I personally believe that everybody of all ages, and all situations...should be exposed to the magic of music...be it for the emotional release...or for the language in itself...I believe that music does a lot of good for people, mentally and emotionally...

And being all too enthusiastic, I agreed to take an autistic student under my wings...I am completely aware that progress will be very slow...and have been very patient with them so far...but I've found myself in a dilemma which I am not able to figure out as yet...

This kiddo is a 25 year old male...but his mother accompanies him to class...I started with playing simple nursery rhymes for him to clap to...teaching him how to count...whenever I ask him a question, it will usually take quite a while for him to answer...sometimes, he has even given the wrong answer...which at that time, his mother will scold and shout at him for "not using his brain"!!!...

Obviously this has made me very uncomfortable, and I suggested that the mother leave the room...and leave this kiddo to me...I go back to teaching him again...keeping aware that I should keep my voice leveled and be patient...just in case he gets nervous...but this time, every time I ask him a question...which he isn't sure of the answer...or is wrong...he will bite his hand till there is a mark on his hand...or it bleeds!!...I always told him that it is ok to make mistakes...but he refuses to listen and shut me out...

I told his mother about the situation...and asked what she suggested I do...and to my disbelief, she told me to ignore him...and that he was just doing it to attract attention...

I don't know what to believe...I think I have just taken up something that is bigger than I am...but I do not want to give up on him either...

any suggestions??

I just know a few things about autism. One is that the autistic person is hyper-aware and hyper sensitive. The autistic person is also often highly intelligent. This is a hard thing to balance.

If you go into a grocery store, you see things selectively. You want to buy oranges, so you go into the fruit and vegetable section. You look for fruits. You see round orange objects and you pick them up and put them into your cart.

The autistic person sees the floor, and the scuff marks on the floor. He sees the oranges. He sees the little dimples on the oranges. he smells every smell. He hears every sound: whir of fan, squeak of shoe, little tiny fly-buzz, salesman, crying child -- orange smell, floor polish smell --- everything without filter. Everything all at once all the time. His impressions are very subjective and direct. I understand that autistic people gravitate toward rhythm, order - the stuff of music.

This mother yelling at him is the last thing he needs. Too much noise. He already hears too much.

Autism is a very broad term. Do you know what type or characteristics he displays? Knowing this could help you cater to his actual needs than to the umbrella autistic description which he may have nothing to do with.

The description/situation you gave could be behavior of any child who has tough, demanding, or worse parents.

I only have had him for two months...so I can't really say for sure what character he displays...

he is generally quite quiet...with sudden outburst occasionally...especially when he is alone with me...he is quite slow in many things...but I only get that impression because his mother is pushing and hurrying him along so much...

According to his mother, he has co-ordination problem...but to what extend, I'm not sure...He can't tell his right and left till now...I could be wrong, but I saw that when he looks at me...I feel a certain emptiness within him...I rarely see him smile...but when he does, he goes through a big laugh all excited...and the next moment, he is silent again...somewhat similar to someone of bipolar disorder...

I must say that I can't help but blame his mother for some of this behaviour...I really want to help this kiddo come out from his shell...and to help him find some confidence within...to help him know that music could be used as one of his emotional release...hence, I'm not willing to give up on him yet...

This is a difficult situation in that it seems that the mother has a behavior and attitude going that is not helpful to what you are trying to accomplish.

Do you have a good idea of what you are going to present to him as musical experience? Are you working experimentally to see his reactions?

Are you hoping to use music listening as a soothing influence in his life? A music therapy, or listening experience? Or is he going to play the piano? Or sing? What do you foresee as success for him?

Mom might be able to suggest approaches, but for you to see him biting himself and drawing blood, this must be a frightful interruption.

Why does the mother want piano lessons for him?

Why does the student want piano lessons?

I would think developing tactile sensory would be important if you want to get to accessing fingers. Try rhythm instruments? Clap back rhythms?

You seem very dedicated to the idea that everyone deserves music in their lives, and that is a wonderful commitment and philosophy. This means teaching and reaching everyone where they are.

