The earliest sets of predictable patterns are elicited by the infant herself. When she cries, her adults respond.  When she is pushed in the stroller, people stop and coo at her.  In short order she discovers that her behaviors “cause” the reactions around her and learns to repeat her behavior so she can continue to prompt the desired responses.  This “cause and effect” reaction is her first experience of “predictable sequencing” and lays the foundation for math concepts rooted in relationships.

You can well imagine how a disturbance in these predictable patterns and sequences can be problematic for the infant.  That is why both consistency of care and continuity of care are necessary and ideal for her.  Her learning is dependent on repeated experiences that result in the development of neural pathways that are laid down and then deepened over time.

The infant finds comfort in routine.  She thrives when all of her needs are met in a predictable way.  She enjoys exploring new terrain while returning to the familiar.  Practice and repetition are reassuring and should be encouraged.  Just when you think you can’t play “Peek-a-Boo” for one more minute, you remember that the infant relishes this repetition and is busy building neural pathways because of it.

So why is repetition important?  Many adults like to listen to the same music over and over.  It gets in our heads and into our hearts.  Music reminds of times and experiences- it evokes emotions and memories.  Music is the soundtrack of our lives.  Children begin experiencing this in infancy (many would say they really begin experiencing this in the womb.)  My own children were soothed by familiar music and showed signs of music recognition as early as a few weeks old.

Repetition in listening is one way that we can encourage music appreciation but we can also use repetition as a means of experiencing beats and tempos.  When you clap 3 times and then ask the children to repeat what you did, they follow the number of beats (3) and the speed at which you clapped (tempo).  This activity is great because very, very young children can participate, while you can make this much more complicated for older children.  Older children also like to create the beats and the tempo while others follow them.