During this strange time I have been trying to find things that will make Tom's schooling week a little more intresting for him as he can't go out and about at the moment like we used to.
A few weeks ago I stumbled across Soundabout's Facebook page and they said they were doing live virtual music sessions every Tuesday and Saturday at 2pm! This works perfectly for Tom's routine so we decided to give it a go and join in.
The sessions are streamed via the Soundabout Facebook page at 2pm. These sessions are perfect for any child or adult with complex needs. Each session is streamed by a different member of the Soundabout Team who are all fabulous!
The sessions tend to follow a theme for example, we have done circus theme, Up In the Air and Dinosaurs. As the session goes through the person running the stream asks for people to comment on what they are doing, what instruments they are playing or what their responses are, they then will do directed songs towards each child. This is great for Tom as it encourages him to interact with me and the music.
They also always make sure they sing hello to each person joining in by name. This is lovely because it feels like you are in a big group together, making us feel all feel a little less isolated during this strange time, whilst also catching the attention of Tom, immediately engaging him into the activity.
It doesn't matter if you don't have actual musical instruments, you can make music with anything! Tom tends to play the pots and pans with a rolling pin, and a bottle filled with popcorn kernels as a shaker! You don't even have to join in with the music if that's not your thing, you could just sit, watch and listen!
The sessions are around an hour long, this is perfect for Tom...although he never wants them to end! If this is too long for you, you could always join in for a little while and drop out when you need to, or even better Soundabout adds their streams to their YouTube account and you can watch them anytime that suits! Or if your child particularly enjoys one episode you could do it all over again!
Give the Soundabout Music sessions a try if you are looking for something new and exciting!
We hope to see you in the comments!
Stay Safe, Stay Well...