Determine his capacity, interests, help him look forward to lessons with you, and have a plan for each lesson of what you will do together, then leave some exploratory time for working spontaneously. Don't make the lessons overly long.

I hope you get some good input here, and I'd suggest research on autism and music making with autistic students.

And, surely in 25 years, he has had musical experiences. Perhaps you could ask about how he presently enjoys music before meeting you. Does he have a CD collection, favorite style of music?

Knowing about the person you are teaching is always very helpful to any lesson plans you would make.

Enlist the parent(s) appropriately and encourage certain responses from them in support of their son.

I'm glad you said: "I'm not willing to give up on him yet..."

Empowerment to you both!


Betty

As miaeih pointed out, there are many gradations and variables in autism. First, though, this mother is in dire need of help and counseling - she's frustrated with the fact that she has a "child" with disability. This is a frequent occurrence in situations like this one. It is even more pronounced where a learning disability is still viewed as shameful, and somehow a parent's fault.

Second, before you proceed, I would advise you "arm" yourself with more knowledge. As already suggested, you need to know the exact diagnosis. Then learn more about the particular type and autism in general by visiting the following websites:
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer
http://www.autismcenter.org/
You can also contact their staff with your questions, if you need to do so.

It is often a case that autism is paired with one or more other learning disabilities, which make the situation even more difficult. I taught several kids with various degrees of autism, and many others - gifted with learning disabilities, and I can tell you that once you know what and how to do, they are a delight to work with! Creative, attentive, happy ... you are in a unique position to help this young man, but also his family. Not an easy thing, but very very rewarding in the end!

I'm not a teacher and I have very limited experience with austic adults, but alarm bells went off in my head when I read your post, so I'm going to respond.

Do you have any special training in how to help this student? I noticed on your blog that you're a music student. You may have excellent teaching skills with normal students, but teaching an autistic adult is not at all like working with a child or with a mentally challenged student. This student isn't a "kiddo." He's a man whose experience of the world is entirely different from yours. He may have a capacity to learn music — or he may never be able to relate to it in the way that you and your other students do.

Perhaps you should contact someone at your university's education department or college of education to learn about autism and get the information you need to decide if this particular challenge is one that you can/should take on.

Dear Betty Patnude, miaeh, Keystring and Jelena

Thanks for your input so far...I certainly feel more hopeful reading so many encouragements...you guys have certainly given me a lot to think about...

Betty...yes, I'm thinking along the line of music therapy...or at least, I'm determined to instill in him an interest...some meaning in life...I don't know why...but I have this fondness for this kid...and it pains me to see that he looks as if he has nothing much to look forward to...(is that considered music therapy?...suddenly, I'm not so sure...)...your other questions have given me an insight...and I will need to ponder on those for a while...

Yes, Jelena...teaching kids with learning disabilities...are in some way rewarding...it keeps me on my toes...and it keeps me humbled too...to be consistently thankful for where and what I am now...

Teaching these kids are a joy...but obviously, I still have loads to learn...I'd better start now!!...*grin*...

Once again, thanks so much...the autistic kid would say so too!!...

Dear Deborah,

Yes...I am aware (slightly late, though)...that I've gotten more than I can chew...I am not at all qualified to teach children with learning disability...

I guess I was hasty in making a decision to accept this autistic student...I guess there is this part of me, that was angry and unhappy at the way he was treated by people in general...especially his mom (well, I thought that his mom could have treated him with more care...and love)...and I just wanted to stand up for him...to show people that he is not a freak...

I see people giving him a weird look...people that pass him by sometime takes an alternative route... I think...why did they do that for??...was this autistic guy being a threat?...did they even think for a second...how it could hurt him, and how he would feel??...it saddens me so...to see how some people react to him...

And there is this part of me that wants to assure him that people who is biased towards him...is only a handful...that he need not be afraid...

I will have to research more on this...and see if I can get any help...or someone who may be in a better position to help him grow musically...than I am...

Certainly, your heart is in the right place. Good luck as you move forward in deciding how you can best help this young man.

