Special Needs & Learning Differences

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 2 months ago
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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 7 months ago
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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 1 year ago
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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 1 year 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 1 year 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 2 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 3 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

One of my new private adult students (she is practicing diligently, LOVES SM, her playlist so far is very strong) wants to switch from having one (half-hour) lesson per week to two (half-hour) lessons weekly (several days apart) because she is eager to make even…

• Last updated 3 years ago
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How would I decide whether a student would learn reasonably well using the classic Simply Music approach, or whether he & I should invest in the Gateway program? I don’t think you can really know until you start. It’s always safe to start with Gateway.…

• Last updated 3 years ago
• fine motor, gateway, Gateway training, getting started, Laurie Richards, Simply Music Gateway, understanding diagrams

How would my expert teachers out there manage a student who was absolutely adamant that they should only have 1 NEW song to practice each week. Regardless of if they get it easy or not; how can I correct this limiting belief in their psychology…

• Last updated 3 years ago
• claiming territory, coachabilty, coachable, communication, different facets of musicianship, introducing streams, learning pace, limitations, managing streams, multiple project management, multiple projects, multiple songs, multiple streams, normal progress, pace, pace of learning, pace of teaching, practice, progress, rate of progress, reclaiming territory, requirements, Robin Keehn, slow pace, slow progress, speed of learning, speed of progress, streams, student progress, students progressing differently, students speed of progress, teaching streams, too much homework