Toddler Rock is a music therapy program that uses popular music to teach more than 300 Head Start children each week through instrument playing, movement, singing, storytelling and pre-reading.
These activities increase their pre-literacy, language and socialization skills and aid in teacher confidence in using music purposefully. Scientists, therapists, parents and teachers agree that when a child is exposed to music at an early age, his or her chances for academic success later in life increase exponentially.
Since 1999, the Rock Hall has partnered with the University Hospitals, Beck Center for the Arts, and Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland Head Start to teach Cleveland's underserved three to five year olds and their teachers. Dr. Deforia Lane, a nationally known music therapist, leads eight music therapists who work with the toddlers twice a week.
Toddler Rock
- enhances skills important for learning to read including letter recognition, rhyming and alliteration
- uses multi-sensory interventions such as performance, movement, singing, storytelling and pre-reading activities to teach children how to problem-solve and communicate
- promotes positive interaction between children, their parents, caregivers and teachers
Using Standardized Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) as a pretesting assessment tool, recent research indicates:
- 63% improvement in picture recognition
- 50% improvement in alliteration
- 43% improvement in rhyme
