Curious to know if your child with ASD likes/hates singing

[macwoozy]

I've often wondered why my ds won't sing and why he can't/won't tolerate my singing(although can kind of understand why that might be), Is it part of his ASD,(he has HFA/AS) or is it just part of his personality and a general dislike. In all his 8 years, I've only heard him sing very short bursts at probably no more than 5 times.

Just curious if this is typical.

Ds hates people singing. He hates it if anyone sings Happy Birthday and used to get really upset. Yesterday he sat through his nativity play with his hands clamped over his ears, and he was the shepherd!

Ds is the same. Used to get quite miffed in the nursery days if anyone sang (which the did a lot, unfortunately) and he too hated Happy Birthday.

He's 10 now and will sing occasionally, though only if it's the White Stripes or Elbow and the ruder versions of Jingle Bells .

I suspect 'perfect pitch'. I can tell if a piano is even the tiniest fraction out of tune, for example, and it sounds like someone grating their nails on a blackboard. Unless someone is singing in perfect tune, I suspect he's trying to block out the noise??

Pixel I hope you little shepherd didn't find it too stressful.

Oh yeh streaky, I might sing him the jingle bells batman smells one (oh can't rememeber the rest)see how it goes down

Do you enjoy singing yourself amber?

DS doesn't have an ASD DX yet (has big language probs). He loves singing. Occasionally tells family to stop though!

Leonie you must have been so proud

My ds has ADHD and AS and loves music and singing. He's pretty good too - good pitch and rythym.

my DS (asd DX) loves singing and music, almost to obsession as he will listen to a cd/song over and over again , write all the words out and sing them all the time, luckily he will change the songs lots and also is easily influenced!! LAst week it was the whole mama mia album and today he has listened to katy perry hot and cold 7 times in an hour!

My son sounds a bit like yours Macwoozy,(9, ASD LD) will not tolerate my singing or fiddle although we still sing instructions to indicate an immanent transition! He is very noisy, likes background music (I do not) and sings the same little phrases repeatedly with tuneful if not phonetic accuracy. I am convinced he is musical ( perhaps that is why he cannot cope with my playing!!).

My DS (3yo, autism dx, just starting to use words) adores music and singing - he but sings to himself all day long and responds much better to song than speech. He has an excellent sense of pitch but doesn't seem distressed when things are out of tune (he liked listening to the piano tuner sorting out our new piano which was very sharp). For some reason he can never sing the last note of any tune - he'll sing a fairly long melody but stop before the last note. Anyone else have a child who does this?

My DS (5yo dx classic autism at 2 and a half) loves singing and music - he accessed speech thru song and loves playing instruments - he loves my violin (DH and I are both musicians) and loves his brothers trumpet.

He has excellent pitch recognition and can modualte to the most unrelated keys perfectly when singing.

Yet his mental ability is around the age of 22 months

Both mine have changed. DS1 (AS traits, no dx) was very keen on music as a 2/3 year old and 'unusually musical' according to his toddler music group teacher. He then went through a four year period of hating music and singing. I had to take him home from school once in Reception because he'd gone floppy and weepy after being made to sing a song about a bee who had no friends! This year has seen a complete turn around again - largely down to a fantastic music teacher at school who has turned him on to playing the recorder and singing. The secret of her success, according to DS1, is that she is 'just like a boy' . This year, for the first time, he sang all the way through his Christmas play with only a couple of 'dreamland' moments (though the evening performance was a different matter - just stared into space).

DS2 learnt to join in with songs before he could talk, though he has never been able to pitch his voice. He used to LOVE singing and it was the one sure fire way to engage him. He still loves listening to recorded music and will occasionally enjoy my singing but most of the time I get 'No No No' and a hand over my mouth. And I'm not a bad singer! Hopefully he'll have the same turnaround as DS1 when he's older and the manly music teacher works her magic .

Phil - DS2 will ONLY sing the last note/word!

ds1 loves singing. Used to hate anyone else singing anything- but he has perfect pitch so I suspect that's why. Now he insists on me singing along. I have just been made to sing along to the entire Mama Mia DVD.

He used to stop singing as soon as someone joined in- I suspect because he couldn't hear himself and the other person (am guessing from Lucy Blackman-( non-verbal) - books).

He sings to show his mood. Old MacDonald can mean he's cross.

thats really interesting jimjams - my boy stops singing when i join in

MacWoozy, No he stayed on the stage so I think he was fine really. The little star (also ASD) made a break for freedom as soon as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star began though .
Actually all the children did very well and it was all lovely [lump in throat emoticon].

Pixel

DS3- loves singing, or rather tunefully intonating LOL- has n cncept of social embarassment but is hyposensitive rather than the more (IME) usual hyper

ds1- ill sing to us but very lacking in confidence. Sings tnefully but extremely flat, as he talks. No chance in school / concerts etc and gets very quickly overloaded if others singa round him

stillenach Lucy Blackman (non-verbal adult who can type) describes how she used to be unable to sing if anyone else was singing as she 'lost her voice'- she couldn't hear it as soon as someone started.

DS1 started belting along with me a year or so ago so I figure his processing of sound/speech has changed a bit.

ds1 with poss HFA can sometimes dislike others singing, happy birthday definitely triggers clamping of the ears. We have a party this afternoon and I've been trying to desensitise him by singing happy birthday at random intervals during the morning. At 3.4 he's only just started to sing basic nursery rhymes but they're very muddled and it can be difficult to tell what he's trying to sing!

Amber, that's so interesting about perfect pitch. DH (NT though with some v mild autistic tendencies) has perfect pitch and can't bear anything to be out of tune. I wonder if that's sometimes the case with ds1 too.

Ds1 used to have perfect pitch but seemed to lose it once he started talking. He doesn't like singing and doesn't like people singing around him - but will spend ages on YouTube listening to songs on there.

Ds2 seems to have a talent for music. One of the teachers at his school came over to me one day to tell me that she'd heard him singing one day and that he had a beautiful voice. Sadly he didn't get it from me. He sings to himself a lot (currently rude versions of Jingle Bells like Streakybacon's ds ) but isn't keen on singing with other people.

DS (10 AS) hates singing, especially mine?!?!? He will seriously over react if anyone sings around him, and never sings himself. He does whistle fairly often, usually when he's stressed out. I can tell by the type of whistle how stressed he is, if he starts making bird noises I know he's about to explode!! He occassionally listens to music, but its very 'restricted' iykwim! He will find a song he likes, listen to it constantly for a couple of days and then (just when I think I can take it no more) will suddenly stop and never listen to it again!

Thanks all. That's certainly satisfied my curiosity , it's so interesting to read what you've all said. It seems it's a bit 50/50 so not generally asd typical, although there are a few who sound very similar to my ds. Thanks again. Now just off to start a 'Does your child with ASD dislike hearing lots of laughter' thread........

Dd likes me singing but hates groups of people/children singing. She hates the sound of alot of laughter or clapping either.