I had an autistic student, a while ago. She was 11 years old, nonverbal but of normal intelligence. What I did was I asked on an autism-related newsgroup if the folks there had any advice for me. They were very helpful in clarifying what to expect and what to be careful of.

The thing I found helpful with that particular child - and I would not want to generalize it to all autistic children or all autistic people in general - is to be very very alert and watchful for any sign of discomfort. She was very easily overwhelmed, and I had to be careful to back off when things got too much for her. I did not push her very hard, and I don't think it would have been a good idea to push her very hard. We progressed, but we progressed slower than I expected.

Still, we did just fine, she and I. She liked playing the piano a lot - her mother said that she practiced every day because she wanted to. The problem with her was that she was not very coordinated - she couldn't get her fingers into the correct position or move them normally. The people on the autistic newsgroup warned me about that, so I knew to expect it.

I'm not sure you have to have special training to teach piano to an autistic person, but I do think you need to ask some autistic people how you should proceed. Read up on the subject, too. I think you'll do just fine.

Good luck Lessajinomoto in teaching this man !
I would urge to consider him ageless, like elves ;-) I sometimes feel between 11 and 88 years old, and not completely an adult either.

I can offer my own experience with a much milder set of differences, that I found it's still related to/part of 'autism'.

Self biting may be, as weird as it sounds, a way to self-control ! It hurts, but because the person *wants it instead* that overwhelming external pressure. Other ways to express _and acknowledge_ opposition may be offered before reaching this. Contradictory or inconsistent requirements, "between anvil and hammer" (including mother, possibly teacher) may aggravate.

Self-stimulation (stim) like rocking etc. may also be necessary and allowed to some extent for "decompression", and not punished. If looking 'ugly for outsiders', maybe replace it with something similar but accepted, and inform those outsiders towards understanding.

A wide range of extraneous stimuli may annoy, and together overwhelm the person. To keep it musical:
http://lookingforlifeshumor.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/my-unfavorite-things/
So, unclutter the environment, pages to learn etc. to as bland as possible.

I'm curious, what newsgroup you asked ?
There are all sort of differences in 'ideology', and I'm not into such politics.
Official organizations like the ASA may sound 'clinical'.
Insiders show how life "on the Spectrum" is from the inside, but may annoy others (some who say if one can complain, one is 'not autistic enough to speak for them').
Some parents' organizations can use pity or shame, or their own frustrations...

ROMagister, I was clueless, so I went to alt.support.autism for advice. The folks there were actually autistic, so I assume I was getting some kind of insider's perspective. And they were very practical and realistic in advising me how to help the child - I got very good advice.

And yes, one of the people there told me the same thing - as few stimuli as possible, uncluttered environment, uncomplicated things to learn. I did my best. Sometimes, I wasn't aware of the things I was doing that overstimulated the kid - I'm not that sensitive, and at times I really wasn't sure what she was reacting to. Mostly, though, I could get a pretty good idea just by watching her and monitoring my behavior carefully.

Hi Lessajinamoto,

Great to see such a number of thoughtful and helpful posts above. Intellectual disability is a broad and difficult area and it's very common to see erroneous stereotypes trotted out in public discussions. Not here it seems.

I have spent the past 15 years working directly with autism and have learned that applying generalisations to an individual is a risky business, especially if you haven't met the person. So I'll try not to fall into that trap. Apologies in advance for the length of this.

As others pointed out above, the autism spectrum is very broad and what applies to one person may not be present in another. But, commonly, the strengths often lie in visual areas and in good skills with information that is purely concrete and factual, coupled with considerably reduced ability with anything abstract or social. Autistic people can be terrific on detail, but they are often poor at motor planning, processing, or tasks that require adding meaning to raw data. I.e. great at memorising bus time-tables but unable to gauge the mood of the bus driver or understand a request from him.


The points I am trying to make here are that autistic people are as different as any other group of individuals so it can be counterproductive to attempt to pre-judge them. The term Autism does not refer to a genetically or physically identifiable condition (such as Down Syndrome) and there are no medical tests to prove it. It’s purely a description of an overall general outcome, over a very wide range. A minimum of six criteria from a list of twelve must be met. So two people can therefore have a valid diagnosis of autism without actually sharing any of the individual diagnostic criteria. There is also a very wide range from ‘high functioning’ people in the Asperger’s Syndrome end, who can be very bright, through to many whose development is profoundly impaired right across the board.

