Is learning an instrument a good idea? DS 4.10 mild asd

[oodlesofdoodles]

DS goes to a music class once a week and he loves it. We are thinking about getting him lessons, maybe with a suzuki method teacher for guitar or piano.

He has quite severe (but hopefully improving) fine motor and motor planning probs. He is slightly left handed but doesn't have a definite hand preference.
I think piano might be good for his ambidextrousness (sp?), but our house is titchy. Also, I'm guessing guitars are cheaper than pianos.

Does anyone here have experience of autistic kids learning an instrument? Are we wasting our time and money or did your kids stick with it and benefit from it?

Go for it as it is a great idea :)

DS is music mad as in dancing, singing and having a go all the instruments at school.

I have bought him a guitar and have initially let him get comfortable with it and a larger one for myself. He quite often takes it out and strums away and makes up his own songs.

Hoping to book lessons soon. We can get piano here but cant find guitarist as yet

thanks coffeepot
how old is your ds? I am a bit nervous that my ds wold trash an instrument. Would be interested to hear how you and your ds get on.

Hi, I volunteer doing music work with kids in our school and DS2 has a strong history of receptive language delay/sensory issues. I started him doing piano at 5 and in retrospect I think I got a bit too excited.... it was just so lovely to have something he was good at - I'm sure you know what I mean.

Try to remember that most children start instruments at 7/8 - that's when our local council starts to offer lessons. I'm working with a troubled child in our school who's 8, and I can see how his fine motor skills are only just really ready for keyboard technique- and he's NT. guitar is taught classical style, right hand one finger at a time. This is super-hard! I couldn't understand why the kids weren't taught chords - so I tried to show them - only to find that this is even harder when their hands are little.

So my advice would be - I know it's so so hard to hold back but try to hold back a little. I'd be tempted to buy an electronic keyboard and allow/help/encourage your child to just play with it, building up to picking out tunes with one finger. maybe teach him the names of the notes, CDE, etc.

musicianship can start at 4.10 - musicianship involves things like call-and-response, echoing a phrase, answering a phrase, finishing the beginning of a tune. Anything that requires you to keep the music in your head and to be aware that others are taking turns/joining in. All those things are fab. But finger technique is quite hard for any child at this age.

and if at any point it stops being fun, you've pushed too hard.

DS is 6 oodles. He has good rythmn for beats, drums, rattles etc which is good easy playing. Guitar wise all I have done is taught him how to do the scales, one finger then place second keeping the first there, then the third till it comes to stretching the last little pinky! He does this for each string.

This is enough for him at the moment and helps him in two ways. Firstly it calms him and helps him concentrate. Secondly he knows he cant rush or he doesnt get a tune! In the meantime it is strengthening and stretching his hands.

Apart from this he potters and most of his home made songs actually give me insight to his day and most finish with "I dunna what to do about thissssss" which is about right

I play no instruments.

However DS & I are going tackle this this together after Xmas at our own pace www.learnandmaster.com/homeschool/guitar/

His school teacher just doesn't "get" him and the homeschool course works out a lot cheaper than £75 a term. Just an idea if you can't find a local teacher.

We sing lots of songs with me singng 1st line and him singing the second and so on. To encourage turn taking and group type work.

DS has just started piano lessons. We got him a muscial keyboard. Ds started picking up tunes a few years back but we couldn't find a suitable piano teacher. We have now found one who has taught a child with ASD and last year the child was doing his Grade 5 piano. I am hoping that he will enjoy his lessons and it will get him back to playing the keyboard.

Ds did ask for violin but I just don't think it is going to work, at least not now. Also, am not ready for the very hard work of Suzuki violin lessons - both my older ones did it till Grade 7, then refused to do any more.

Hi there

My son (now 10, also mild asd) really enjoyed (and still does) playing despite difficulties. He also has fine motor skills difficulties, but actually learning piano I think has in some ways helped with this.

He find musicianship hard (hearing the pulse of a song, echoing back a short string of notes etc) but he finds all detailed listening hard, and again I think having to practice at this in music may have made him better at it in real life :-)

He now learns trumpet (started when he was 5, at his own insistence) and violin and really enjoys both.

Ds2 started piano at about seven. He's grade 5. loves it. He is also grade 5 guitar, which he started two years ago.
Dd2 Also plays guitar. They both use it to 'unwind' when they get home from school. Seems to help.

Thanks for the advice everyone. We're not a musical household so I'm a bit clueless. I can imagine that remembering to practice will be hardest part. Maybe he should start with the recorder.

If his fine motor skills are bad, I'm not sure that he'll be able to play the piano.

DS1 tried the piano, but it turned out he couldn't move his fingers individually. When he moved one, they all moved :)

So there was no way he could learn the piano.

I think 4s too young for most kids to learn an instrument. But I guess if I was going for one maybe something very simple like the www.amazon.co.uk/Ocarina-Red-4-hole-Book-1/dp/B003J7942G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1321955552&sr=8-7. It's even easier than the recorder. But you can actually play music on it :)

DS2 learnt this in Y2, instead of the recorder, and I think it's the easiest instrument to learn. But even then he was 6/7 not 4.

Sorry . Here's the link:

Ocarina

Thanks Indigo that's a great suggestion.

Suzuki is good for SN children because it's so repetitive and they know where they are/what's expected of them (my DS did it) ... have you thought of singing? No physical problems with it and all the social life!