SELECTED SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, AND TRAINING BY KAJA WEEKS
Publications
Author, Searching for Communication—A Dad's Beatboxing, Essay about achieving interpersonal meaning and timing within developmental delays using music and Floortime in PsychCentral Pro. Featured 02/07/20.
Author, Step and Look and Touch in Time: Interpersonal Rhythms, Essay in PsychCentral Pro. Featured 09/22/17.
Author, Early Soundscapes and the Voiceless Child: Searching for a Musical Bridge, Essay in PsychCentral Pro. Featured 08/04/16.
Author, Music, the Depressed Dyad and the Uplifting Circle, Essay about mother-infant rupture and repair in a musical setting, in PsychCentral Pro. Featured 1/26/16.
Author, When Music is the Language Between Us, Essay about Autism, Toys, Music and Meaningful Moments, in PsychCentral Pro. Featured 7/29/15.
Co-Author with Denton, D. S. (2015). "Musical Therapy: Notes for the Young Child." The Theraplay Institute Newsletter, Summer 2015, pp. 15-17.
Author, (2014). "Vowels: Sonic Gems of Emotion for Social Communication - Practical Singing Strategies for Non-Musician Teachers with Developmentally Diverse Young Children," Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-8. DOI 10.1007/s10643-014-0681-2
Co-Author with Denton, D. S. (2014). "Parent Singing in Relational Treatment of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder," Imagine, 5(1), 80-84.
Author, (2013). “Simple Songs and Play: Circletime.” Silver Spring, MD: Petite Musique.
Co-Author with Denton, D. S. (2013). “Simple Songs and Play: Adaptations for Special Needs.” Silver Spring, MD: Petite Musique.
Author, “Sound and our minds – When the results surprise us! The Curious Findings of a Music Psychologist.” (2012). Musings, Newsletter of the National Early Childhood Music and Movement Association, Greater Washington, DC Chapter, 7(2).
Contributor, (2012). "Assessment as Intervention-DIR Functional Emotional Developmental Level 4: Complex Problem-Solving and Sense of Self," Webcast for Profectum Academy by Griffin Doyle. Mendham, NJ: Profectum Foundation.
Author, "Musical Gold: The Partner's Singing Voice in DIR/Floortime," Early Childhood Newsletter of the AMTA (American Music Therapy Association), v15, Fall 2009, 22-23.
Author, "Trans-Disciplinary Immersion: A View from DIR Mentorship," Best Practices Newsletter of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders, Fall 2005, 6(1-2).
Author, "Rhythm and Rhapsody: Music's Power in the DIR Model," Best Practices Newsletter of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders, Spring 2005, 5(4).
Author, "Merging Floortime with Music: Exploring an Affect-based Approach that Employs Developmental and Musical Patterns" in Early Childhood Connections: Journal of Music and Movement-Based Learning, 10(2), Spring 2004, 37-48.
Author, "Ancient Roots: Music of Veljo Tormis Based on Ancient Finno-Ugric Tunes," in Harmonia, v4(5), May 1995, 1-2.
Presentations and Training
Keynote Speaker, "Keys to Musical Interactions with Young Children: Vibrant, Relational, Developmental." Bank St. College of Education 31st Infancy Institute, Music and Mindfulness." New York, June 20, 2018.
Presenter,"Integrating DIR and Floortime with Music: Highlighting the Relational Voice." MOCO Movement Center, Kensington, MD. A multi-media presentation for clinicians (mental health, speech, occupational and physical therapists) with hands-on training. January 2017.
Instructor, First Music Professional Development Course. Levine School of Music, Washington, DC. “Singing Voices of the Young Child: Beginning and Growing in Communicative Musicality, a 12-hour course for Educators and Therapists. October 2015.
Presenter and Author, "The Use of Rhythm in a DIR/Floortime-based school," A Skype Training for Staff at Soaring Eagle Academy, Burr Ridge, IL, April 2015.
Invited Presenter, "The Relational Voice," Talk, Slides, and Video of the author's unique conceptual and practical work using musical and other vocal sound-based strategies for developmental growth and intervention in neurodevelopmental challenges. "Music, Brain, and Body," course, Jessica Phillips-Silver, PhD, Adjunct Professor. Georgetown, University. April 2015.
Presenter and Author, "The Nature of Flow," An Independent Webcast for the Basic Course (Co-Instructor) of Profectum Academy, November 2014.
Co-Presenter with Megan Gerbracht, Psy. D., “Integrating Music into a Developmental Intervention: A Case Illustration.” Talk and video illustrations of a medically and developmentally very challenging case in which the DIR/Floortime approach was applied successfully with music. ASD Interdisciplinary Discussion Group, Vienna VA, Sept. 7, 2011.
Presenter, ECMMA North Central Regional Conference, “Originating in Communicative Musicality: Singing Voices in the World of the Young Child.” (Weeks, Kaja Comm Mus Summary Fall2011Perspectives-web1 31.pdf) With a tribute to musicologist Stephen Malloch, who coined the phrase “communicative musicality,” this presentation looks at how salient features of the earliest musical experience grows in the child’s singing and, moreover, how adults can attune their own singing to resonate playfully and musically in the child’s world. Dayton, Ohio, July 15-17, 2011.
Presenter, ICDL 14th Annual International Conference, “The Child’s Partner’s Singing Voice in DIR/Floortime”; Panelist, “The Arts: Developmental & Creative Processes in Diverse DIR/Floortime Settings.” Tysons Corner, VA, November 5-7. 2010.
Guest Faculty, ICDL DIR Institute, “The Child’s Partner’s SInging Voice in DIR/Floortime.” Potomac, MD July 2010
Lecture, “The Young Child’s Singing Voice: Physiology and Techniques,” ECMMA Greater Washington, DC Chapter Meeting, Kensington, MD, October 2007.
Invited Speaker, “Integrating Music with DIR and Floortime,” (Talk illus. by PP slides and video of author’s work with developmentally-challenged children.) Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) 10th Anniversary International Conference (Raising the Ceiling for Children with Autism and Disorders of Relating and Communicating,) Tysons Corner, VA, November 2006.
Lecture and Workshop, “Merging Floortime with Music: Advancing Developmentally-based Musical Interactivity with Young Children,” ECMMA (Early Childhood Music and Movement Association) Northeast Regional Conference: Nurturing a Musical Culture in the 21st Century, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, April 2005.
Lecture, “Tune into Interactive Musical Play: Emotional and Intellectual Learning,” presented for the Baltimore-Washington Institute for Psychoanalysis, Washington, DC, November 2002.
Lecture and Workshop, “Double Enchantment: Early Music in Early Childhood,” Early Childhood Music Association of Ontario, University of Toronto, Canada, April, 2002.