Onomatopoeia

Say what???  I think of myself as an English nerd (but hardly anything to cause embarrassment!).  In high school, I was on the English team of our academic team.  If I hadn't already learned it in class, you can bet that I soaked up the new words and terms that were thrown at me while studying for meets.

Are you familiar with the term or meaning of the post's title? Onomatopoeia (on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh) is a term for a word that's associated with or used to describe the sound something makes (ie: "moo", "pop", or "splash")-  it's a 'sound word.'



clatterpillar



Such are the sounds that I've always associated with the pictured instrument  (the clatterpillar- a term Microsoft Word ceases to believe exists : )- "click" and "clack".  This little song came to be very organically during a music therapy session with a little guy who quickly became enamored with the clatterpillar.  I needed a quick tune for a short length of turn-taking, as well as to describe the instrument itself.  I also knew he loved trains and loved the connection between the click-clack sound of the instrument compared to a train chugging on its tracks.  He enjoyed the song from the start, and now adds the "click clack" + "up and down" lyrics on his own...with smiles, giggles, and eye contact!

With my young kiddos, I use a plastic constructed clatterpillar as shown above (vs. wood), as I can sanitize the heck out of it : )

Hope you enjoy!





CLICK CLACK CLATTERPILLAR

Click clack,
Click clack,
The clatterpillar goes “click clack.”
Like a train running on its track
It goes up and down,
Down and back.
Like a train running on its track,
The clatterpillar goes “click, click, clack.”

a "sweet" little song

Sweet, indeed!  In fact, upon some first encounters with this particular instrument some kiddos have (pretend) licked it.  The picture gives it away, but I'm talking about my trio of lollipop drums! (Any other MTs experience a similar reaction with your clients?)  It's fun to be able to offer an instrument that looks like a sweet treat  : )

In my arsenal of activities, I try to keep at least one "instrument-specific" song handy.  That is, a song that can be used to accompany playing, describe the instrument, or instruct how to play (ie: "Rub the Cabasa" or "The Clatterpillar Goes Click-Clack") while a client is manipulating the specific object.  I have a few songs about drums, but not one for the specific lollipop variety.  And... one of my kiddos has been working so very hard on articulation of /L/ and /th/ sounds...so... yahoo- a song with more than one use!  (gotta love multi-purposing an activity :) )  I tried hard to include a variety of initial, medial, and final (occuring first-in the middle-at the end of a word) placements of both sounds, as well as plenty of opportunities to practice throughout the song- we don't just want to include 2 /L/ words and call it a day!  When using this song to target articulation, we also practice the words without music before/after, as well as use a mirror to watch placement of the tongue (when not holding and playing a drum, of course!)

I hope you may find this useful for one or both of my intended purposes.  Let me know if you can think of another : )
Oh- and the /L/ and /th/ sounds we're working on are both sounding lovely!

THE LOLLIPOP DRUM

/th/, /th/, /th/, the lollipop
Play the lollipop drum

/th/, /th/, /th/, the lollipop

Playing is so much fun

Round like a circle

Sweet as can be

Sing along,

Play this song,

With me

/th/, /th/, /th/, the lollipop

Play the lollipop dru-um

/th/, /th/, /th/, the lollipop

Play the lollipop drum

keep it moving!

Passing turns, giving turns, waiting turns- all very hard, right? I'll admit that I still sometimes have difficulty with the last one, especially in traffic! So is the case in many of my multi-kiddo sessions. Music is so fun that no one wants to share just one instrument and wait until it becomes available for the next turn! This song is great to use in a group setting (I'll get to some modifications in a bit). In it, I tried to embed instructions for each step of the passing and turn-taking process: physically passing, recognizing someone's turn, taking the turn, waiting while said turn is taken, then beginning again (and hopefully it's your turn to play this time!). I remember learning about and using many songs with similar teaching methods during my internship with Midwest Music Therapy Services in St. Louis. Something else I learned? Modifications and adaptions to activities are key! So for this particular intervention, a teacher, parent, or therapist could do the following to make this more suitable for their students/child(ren):

1. no instruments required! use a preferred toy.


2. use this as an opportunity to address answering "who" questions


3. when naming "who" has the instrument/toy/object, have the person named,as shown in the song, by students as well as the individual say "I do" or "me", practicing self-identification


4. young ones may need assistance to keep the passing going (or giving up the item to pass)


5. for those who are able, give a choice (using a sentence, please :) as to how the activity should be played- fast? slow? reversing passing direction? make it fun!!

If you try any of these- or have additional suggestions- feedback, as always, is great!

one more note: my music player is still not working, although I have been in contact with and am extremely pleased with customer service at Bandcamp! Very timely response, and helpful- although my problem is a weird thing with my new laptop, so I have to figure out why I can't embed the needed code (it may be a while, folks!). In the meantime, I'll provide links directly to "PASS 'ROUND THE CIRCLE" at Bandcamp. : )