Hugs & High Fives

It was a busy day at Gooch today with so many familiar faces filling the room. I was able to meet one new child and her mom who had heard about the class through a friend. Her child demonstrated several classic indicators of autism spectrum disorder and, although I wasn't able to speak with the mom to confirm this as there was a bit of a language barrier, I am happy to say that the child responded very well to the Rainbow Songs Foundation environment. Once the music began she started to sway side to side and seemingly became more focused, rather than running around the space.

I decided to sing a series of songs at the beginning that focused on using the voice rather than the guitar, and this seemed to help focus the group. These included, Roly Poly, Open ‘Em Shut ‘Em, Mr. Sun, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Then I added the guitar for several songs, including Old MacDonald, Little Green Frog, Three Green and Speckled Frogs, Row Row Row Your Boat, Crocky Crocodile, Listen To The Water, The Wheels On The Bus, Down By The Station, and Zoom Zoom Zoom.

Jamming this week was fun (as it always is), but slightly chaotic, so after a couple of reminders to use hands on the drums we packed up and brought out the parachute. I instructed the grownups to go up and down slowly in an attempt to calm the class down once more, and thankfully it worked!

After a round of high fives and some hugs I made sure to check in with my little friend and her mom to see how they enjoyed their RSF experience. The mom was very surprised that her little one was able to stay for the entire class and promised to come again next week. I hope to see them again.