Recently, the mom of a client told me that her son often became upset when an activity “stopped”. He would even get upset when the car came to a stop light and had to stop. So, Mom started singing the simple musical cue to “stop” that we use in her son’s music therapy sessions and it worked! The musical cue signals to him that the end is coming, gives him time to prepare, and even allows him to participate in the “stopping” by singing along.

Stop and Go activities are fairly simple to execute using music (think Musical Chairs) and learning what those words mean is good for many reasons. For instance, learning what “stop” means and how to respond quickly is important for safety. Stop and Go activities are also helpful to work on impulse control and motor control.

By Cora Lansdowne, MME, MT-BC