Special Needs & Learning Differences

I have a question about accommodations. I have a 10 year old student with severe anxiety and perfectionism. She is unable to understand that she needs to practice songs even if she doesn’t like them. She is working on this skill, among others, with a…

• Last updated 6 months ago
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Those that also work with students 60+ might find something useful in a recent post to my students: Happy New Year! 🎉🎊 I hope you’re looking forward to an enjoyable year of music making in 2023! Here are a few tips that will support your…

• Last updated 11 months ago
• deliberate practice, glasses, hearing impairment, older student, older students, practice habits, tracking practice, vision impairment, visually impaired

I have a 5 year old who is resisting playing hands together. He is happy to play 5SS together but nothing else. Any ideas how to encourage him? some young children think it is going to be too hard to do so instead of giving…

• Last updated 1 year ago
• #ttci, BH, both hands, breaking things down, capitals, capitals & periods, capitals and periods, control the events, controlling the events, CTE, developmental delays, dose, doses, event, events, hands together, HT, it takes as long as it takes, Laurie Richards, learning slowly, microdose, microevent, microevents, patience with slow learners, periods, piano event, piano events, play along, playing along with audio, playing slowly, practicing slowly, readiness, ready, separate hands, SH, single thought process, single thought processes, slow learner, slow pace, slow practice, slow progress, slowing down, small doses, smaller dose, smaller doses, STP, trouble with hands together, Tune Toolkit

Question: I have just signed on a Special Needs student. She is 9 years old. Her favorite song is Happy Birthday. Mum said they play that every day! I know we normally teach this at the end of Foundation Level 1 but I would like…

• Last updated 1 year ago
• accompaniment, accompaniment pieces, accompaniment resources, Amazing Grace, Amazing Grace LH position, Amazing Grace position, basics, changes, changing teaching order, claiming territory, finger positions, hand position, hand positioning, hand positions, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday Supplement, high functioning, Honey Dew, Honey Dew LH position, Honey Dew position, introducing accompaniment, Jackson Blues, order, parents of special needs, position, position change, positioning, positions, song order, special circumstances, special needs, teaching order, teaching special needs

Looking for some advice…I have student who stutters everytime he starts to play. He’ll replay his starting note numerous times before finally getting into the song. Once he gets going, he plays well. But if there’s a break in his playing, or the start of…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• anxiety, anxious, anxious student, autism, autism spectrum, autistic, autistic student, autistic students, beginning notes, beginning song, breaking things down, calm, control the events, controlling the events, CTE, dosage, dose, doses, first notes, fragmenting, fragments, getting student to slow down, home use of practice pads, Laurie Richards, microdose, mindfulness, on the spectrum, opening notes, performance anxiety, practice pad, practice pads, relax, single thought process, single thought processes, slowing down, small doses, smaller dose, smaller doses, special needs, spectrum, starting notes, starting positions, starting song, STP, student anxiety, students on the spectrum, stutter, stuttering, teaching special needs, trouble starting song, using practice pads

I have a student that is just starting with a few private lessons to catch her up to the group I want to add her to. My dilemma is that there is a huge language barrier. She is super smart and quick, has taken 2…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• adding students to a group, catching up, catching up new students, combining groups, different pacing in group, EFL, English as a foreign language, English as a second language, ESL, expanding shared lesson size, foreign language, group, group lesson, group lessons, group obstacles, group vs private, groups, language, language barrier, merging private students with groups, Neil Moore, private to group, private to shared, private to shared lessons, private vs group, private vs shared, private vs shared lessons, second language, shared lesson, shared lessons, shared vs private, students in groups with different abilities, students progressing differently, transitioning private students to group

I may have written once already about this but here I am again. I have a student diagnosed as “high functioning Asperger’s” and I have to say that after 3 fairly ordinary lessons with him, what I see is a really bright boy who has…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• Aspergers, autism, autism spectrum, autistic, autistic student, autistic students, claiming territory, expectation, expectations, high functioning, reclaiming territory, special circumstances, special needs, teaching special needs

Just wondering what different ideas I might be able to get for my 11 year old student with autism. She seems to have a lot of trouble using the right fingers. She keeps reverting back to playing just the RH melody only in her songs,…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• autism, autism spectrum, autistic, autistic student, autistic students

In the last few months Gretchen Rubin’s book “The Four Tendencies” was referred to me – I have found it super insightful wrt understanding both myself, and students. Here’s a link to a brief summary – reminder that one size doesn’t always fit all when…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• different facets of musicianship, Four Tendencies, Gretchen Rubin, learning differences, Obligers, personality, Questioners, Rebels, siblings moving at a different pace, students in groups with different abilities, students progressing differently, The Four Tendencies, Upholders

The 12 year old son of an adult student of mine would love to take piano lessons. He can already play the violin and has a great ear, able to figure out how to play songs he hears on the piano. However, due to a…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• adapting fingering, alternate fingering for chords, big fingers, coaches, deformed fingers, deformed hand, deformities, duets, finger adaptations, finger independence, finger isolation, finger strength, fingering, fingers, injured fingers, injuries, Laurie Richards, limitations, missing fingers, mobility limitations, Neil Moore, parents of special needs, physical limitations, special needs, stiff fingers, strengthening fingers, teaching special needs, thick fingers, weak fingers, wide fingers