Autistic Pupil

[dinulip]

Hi,

I have been teaching a 9-year-old autistic boy since mid-October, and am beginning to find it quite challenging.  He is about to finish Step-by-Step book One, by Edna Burnam and ABC Book 1, by Boris Berlin.  However, his constant 'twisting' and twitching are getting more and more in the way of his playing.  He can keep the beat and plays the tunes fairly well in his own way.  But I just don't know how far he can advance in his apprenticeship.  Somehow, I feel - perhaps mistakingly - that we are getting close to his limits, and therefore hesitate to push the experience further.  Should I keep him at his present level (where he seems to be comfortable) - or move on until he 'hits a wall'?

Strangely, his divorced parents never spoke to me about their son's handicap.  I found out about it accidentally on the web!! Had I not googled his father's name, I would never have known that he is autistic.  

Does anyone has experience teaching piano to an autistic child?  If you do, please let me know how you deal (dealt) with this challenge.

[lostinidlewonder]

These links might be useful to you

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=48069.0
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=40514.0
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=34862.0


All autistic students I have taught need to develop a relationship with the teacher first and foremost. They need to feel comfortable with you and not insecure. Many of them will not look at your face because they do not understand how to interpret expression, this also can effect how they interpret the tone of your voice.

Structure is very important, set them up to constantly succeed. Don't feel that it is bad to repeat the same issues over and over again, having a secure sense of familiarity is exactly in their zone. You will need to treat them differently from other students, they may stagnate at one level forever but they completely enjoy it, that is what is important. Some autistic students learn music for therapy rather than actually to play the piano at a high level, this means they are learning how to listen to a teacher, how to interact with a teacher, how to move their body to create sound, listening and being receptive to sound etc. Their needs in learning are different but no less than being able to play the piano well.

Good luck and I give much respect to you for caring about your autistic students.

[oxy60]

The fact that you can talk to the student and they can learn something is outstanding. The autistic people I've known are virtually impossible. Those are the ones on whom you don't dare turn your back.

Maybe your student can be rescued. We're all just learning about what is wrong with these people and how they got this way. Remember, 50 years ago we didn't see as many cases.

Good luck and hats off to all you!

[keypeg]

Dinilup, you have stated which book and pieces you did, but nothing at all about how you were teaching this student.  What worked, and what didn't work?

[maitea]

For all of us music is a way to express ourselves, but even more so for autistic children. I would emphasize the fantasy and improvisation, can be as free as it gets, apart from the conventional path. Have you tried to teach him by ear rather than with a book? Does he listen to music? Can you somehow tell which songs he likes best? By the way he plays them, how quiet or nervous he gets. And very good question of keypeg, be tuned with his learning process. What works what doesn't. And I can't tell you how sad I am that his parents didn't mention that to you!!! :O But I commend you for the hard work and interest in his best! I know at Guildhall we have a department in musictherapy. Maybe there is something like that close to where you live where you could drop a line to the head of department for advice?

[ajspiano]

I have a 9yr old autism student who also has ADHD and tourettes. According to his mother the fact that he can stay focused for a 30 minute lesson is astounding, and he rarely has a tick during either which she says is a sign that he enjoys it immensely.

As far as teaching -

He has a lot of difficulty focusing on reading anything let alone music so mostly we work by ear and by rote. However i always suggest that we write down what we play and am gradually working toward that being done in standard notation. He likes s lot of TV theme tunes.. We've worked on "inspector gadget", "the adams family" "scooby doo" ...i've been creating my own simple arrangments of these.

He gets frustrated very quickly and becomes quite self concious if he is unable to do something immediately so we work in very small steps.

I also note that he takes some things i say or do too literally. I'm getting better at wording and demonstrating things in a way that works for him though.

He needs a clear structure for everything so i'm starting to plan out his practice more extensively than I normally would for a student at the same age/level.

Its quite a learning process for me, and its on going. First autisic student ive had and its only been about a month.

[maitea]

ajspiano! That all sounds really impressive!!!!