One day I was going through an absolute rough day with Dakota and @musicandkids suggested I use music. I totally forgot about that as my son loves music. He use to love to listen to Classical music as a baby. How could I forget that. LOL It’s true that he is a music nut. Music does settle but there are types of music that make him dance and go nuts. LOL I would like to share with you what Betsy from @musicandkids on twitter shared with me. Thanks Betsy for writing this up. I must total agree kids with Autism sure do love music. At least the ones I know!

I really do encourage you to read this and visit her website. I have my eye on a couple cd’s I would like to get for Dakota soon!

Reaching Autistic Children through Music

Years ago, I was contacted by a parent to see if I could come to her home and work with her autistic son with music. I told her I was not a Music Therapist, and that I had never worked with anyone who had autism, and, in fact, knew very little about it. She replied, ‘It doesn’t matter. My son responds to music and I hear you are the person to help him develop musically”. It turned out that a friend of hers had attended my music program with her 3 year old son, and had raved about me and how I ran my parent/child classes.

I decided to give it a try. I took out a book on Autism in the library, and boned up on some facts about this disease. It did very little to prepare me for what I was about to experience.

Entering “Kevin’s” home with a box full of instruments, some scarves, balls, and my music CDs, I greeted his mom, holding a 1 year old in her arms, and Kevin, age 3, who was running in circles and screeching around the foyer. Mom looked overwhelmed, tired, and distracted. The baby in her arms was crying. I peeked into the living room, asked if  I could rearrange her furniture. I blocked off all entrance ways, moved all toys behind the couch, set up my cd player, and asked them all to come in. Mom looked surprised, thinking I would only work with Kevin alone. It took some doing to get them all settled, but we finally sat in a circle on the floor of the living room. I instructed mom to let Kevin’s sister Laura do as she wished, and get Kevin to sit in her lap. I began to sing a Hello Song. Kevin stopped momentarily from screeching and struggling, but then continued to try to escape from mom’s lap. Laura, on the other hand, began to bounce up and down as she held onto the edge of the couch. I decided to keep going, even though it did not appear that he was engaged musically at all. I asked Kevin’s mom to just follow my lead. We went from the hello song to a finger play, “I Have Ten Little Fingers”. Kevin focused, briefly, on the counting part of the chant. It seemed he knew it. Mom chanted all the words again with me, and this time, Kevin made a repetitive sound with us as we counted. I smiled big and repeated the sequence. Next, into another chant, “I Had a Little Frog”, which I began by making “RIBBIT” sounds, rhythmically, over and over, until I had Laura laughing, and then, briefly, Kevin. I repeated this one three times, the third time, Kevin’s mom was chanting with me. I turned around and switched on the CD player, and began swaying and singing a song called “Riding in the Car”, beeping and using gestures as if I was turning a steering wheel. Kevin had escaped from his mom’s lap by then, and had climbed over the couch. One of his older brothers who had been watching TV in the other room brought him back. As I kept singing, I gestured for him to come in and join us. His (5 yr old) brother sat in the circle now, and began to participate with us. Matthew escaped again over the top of the couch. Now, another brother (!!) age 7, brought him back. Again, I gestured to him to join us. This time, his mom held Kevin in her lap. We sang the song one more time with the CD as a family. This seemed to keep Kevin’s attention slightly more than the first time. His brothers and sisters were totally engaged. Now, standing, I passed everyone a set of shaker eggs, and we started to chug around the room to a train song. Kevin threw his eggs, and ran around the perimeter of the room. I motioned to everyone to keep going. I picked up Kevin’s eggs, and offered them to him again as I passed by. He took them and threw them once again. I picked them up, and used them myself, not offering them to him again.  Kevin watched his family out of the corner of his eyes, bouncing slightly. He grabbed the end of one of his brothers shirts, and tagged on as we circled the room. (I was quietly elated!) I slowed the chugging down, and sped it up a few times, much to everyones’ delight.

We did a few more activities, the last 2 songs a lullaby and then a goodbye song, where I sang everyone’s names. I asked Kevin’s brothers to watch him for a minute so I could speak to his mom. I explained that I will do this same sequence of songs the next session, and asked her to please play the songs and do the activities with him at least 3 more times before I came back, preferably with some of his siblings present. The more his siblings and she model the musical behavior in these sessions, the more he will learn. I explained that with any child, music is learned with a significant caregiver more deeply, as the family participation is the most important thing. No CD player can replace the emotional attachment a mother or father’s voice can instill.  I explained that repetition was good, and that each time she repeated a song or musical activity for Kevin, it would set down another layer of learning.

Coming to one of my family classes (ten families present, parents and children together) was not an option for this mother, who could not manage to schedule this into her family’s day. In those classes, I articulated parent education moments about the importance of music in their everyday lives, and how music can be woven into everyday activities. I asked Kevin’s mom to sing to him, during bathtime, during meal times, and especially, at night, to sing him a lullaby. Chanting obviously got his attention, so I asked her to make up verses in a chanting rhythm or to sing well known songs to help him to task. Things like: “We’re putting on our shoes, we’re putting on our shoes, high ho the derry-oh, we’re putting on our shoes” …or any other song that she could think of.

I spent about 8 weeks with Kevin in his home, with most of his siblings present each week. Working with Kevin through his family really engaged him, and seemed to make him very happy. After that, his mom worked through much red tape with the public pre-school system he was in and managed to have me hired on to come to his classroom and work with him individually once a week. I did this for two years, and by the end of those two years, Kevin was completely engaged in the music, singing songs, chanting, and dancing in the rhythm of the music. He still had very little language skills, but could communicate in halting chants when needed. Once, when I song I presented reminded him of another song we had done 2 years before, he was able to sing the first 5 notes of the old song accurately enough for me to dig through my old CDs and find what he was singing. His face lit up like a thousand candles when he realized he had communicated his idea to me. He hugged me, and then began to do the sneaking around the room steps we had done with that song.

Although I still admit to knowing only the basics about Autism, the one thing I do know is this: Autistic kids love music. There seems to be nothing at all wrong with the music channel of their brains. Chanting, rhythm, and singing would seem to me to be the best possible way to get these kids communicating and staying on task.

For award-winning music cds and musical instruments for young children, please visit my website at http://www.littlelovees.com

Betsy Murphy

Littlelovees.com

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4. Music Monday – White Horse
5. Music Monday – We Will Rock You

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