Music Therapy

[Guest guest]

We didn't do music therapy per se, but we did enroll our son (age 3-5) in

Kindermusic classes. The teacher happened to be a music therapist and was

familiar with autism (she is now a good friend!). At first, Gabe ignored the

other kids and ran around the room touching things and doing his usual stimmy

behaviors. As he became more familiar with the situation, he began

participating, sometimes on his own away from the group, but as time went on

more and more sitting or dancing in the circle. It helped him with imitation,

with social interaction, group participation, turn-taking, and with music--he

now has a great voice and plays piano very well. He was able to sing whole songs

before he could put two words together in a sentence. I believe that singing

helped him learn language (even though different parts of the brain are used).

It was also very reinforcing for him and we could use music as part of his

programming. We were running a full-time ABA program during these years. Gabe is

now entering 6th grade, doing a regular curriculum, is extremely verbal, and is

indistinguishable in almost all ways (we notice little differences still--most

people don't). I believe the music helped his development in many ways. It has

also given him a way to be part of social groups--choir at school, children's

musical theater in our community playhouse, and piano recitals and competitions.

Best,

Whatever you do may be insignificant, but it is most important that you do it.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)