So here are a few general thoughts based on your post:

• 1. Try and avoid judging the mother. She has probably had 25 highly stressful and difficult years that we can’t possibly understand if we haven’t been through something similar. The lessons situation would be difficult for her too, and her stock responses may simply be easier for her than trying to give more detailed answers. She may of course also be wrong in her assessments, or even have aspects of autism herself. None of these things are really our business though.
  
  2. Chewing is an extremely common stress response. Sometimes it’s clothing that gets chewed, sometimes hands, etc. It occurs in a mild form through the wider community as biting your nails. It’s sometimes compared to the smoker compulsively reaching for another cigarette. I don’t believe that it’s an attention seeking device, but that doesn’t matter. The question is what to do about it. The aim is to re-direct the behaviour to something more positive, but this may be hard to do with entrenched habits of 25 years, in the context of a music lesson. This could be where the mother’s advice to ignore it is coming from. She may be suggesting that you let it run its course without paying extra attention to him, or fussing over what’s happening, which would indeed be likely to increase his agitation if done wrongly.
  
  3. The biting is likely to be an automatic stress response and could be likened to an attempt to redirect mental turmoil by over-riding it with something that (paradoxically to us perhaps) is actually less distressing. Because the distress and turmoil is very strong, then the replacing stimulus needs to be even stronger. In this context the usual ‘relax and think happy thoughts’ ideas just don’t cut it. There could also be other reasons, or it could even be relatively random. An obvious alternative to biting in the context would be for him to pound on a couple of chords as hard as he can to let the tensions out (it works for many of us regular piano students. ). But this may come with its own down-sides! Hard squeezing of a ball is sometimes used successfully to redirect away from chewing.
  
  4. A good percentage of autistic people respond best to a single input channel (i.e. sound or vision, but not too much of both at the same time). Usually, but not always, the visual channel is the better. So try and avoid overdoing the verbal instructions. I’ve seen an experienced Occupational Therapist completely blow it with an autistic boy because she herself got stressed when he couldn’t understand. She started repeating her instruction, changing it each time (as if he might ‘get’ one of the varied options) and her speech got faster and faster. This was the precise opposite of what she should have done. The verbal instructions should be concise and as consistent as possible, and the instructor calm and steady.
  
  5. Visual methods can work very well. So can breaking tasks down into very small steps and doing one step at a time. I have taught a small nonverbal autistic boy to play nursery rhymes on a toy keyboard by simply numbering the keys and providing a score that was a string of numbers. Some toys even come pre-marked that way. He ‘got’ the rhythm because he already ‘knew’ the tunes in his head. What worked best was a small number of visual demos from me, followed by a lot of getting out of his space and letting him work through it. When I judged he was getting stuck, then I gave another demo. He ended up with quite a repertoire which he played with great gusto and enjoyment. He began being quite unwelcoming of the teacher ‘intrusion’ into his experiments, but ended up actively seeking attention and applause (bit like most of us really…. )

Best of luck with your endeavour.

Cheers,

Chris

Pounding on chords to relieve stress will cause a distressing amount of discordant and unpleasant auditory information to enter the ears and mind of this autistic student. Since excess information which is received unfiltered and disordered is the problem in the first place, the problem has just been aggravated.

Rather, the cause of stress must be eliminated. That means less stimulus, less "stuff" going on. A quiet, ordered, and simple (but not simplistic) process in which ONE thing is worked with in utter simplicity.

Secondly, the mother IS a problem. Judgement has nothing to do with it. She is yelling at an autistic son. Yelling creates problems for anyone, but especially for an autistic person whose senses are prone to over-stimulation.

Chewing and rhythmic behaviours, we have learned from the material presented by ROMagister, and which is also available in other formal literature, are not used as stress relievers. They are used as a way of focussing on something simple, in order to filter out all the incoming noise. Regular people walk around with blinders and ear plugs: they do not have this hyper-awareness. We are used to hopping about, shouting loudly, waving our arms, metaphorically speaking, just to get their attention. Someone who is "unfiltered" will be dreadfully distracted by all this random noise.

