Simpedia

Sue C., Australia

Whatever you do, make each lesson a wonderful time for her and yourself. Don’t be frustrated. Love the person. Don’t always pick up mistakes. Say that was great, because for her it was great. (I know you already do this anyway).

Pamela M., Canada

I agree with Francine that each lesson should be a wonderful time for her as each time you will strengthen the bond you are making with her.

Always end the lesson on a positive note, with something she plays well. Set small attainable goals at each lesson and make a big deal ( verbal praise) each time she meets the goal no matter how small you may think it is, it is huge to her!

Keep your request short and simple, ” do this”, or ” like this ” …too many words are confusing to children with autism. I would take her favorite song at one lesson and work only on the LH and keep it short, small dosage on LH even if it’s one sentence, master that and put both hands together. The key is small dosages with what they struggle with the most. Again, end even that on a positive note, even if that’s her playing only the RH of the song.

Most important thing to remember, every lesson will have its ups and downs, steps forward and steps backwards. These are bright children who just need time and encouragement to flourish!

Joanne J., Australia

My experience with a number of students on this spectrum is that they find it extremely hard to do something one way and then change it to another ie as they first see it ‘is how it is’ and to add to it makes it wrong in their eyes and therefore unacceptable. Having said that I have also found that if they are exposed to a different way without any expectation on them to do it, they tend to decide for themselves that they would like to try that too and will then give you their full attention, that’s when the miracles can happen. I would suggest 2 things:

1. To overcome seeing RH & LH as 2 separate identities ie 2 thought processes fighting for her attention – delivering in micro events allows BH to happen in the initial learning and therefore collapse into 1 event. EG Dreams could be delivered: 1) BH positions (2) F3 RH and F5 LH together (3)RH F5,4,3 (4)RH F2 LH F1 together and so on. Very important to be singing along as each part is added so the musical flow is not disrupted.

2. To encourage her to want to play BH – play the LH with her when she plays the songs she already knows and wait until she signals that she wants to know what you are doing. Start with Dreams only and see what happens over the next few weeks, remember ‘it takes as long as it takes’. After a couple of lessons you might just casually, quietly mention in an upbeat voice that ‘one day she might do BH just like that all by herself’, be sure only to say it once. Absolutely no pressure and no expectation on your part (tricky!). It would also be imperative to contact her ‘coach’ beforehand (not in front of the student) to let them know that you are going to apply this approach so you have their full understanding and co-operation ie they absolutely do not want to be pressuring her at home on this one.

Above all don’t be discouraged – we have no idea what these special little people are taking on board for future reference. One little chap I nearly gave up on in Level 1 feeling that we were getting nowhere is a prime example – nearly 4 years later he is completing level 6 and, mostly, just loves his music lessons and being able to play the piano.

Francine V., Australia

A little while ago I got some fabulous advice from the ECL about how to help an autistic student. I have used the idea to show BH as one entity, rather than RH first, and LH later, then bring them both together. This was a struggle because it seemed ‘wrong’ after learning it right. We have been having much more success since I have been showing her BH together straight away.

But now I am wondering, does this mean I can’t teach her arrangements and variations? I usually show the middle run in Night Storm and the Low A at the end after a few songs, but maybe I can’t teach these addition things to my student with autism?

Helen L., Canada

So glad to hear you are having success with the BH. I think it was a good choice to make and clearly since you are having progress now.

Like I said before, you are the best judge – but in my brief experience with my autistic boy, I found it best to allow him LONG success on having the songs in his hands in the original basic version for “months”. After also hopefully being able to play with the CD which demonstrates ability to keep the flow in basic format, then would be a good time to teach Night Bridge. I found Christopher enjoys making up his own endings (such as for DCT using the tailpiece fingerings – that is his own variation!)

I find going too fast just makes them forget the original version especially since my student tends to avoid practicing/thus forgetting a song in a week or two. Then they get frustrated cause they forget. Just be patient, there is no hurry to teach the student an arrangement. Make sure they have the learned songs down for a good long time and that they continue practicing correctly.

Teaching a low A at end of NS is a good way to begin expanding songs and can happen a little sooner to add a nice sounding touch.
Just wait until you know or see a glimmer of their own creativity surfacing and work with that. Easy does it girl!

Joanne J., Australia

No worries, I find that because you have a different name it is seen as a different song and therefore perfectly acceptable for them to take on board and with a variation there is no reason not to change the name slightly to give it a new identity too (as Jy and Sheri have done with the new Playlist materials which are fantastic, thank you again!). When first presenting it to them (apart from using the same strategies I mentioned last time) it is great to play up the fact that there is so little new learning in this new song as they already know many of the sentences/patterns etc (whatever is relevant) we are just going to slot in some other building blocks and make it into the new song. Great approach for all students with arrangements and variations as it emphasizes early that music is simply made up of many different building blocks that we too can use to create our own music (the natural foundation of comp or improv!). As Helen has suggested, it is also important that the original version is well ‘set’ as an identity before introducing another that is so similar to avoid any confusion.