive classroom environment. The paraprofessionals are trusted partners who are valued for their knowledge of the individual students’ physical, behavioral, social, and academic needs. They are expected to facilitate appropriate musical and social behavior by modeling. Ms. Davis fosters a collaborative professional environment in which she invites participation from the paraprofessionals, communicates with them about her expectations, and solicits their advice. Downloaded from rsm.sagepub.com by guest on November 29, 2015
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Discussion Balancing music learning goals and social goals In social mainstreaming, “[s]tudents with severe disabilities are included during regular education … with the goal of providing social interaction with nondisabled peers rather than mastering academic concepts” (Adamek & Darrow, 2005, p. 50). That is, material presented during music instruction might not be accessible to the student with special needs, but music learning is not the goal of social mainstreaming. In contrast, inclusion entails “the [music] teacher collaborat[ing] with special education experts for adaptation ideas and support” (p. 50). In an inclusive model, music activities and curriculum are adapted so that students with special needs also progress musically. This juxtaposition begs the question: Is the purpose of music education in elementary schools to operate as an arena for socialization with age peers, or to increase the musical skills and abilities of each individual student? These goals are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but perhaps must be carefully balanced. In a similar juxtaposition, Ms. Davis was asked to teach socialization skills in the self-contained classes, including compulsory participation. However, her training in Music Play led her to suspect that compelling participation was not beneficial to the musical growth of individual students, who would be better served by being encouraged to listen and absorb sounds until they voluntarily responded (Gordon, 2003). Perhaps one benefit of teaching students both in their self-contained classes and also with their age peers is that it allows the teacher an opportunity to better balance musical and social learning. Weighing musical and social benefits. Ms. Davis stated that neither Zack nor Katie had the fine motor skills or academic capability for the recorder playing or music reading expected from the rest of the fourth-grade class, which was why Zack was playing bells and using alternative color-coded notation (Think Aloud, p. 9). Despite this acknowledged lack of prerequisite skills, Katie played recorder. I noted that she was frequently off-task, and that even when she “played,” she was clearly not accurate in her fingerings, or even covering any holes (Field Notes, April 19, 2010, p. 1). When I asked why Ms. Davis had adapted her instruction for Zack and not Katie, she told me that Katie’s parents did not want her to do anything different than her peers in music (Think Aloud, p. 10). However, according to Ms. Davis, Zack’s parents responded differently to the suggestion of an alternate music curriculum: They were thrilled … They asked … “Is there anything else [other than recorder] we can do?” … I said, “Well, actually, yeah. I was thinking of a couple of different things that we can do …” And they [said] “Yeah, do whatever he can do to be successful.” … I think there are so many battles that [parents of exceptional children] have to fight. It seems like there is a spectrum of acceptance. Sometimes … I think that with Katie’s parents, [they feel like], “she can hold a recorder—she can look like everyone else.” (Think Aloud, pp. 10–11)
Often, the parents of a student with special needs control what services their child receives, including whether an adapted curriculum is provided, regardless of the teacher’s opinion regarding the educational soundness of this decision. In this case, Ms. Davis must and did abide by parents’ wishes. Ms. Davis wanted to differentiate music instruction for her students with special needs and even had ideas for how that could be accomplished, but she was not allowed to implement her
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ideas with all students. Katie may have benefited socially by being like the other fourth graders as she held a recorder and blew into it. Zack seemed to be thriving musically while learning to play bells with alternate notation instead of the recorder. He played “his part” on bells for his CI class and glowed with apparent pride (Field Notes, May 17, 2010, p. 6). Musical behavior in different settings. Observing Ms. Davis’s instruction of Zack and Katie in music with their fourth-grade class and in their self-contained CI class invited comparisons of their musicking in these settings: [Katie]’s not singing as much with this class as she does with the CI class. This is musically beyond her readiness, but her lack of vocal effort might be evidence that she is definitely aware that the sounds she produces are not the same as those around her [in fourth-grade music]. (CD Journal, p. 5) With Katie especially … [in fourth-grade music] she has had a lot of shut down behaviors before… Where she just… she seems to just need to shut down, but she is still watching. She just absorbs for … depending on the activity two classes to two whole months. And then she jumps right in as if she has been doing it all along, which is fine. But, with the CI class, she now has the role of mama hen. She is one of the older ones, and especially at the beginning of the year, it was so fun. “Now, you sit here, and do this …” (Think Aloud, p. 16)
This difference in Katie’s behavior in the two settings is corroborated by my field notes. For example: “… in this class [CI], rather than being disengaged, Katie participates and smiles. It seems fun for her” (Field Notes, May 17, 2010, p. 5). Katie’s social behavior was withdrawn and off-task in fourth-grade music, where she often engaged in behavior such as playing with her recorder, asking for tissues, and trips to the bathroom (e.g., Field Notes, April 28, 2010, p. 2). Zack was essentially nonverbal, and his participation levels in his self-contained and mainstreamed settings did not differ according to my observations. Ms. Davis commented: His participation is more group-oriented during CI. More …. Almost oblivious of what else is going on half the time with the fourth graders. Yet, at the same time the other half of the time, he knows he has a captive audience with [the fourth-grade class] and they are so loving and encouraging … He will do something again and again to hear that applause, or to get that “Good job, Zack!” (Think Aloud, p. 16)
Inclusion in music class through modification of musical activities and expectations may be more beneficial to students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments than social mainstreaming. Katie took a leadership role in CI and withdrew in fourth-grade music, while Zack’s behavior was similar in both settings. These differences could have been the result of personality or other factors. However, Katie was physically and academically incapable of many of the tasks she was asked to achieve in fourth-grade music, and her off-task or withdrawn behavior may be a response to that. Because Zack’s curriculum was modified in fourth-grade music, the musical challenge was appropriate in both mainstreamed and self-contained settings, and he seemed to be learning, achieving, and socially comfortable both with his age peers and in his self-contained class.
