Classroom Soundtrack

The first few weeks of school bring a LOT of change: new faces, new routines, new spaces, and new expectations.

For students with developmental disabilities, those changes can make transitions, communication, and regulation especially challenging. While we can't make everything predictable, we can create familiar moments students can count on.

One simple place to start? Music. 🎶

A classroom soundtrack gives students a fun way to make choices, communicate what they like, and help shape their shared environment. Over time, familiar songs can also become predictable cues for parts of the class period.

Music can provide opportunities to:

• Practice communication: Students express preferences and make meaningful choices.
• Support transitions: A familiar song can become a predictable cue for what's happening next.
• Support regulation: Students can explore music that helps them feel calm, energized, or ready to participate.
• Build connection: Sharing favorite songs gives classmates another way to learn about and connect with one another.

Here's how it works:

1. Invite students to share songs that make them feel happy, calm, excited, or connected. Students can name a song, point to a choice, use AAC, or choose from options you provide.
2. Create a playlist with your preferred music provider. Give it a name students will recognize, like “Our Classroom Soundtrack.”
3. Make music part of the routine. Play it during arrival, transitions, cleanup, independent work, free time, or other parts of the period when students may benefit from something familiar.
4. Keep it growing. Add new songs throughout the year. 

Level Down:

• Offer two or three songs to choose from.
• Use picture symbols, song covers, or other visual choices.
• Ask families to share a song their student loves.

Level Up:

• Invite students to explain why they chose their song.
• Create different playlists for different classroom moments.
• Have students design album artwork for the playlist.
• Let students take turns being the classroom DJ.

Looking for pre-made playlists? Check out our ideas here!