'Music releases autistic children from their chains'

[dev9aug]

Funny how there is just one line about the Lovaas method the musician used with his own son.

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/10046513/Music-releases-autistic-children-from-their-chains.html

It's not as spectacular and headline grabbing as dancing and music.

Agree, it's a terrible article, I thought it was going to be about music therapy or something like that.

I think music is that important

Saw it today..must have got info from NAS..

oh, I don't disagree that music is not important, It was the only way we could get to ds1 for a long time.

Why do you think it is terrible Dev?
I think music is fantastically important and the combo of music and behavioural strategies can be dynamite.

Unlike many, this guy has lived the reality too.
I am proud to count music therapists and musicians amongst my most valued colleague.
I've also been lucky enough to have seen and played a minor role in stuff done by Oily Cart.
If you haven't seen their work, beg, steal,borrow or hitch a ride to do so.
Mindblowing and life enhancing.

sorry, I am not explaining very well. I meant the article is terrible, not the music therapy. (They could have expanded on PECS, but instead it is cards with pictures, could have explained a bit more about ABA etc) just annoyed at the sloppy journalism.

Oh God, but one quickly realises, when you know something about a subject, and a journalist writes about it, that they don't grasp the full picture.

Also any piece on Special Needs is legally obliged to include following clichés:

-grown men weeping
-children swept into magical inner world
-copious reference to 'most rewarding thing I have ever done'

blah,blah,blah.

You've got to bat all that crap away.

Oh and another really incredible thing about Oily Cart is they employ autistic actors too.

DS1 responds brilliantly to music, so I would love to find a decent music therapist for ds1 who could combine music and behavioural strategies.

We tried music therapy last year for a few sessions but the therapist had a different idea than we did about the therapy, she was happy to let him stim for the duration of the session and when I asked her what was the purpose behind it. Her response was that as he has a very full schedule with ABA etc where he has to conform to what adults want him to be, music therapy would be his downtime when he could be truly himself. Needless to say we didn't go there again.

, yes so true.

Thanks for the link to the theatre company, I have pencilled the date in my calendar for their Brighton show.

Yes, that is an issue but having a BA/music therapist in one would be fantastic. I am working hard on one or two of them and once they get it they are really up for it.
I remember you talking about your bad experience with the MT.
Such a shame.

Go to Oily Cart's performance with the family and then promise to come back on here and tell us about it. They'll take your breath away.

I will do moondog I have just seen done of their stuff on your YouTube and really looking forward to it.

Salt actually suggested music therapy for ds2 but that was never going to happen. I taught him a lot of routines by singing, though. Still use the old cbeebies teeth brushing song when he isn't cooperating.

Ds1 has an encyclopaedic knowledge of pop trivia. He can recognise an awful lot of pop songs from their intros!

Hehe, ds1 still has no functional language but amazing rote memory, so I am often greeted first thing by some tune he heard some time ago. Mind you, it's only me who can actually decifer what he is saying/singing..

Ds is learning the piano. It's an acceptable and importantly, intellectual and developmental way of flapping, which has vastly reduced.

Reinforcement of an alternative behaviour

We're often treated to Incy Wincy Spider, in the mornings. Or, rather Ibby Wibby Biber....

DS1 Disapproves, of course.

And that's just tough luck. DS2 has excellent pitch and some definite favourite rock and pop songs. He always sings along to Running up the Hill and is otherwise a bit of a metalhead and will join in with some air drumming. He has some Animal pyjamas, and they're so him!

When we grow up and buy ourselves a house that isn't terraced or attached to any poor unsuspecting neighbours (according to the girl next door, you do grow accustomed to the constant noise from the boys) we might buy him a small drum kit!

ds2 has MT in part 3 of his statement - had to fight for it but it was worth it. He's had it all the way through school. Music was definitely the way in for him. I think educationalists underestimate just how powerful the use of music actually is.

Ouryve that is so much like ds1.

eatyourveg how did you manage to get that in the statement and who provides it?

I submitted reports from anybody and everybody when we first drew up the statement age 3. He gets it from the County Music school who invoice the LEA

Part 2 says Music is a highly motivating medium for XXX and is proving to be a successful channel for learning and communication

Part 3 responds to that with The music therapist will work with XXX on a weekly basis aiding his development in communication skills, his ability to interact with others and his emotional development in terms of using music as a means of expression.

Thanks eatyourveg

Oh I agree. Music is brilliant for turntaking and intraverbals (i'e singing a song and leaving out the last word for the child to say). It's just WAY to tempting even for the most unengaged children, and the patterning, structure and predictability make it much more accessible.

DS piano lessons aren't music therapy. They are just a way of giving him a skill in something he has a talent for and giving him more acceptable obsessions.

I find it interesting that a child who examines blades of grass in fine detail is 'autistic', yet a child who kicks a ball against a wall for half hour is sports mad, and someone who practices the violin for an hour is a musical genius.

Examining a blade of grass for hours used to be considered essential for any talented naturalist