Submitted by Dan Leopold, New York
Idea posted July 29, 2004
I taught a boy with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) for three years. What was most striking to me was his ability to express logic over emotion. He was a fantastic note reader but was easily frustrated when I asked him to work over a passage because he misread the note. He often had temper tantrums in my lesson, but I established firm boundaries with him. He was not to scream at me, he was not to lie on the floor, and he was to stay in his seat when playing the piano. If he did not do these things, the consequence was that I would leave the lesson. (I went to his house, because the parents were usually there, and they added to the additional supports.) This boy loved to play Hanon, because of its logical challenge, the sequencing, and how each exercise led to a more complicated move of the fingers. However, he rarely practiced like I asked him to. He would attempt to go through a piece quickly once and then was convinced he was done. In the third year, he was finally beginning to understand that "practice makes perfect."
I think the most important part of what I learned from my student, and what he learned from me, is that unlike students without special "giftabilities," the lesson was constantly a balance between using the music to help control and adjust behaviors, and using our behavior to create beautiful music. My music therapy training especially helps in this regard - being able to see with a THIRD eye so to speak. For example, "No, the boy is not playing the correct pitches, and no, the boy is not looking at the sheet music, YET he is quiet and attending to the activity for 45 WHOLE minutes." In my first year with this student, this was a BIG accomplishment.
For further research with autism and music therapy, check out any writings by Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins.