Teaching a 5-year-old with Aspergers
Found in: Special Needs & Learning Differences
Mark T.
I have been approached by the grandmother of a 5-year-old boy with Aspergers asking if I am willing to teach him. Obviously I am but I wondered if the teacher community could give me any guidance here, for one I have not taught anyone as young as 5 and secondly I have no experience with children with Aspergers. According to his grandmother his ASD impacts more on anxiety and social skills in larger groups so I am figuring he should be fine with me one on one? He is very articulate and reads at an advanced rate but is he too early to start SM foundation? Any advice appreciated. Thanks.
Sue C., Australia
With my student (Aspergers), I am careful to make each lesson a success and not to give too much each time. I concentrate on teaching a little very well with the student playing the new content a fair bit at the lesson.
If you found DCT was too difficult, you could immediately go to the white note version of Chester and even breaking it down to 3 notes, CDE, when mastered increase to notes CDEF then the full version. Don’t even add Top Bottom to start with if necessary.
Spend much time on the basics as well. A long time on black note 2s and 3s, finding them all over the keyboard. You may be able to do a number of lessons on the basics alone before beginning level one.