Infant-directed singing as a vehicle for regulation rehearsal in the medically fragile full-term infant

Abstract

A significant step in the full-term infant's development is the achievement of self and mutual regulation. The invasive nature of care on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can undermine the medically fragile full-term infant's efforts to control his experiences through regulation of stimuli. During active music therapy, the therapist provides a contingent relationship in which improvised infant-directed singing serves as a vehicle for rehearsal of self and mutual regulation.