Interview with Rachel Arntson, CCC-SLP, Founder of Kids' Express Train, LLC
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Linda Schreiber: I'm visiting with Rachel Arntson this morning about a motivating way to develop children's communication skills using music. The company is called Kids' Express Train and I'm going to let Rachel Arntson, the company founder, explain how Kids Express Train is a resource meant to deve
Linda Schreiber: I'm visiting with Rachel Arntson this morning about a motivating way to develop children's communication skills using music. The company is called Kids' Express Train and I'm going to let Rachel Arntson, the company founder, explain how Kids Express Train is a resource meant to develop speech and language skills. Rachel, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into the business of Kids' Express Train.Rachel Arntson: Well I've been a speech-language pathologist since 1980. About six years ago, I looked for songs that would help my students practice speech production. I always like to give parents something fun to do with their kids at home because I believe home practice is such a key factor in helping kids develop their speech and language skills. And I've always loved music and feel that it certainly feeds my soul, and I thought it would feed a child's soul, too. So I had this mission to find songs that were simple enough for my young students, who were at the beginning stages of communicating, to sing. Well, I just couldn't find any songs that were simple enough. So, with a music background, a love for songs, and a little experience in song writing, I just decided to write my own songs and, with my business partner-to-be, Chez Raginiak, I developed a CD. That's how Kids' Express Train came to be. The purpose of the first CD really was for use as a home practice tool, but it has become much more than that. I get emails all the time from preschool teachers and speech-language pathologists who use the music in the classroom and in intervention.
Linda: I noticed at your website that you have more than one CD.
Rachel: Yes, we now have six CDs and we're working on two Spanish CDs. And I'm very excited about it. I have a lot of students that are Spanish speaking, and I want to start them singing in their native language.
Linda: Your company byline is "Simple songs that kids can simply sing." That says a lot about what you are trying to achieve. Tell me a bit about the content and the lyrics of the songs.
Rachel: For every song I have written, I really had a particular child in mind. But most children are interested in the same kinds of things, so the songs are pertinent to all kids. For example, I had one little guy who loved puppies and I wanted to teach him action words. So I used a puppy to develop that song of action words combined with the word "puppy." I do a lot of repetition in my songs, and I do what I call "chains of three," which is similar to what you'd hear in the old rock-and-roll tunes--like in the Beatles song "She loves you; yeah, yeah, yeah," where everything is repeated in chains of three. Their tunes are so enticing; they make you want to sing along. So I wanted to do the same thing with children's songs.
And some students might not be ready for sentences or phrases yet. They might be saying single words, so if I take that single word and duplicate it two more times, that gets the chain in the process of verbalizing in phrases. At least it gets it going. The children repeat the word three times, and then it helps them get to the phrase level. And topics are very kid-friendly, like babies and bubbles, milk and juice, puppies, and monkeys. And the action is anywhere from sound imitation, like coughing and sneezing and blowing, to more complex multisyllabic words and some phrase repetition.
Linda: Do you have children singing the songs?
Rachel: Our songs have adults singing, and then we use the cue "your turn" to tell the children to repeat what was sung. It's a constant turn-taking interaction throughout the music.
Linda: What age range are you hoping to target?
Rachel: The plan was to target children in early intervention--birth to three--but so many of us work with other age ranges. I wrote the songs with the idea of making them enticing enough that siblings and parents would want to sing along. But, it turns out, they're not boring for preschool children, and in fact, if you look at our sales, our buyers seem to be primarily preschool teachers, a lot of teachers of children birth-to-three, and then early elementary teachers.
If children have speech and language concerns, age is not necessarily the factor that determines whether the songs will be helpful or not. I've written songs like "Hissing Snake" that works on the s sound and there are lots of children who are school-aged who need to practice saying the s sound. And there is "Fish, Sharks, and Shells," another song that emphasizes s and sh sounds. The songs are truly simple enough for younger children but have some complexity for early elementary children as well.
Linda: Your songs develop communication, including vocabulary and phonology for children who have language and phonological disorders. Would typically developing children enjoy the music?
Rachel: Absolutely! The songs are for kids of all ages and all developmental levels. Some of the songs develop early literacy skills. For example, I have a song called "Sing and Eat the Alphabeat." It groups words according to specific letter sounds--like pizza, pickles, and popcorn for--so children can begin to hear beginning sounds and develop their phonemic awareness. And phonemic awareness is an important precursor to reading. So these songs are not just for kids with speech and language delays. That's kind of the beauty of them I guess.
Linda: And would the music be appropriate for children who are learning English as their second language?
Rachel: Yes, because our CDs are so interactive; and create so much imitation, practice, and repetition; and use common vocabulary; and simple sentence structures; I believe the CDs would be excellent for English language learners.
Linda: You have received an award from the Therapy Times MVP issue. Can you tell us about your award?
Rachel: Well, Therapy Times is an online newspaper that focuses on a variety of different therapies in the medical field. And every year, a group of products that have been suggested by their readers are given this award. I guess people just loved our products and sent emails nominating our CDs. As a result, we were chosen as one of those products that speech-language pathologists love to buy.
Linda: Congratulations Rachel. The award is a great stamp of approval for you.
Linda: Rachel, you have a website (www.expresstrain.org) that not only features the CDs, but also has lots of free things. Tell us what readers might find at your site.
Rachel: I'm not a music therapist; I'm a speech-language pathologist who loves music. So the website, although it does focus some on music, has other information on topics such as using music to develop language, or enhancing the speech and language skills of children who have apraxia or autism. And this information is free for downloading. I have also written other song lyrics, and parent questionnaires, and student observation sheets that you can download; and there are some free pictures on the website. Those are all free as well. At the home page, go into the "free stuff" page and those things will be right there. We also have a free e-newsletter and in the newsletter I give free pictures that might enhance a particular song, or I might write an article about a certain technique that I would use in my music, etc. I get emails all the time on how my songs are used, so I'll put ideas like that in the newsletter too. And that's free.
Linda: And people can sign up to receive your e-newsletter at your website, correct?
Rachel: Yes, right on the homepage.
Linda: Rachel, we all know that music really motivates children and makes language learning lots of fun. It is a great tool for parents, too. You've got me thinking about the possibilities. Can I go to the website to hear a sample?
Rachel: Oh yes, you'll have to listen to the rock-and-roll songs especially. I'm sure you'd appreciate it.
Rachel: I should mention that I believe strongly in using visuals with the music so each musical CD comes as a set with a CD-ROM. And the CD-ROM includes pictures and activities that correspond to the songs.
Linda: And interested readers can learn more about how music can enhance children's expressive language skills by watching your presentation on SpeechPathology.com: The Role of Music in Enhancing Children's Expressive Speech and Language Skills, available for ASHA CEUs.
Linda: Rachel, thank you so much for your interview today. Best wishes as you develop more musical resources for children.