Conclusion In today’s diverse school environments, music teachers are expected to serve students with an increasingly broad spectrum of learning needs (Adamek & Darrow, 2005). Ms. Davis, like many elementary music teachers, did not feel prepared by her undergraduate coursework to meet the
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music learning needs of students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments (Hourigan, 2009; Linsenmeier, 2004; Salvador, 2010). After struggling and experimenting, she adopted an informal approach based on MLT techniques for teaching self-contained CI classes, which seemed to offer appropriate musical challenges and to elicit musical responses and behaviors. The musical modeling, teaching skill, and expertise of the CI paraprofessionals contributed to Ms. Davis’s success in working with these students. Music instruction for students with cognitive impairments might involve modification of curriculum when they are mainstreamed for music with their age peers. Ms. Davis’s experience seemed to indicate that, if parents allow this modification, it may be beneficial to individual students’ music learning. Recent research has explored ways that undergraduate music education programs could improve preparation for new teachers with regard to teaching music to exceptional children (e.g., Hourigan, 2009; Whipple & VanWeelden, 2012). However, Ms. Davis had been teaching for more than eight years, and seemed to feel that she had to figure all of this out on her own. Research regarding how best to disseminate information to practicing teachers regarding inclusive practices and teaching music to self-contained classes of students with moderate to severe impairments would be most welcome. Furthermore, although there is increasing focus on inclusive practice in music instruction, teaching self-contained groups of students with more severe disabilities may present different challenges. Studies that investigate approaches to music instruction in this setting, or investigate teacher preparation in this area would also be helpful.
Not either–or, perhaps both? In examining musical and social learning in self-contained and inclusive instruction, it seems that each setting is valuable to the musical and social development of the students. Using a play-based early childhood instructional model appears to be a viable option for teaching music to children with moderate to severe CI in a self-contained setting. This instruction may provide needed scaffolding for these students to feel more successful in an inclusive setting. An inclusive grade-level music class may very well be an optimal environment for mainstreaming of students with a variety of exceptionalities, and it appears that modifying curriculum is viable and beneficial. Music and musicking can be used to build cognitive skills, improve fine motor coordination, practice gross motor skills, and to foster social and emotional learning. Most importantly, music is a universal art form and a discipline that is the birthright of every human, and therefore each student deserves the opportunity to develop musicianship to the extent they are capable. In order to tap the potential of music, for what it is and for what it can do, music teachers must be prepared to engage all students in inclusive and self-contained settings. Perhaps teaching students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments in both self-contained and mainstreamed settings would allow music teachers more latitude to address both musical and social learning needs. Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-forprofit sectors.
Notes 1. All names are pseudonyms. 2. Nomenclature describing categories of disability is constantly evolving and varies among school districts. Although the term “intellectual disability” is now preferred, the nomenclature used by Ms. Davis and in her school was “cognitive impairment” so I have used that throughout the paper. Downloaded from rsm.sagepub.com by guest on November 29, 2015
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3. The Michigan Department of Education defines “self-contained classroom” as “a classroom in which one teacher provides instruction to the same pupils for the majority of the pupils’ instructional day” (Michigan Department of Education, 2015, p. 2).
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Author biography Karen Salvador is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA. At UM-Flint, Dr. Salvador coordinates the Music Teacher’s Certificate Program, teaching courses in music education to both music majors and education majors and supervising teacher candidates. She also teaches early childhood music at the UM-Flint Early Childhood Development Center. Dr. Salvador has previously taught early childhood music, general music, choir, and drama in a variety of public school and after-school settings. Her research pertains to inclusive practices, differentiation of instruction, and social justice in early childhood and school music programs.
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