Using Music and Kids’ Express Train Songs

1. Music can be and should be a part of your every day life: Do you find yourself making up little songs as you go throughout your day? Does your child pay attention when you sing? Does your child react in any way to music? Does it serve the purpose of calming your child? If you answer YES to any of these questions, I applaud you for using music in your life and the life of your child. Explore different types of music and observe your child’s reaction. If you notice a positive response, expand on it. Make up songs as you go. Children don’t care about the quality of the song or your musical ability. The interaction that takes place is the important thing.

2. Finding and using your child’s interests: To enter the world of a child with autism, you may need to start with your child’s interests. For example, some children LOVE trains, and for that reason we have written two songs related to trains. Use Express Train (Imitation Station) or Booga Choo Choo (Vocalocomotion) and create your own train gestures - moving around in a circle as you sing the words.
Maybe your child loves animals, bubbles, cars or slides. Many of the songs we have written focus on objects or activities that children do love.
If we don’t have a song that emphasizes your child’s interests, we suggest that you create your own songs that emphasize the unique items your child loves. Kids’ Express Train offers seminars to help parents, teachers, speech pathologists, and others to write songs for that very purpose. Contact us if you are interested in a seminar near you.

3. Common Vocabulary: If your child is just beginning the process of learning speech and language, we recommend starting with common vocabulary. We have found that music is a great way to reinforce the comprehension and production of words common to a child’s world. Repetition is the key, and in our songs you will hear much of that. For example, the word “bye” is repeated 73 times in our Bye Bye song (Imitation Station) and the word “go” is repeated 82 times in the song Go (Conversation Station). Other songs such as Puppy, Puppy, Puppy and Baby Blowing Bubbles (Imitation Station), Hi (Vocalocomotion), I Love (Conversation Station) are excellent examples of how we use music to teach common words and phrases. Use actual objects or pictures of objects to correspond with the songs and demonstrate the actions of the words to the songs. Sing these songs both with the CD and without. Your child may need you to sing each song more slowly at first.

4. Getting your child’s attention: Children with autism are often inattentive to others. Using songs such as Noisy, Noisy, Noisy (Imitation Station) that emphasize silly sounds or exaggerated movements are excellent to get your child’s attention. Add gestures and props to the sneezing, coughing, kissing, and yawning, so that your child will become more watchful. Make it fun! Make it animated. Make it silly when possible. You could also use the song Barefoot Toes (Imitation Station) while putting lotion on your child’s feet.

5. Daily Routines: We encourage you to use our songs to discuss the steps to an activity or daily routine. Our Owie song (Imitation Station) gives children practice saying “power” words such as “owie” and “all gone” This song has been known to give children the words to say during natural “owie” occurrences. Other daily routine songs (and there are so many in our CDs) include Brush, Uh Oh, Slide, Scrambled Eggs (Conversation Station), Bath Time, Let’s Eat (Vocalocomotion). Our hope is that the words in our songs will filter into the real world of your child’s functional communication and not just provide musical entertainment.

6. Imitation: Many children with ASD need to learn the process of imitation, and our CDs are packed with encouragement and cues to imitate. The cue, “Your turn” is used in our CDs, Imitation Station and Vocalocomotion. Dependency on cues, however, can be another area of concern, so in our 3rd CD (Conversation Station), that phrase has been omitted. There are imitation opportunities too numerous to mention in one small paragraph. The level of imitation also significantly varies on all our CDs, ranging from single vowels and noises to multi-syllable words and phrases.

7. Use Multiple Senses: We encourage a multi-sensory approach to our songs. Act out whatever songs you can, using your body or a stuffed animal (like Chez the monkey). The Monkey Song (Imitation Station) and Bananas (Conversation Station) are excellent to use with our Chez monkey. Use common objects or pictures to give the visual cue as well as the auditory. We encourage using our picture sheets for the Bye Bye Song (Imitation Station) and Hi (Vocalocomotion), so that children can follow along with the pictures - teaching them the concept of moving left to right for reading. Another free picture set is for the song I Dressed Myself (Conversation Station). Tap out the syllables of the words to the songs on your child’s knee, so she or he can feel the words as well as hear them. Even print out the lyrics, so that your child can begin seeing the written words and associating them with the spoken or sung lyrics.

8. Social Interaction: Learning social games and interaction skills is of utmost importance for children with autism. Our song, Round We Go, (Conversation Station) is an example of a social game. This is a re-written version of the song Ring Around the Rosie. The lyrics were re-written more simply, so that children will not only be able to move to the music but will also have a greater chance of singing the words and understanding their meaning.

9. Responses to Questions: We encourage you to use our songs to teach responses to questions. Our song What Happened? (Conversation Station) is an example of how to use music to understand and answer ‘Wh” questions. This song could be acted out with a puppet in a question-answer game. Another type of question to practice is a visual or verbal choice question as modeled in our Milk and Juice song (Imitation Station). Yes/No questions are stressed in the song No Way (Conversation Station), but is geared to a little higher level.

The list is endless on how to use music to help your child learn functional communication. We, at Kids’ Express Train, emphasize the importance of a positive relationship and connection to your child. We know that music can be a very effective tool to promote those positive interactions. Explore, experiment, and talk to professionals such as music therapists, teachers, and speech pathologists about their suggestions. Lastly, and possibly the most important: Look beyond the disorder of ASD and see your child as just a kid who needs and has a desire to learn. Finding the right tools is part of the journey. Music is one.

Rachel Arntson, M.S., CCC
Speech-Language Pathologist

Click here to listen to samples of our songs

Hi my name is Marcia and I have an autistic daughter. She was diagnosed around the age of 3 1/2. She had very limited speech, mostly saying "mama" "da da" and "book". She was also using basic sign language.

In October 2003, a person who works with my daughter doing one-on-one therapy gave me the Kids' Express Train web site, (www.expresstrain.org), and suggested I take a look to see what products they offer. When I went to the web site I was amazed at the CD's that were offered and decided to order them.

My daughter, now 8 is actually singing the songs word for word because of these incredible CDs. She gets so excited when we put them on for her to listen to. We recently purchased "Conversation Station", and she loves it. I know that Kids' Express Train has been a remarkable tool in assisting my daughter with her speech.

I feel this product would be wonderful for all children with or without speech difficulities.

Sincerely,
Marcia
Pennsylvania