Autistic people focus on one detail but are capable of broad concept. They are not limited to detail. They limit themselves to detail in order to not be overwhelmed.

Since in teaching music it is necessary for a student to learn to focus on a specific aspect, such as the progression of notes within time in terms of duration, fluctuations of loudness, tone colour - and most people go about it by throwing themselves at music in a broad, disorderly, and unaware manner - it would seem that the attributes of an autistic person could be used to advantage, but that this finer approach: awareness, sensitivity, focus - would have to be there from the beginning: an alternate procedure.

To use anything that "stimulates", induces a student to "have fun" by playing broadly popular music, are approaches that cater to the persona of a non-autistic person.

ROMagister, what are your reactions to the various points, and do you see any of us as off target anywhere? I think we're all feeling our way in.

Unless we have first hand knowledge of the particular individual we can't say that with any authority. As I said, you cannot apply the same perception across all autistic people. Some are hyper sensitive to sounds, some aren't. And chords don't need to be dischordant. The particular 'chewer' that I'm thinking about does not chew in response to noise. If he gets annoyed by noise he does what most other people do - he puts his hands over his ears.


No argument from me that yelling at people is a bad idea, especially somebody with his difficulties. But a piano teacher who decides to interfere with the family life of a student is treading on dangerous ground, and over-reaching their brief. Arranging to teach the son by himself was a good solution. I don't like the sound of her much either, but getting involved with criticising the mother is tempting, but in reality is likely to be unhelpful and counter-productive. You risk making things worse, even if you mean well.

Having worked directly (and successfully) on this precise issue for roughly a decade I'll simply say that is a sweeping statement that I disagree with. You can't just lump chewing and rhythmic behaviours together and say that they all have the same cause or are used in the same way. Stress responses and 'self-stim' behaviour may have some overlap but they're not really the same thing. For many, the stressors could be summarised as "processing demands" which can take many forms.

I would agree that chewing is not some kind of considered choice as in "I'm feeling tense, I think I'll have beer, or maybe just chew my arm up a bit" but, however you describe it, it does have the effect of taking you away from the initial stress into another zone. Another stress response that I see with various disabled people is extreme looking clenching and tensing of muscles, often arms or facial muscles. It looks bad, but can be serving a purpose, and not necessarily just be a tic or spasm. In fact it can actually be used as a deliberate relaxation technique by anybody - tense certain muscle groups as hard as you can, and when you let go the body should be able to relax back to a state which is below the original condition. It's a fairly well known way to relieve tension, and produce a calmer more relaxed state at the finish. So it's not all bad. Again, case by case, there's a fair bit of variation.

Alternative focus for sure, but not solely for noise. True for some, not for others.
Agreed. We all do that in some ways.


I'd go with that.

And also to many autistic people, thank goodness. They are most definitely not all "fun-challenged". One of the great things about working with autistic children is seeing the development of a sense of fun, and a movement away from the sterotype of a permanently serious and solitary soul.

Good examples of changes that I've seen:

• An autistic boy who had the often reported eye contact difficulties completely overcoming them, and even demanding from a teacher "Head looking! Head looking!" when he wasn't getting enough eye contact.
  
  A once isolated and sound sensitive student working happily and proudly away (on 'work experience') in a noisy factory.
  
  A once serious student who had no speech at before age 6 developing smiles, laughter and even a sense of humour. Although I must admit that the jokes he tries to invent are funny mostly for their bizarreness.
  
  But above all being with a class full of children with disabilities, many of them autistic, and seing them all actually enjoying themselves, smiling and laughing. It can happen, thank goodness.

Anyway, that's more than enough from me about autism. I'll leave you all too it, with my best wishes for success for this and any autistic student of music.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Chris,
I am no expert and don't pretend to be. Between various input we are probably getting a fuller picture. Working in an individualized setting is probably different than a classroom, which is an institution.

In regards to the mother - I agree. I don't think that teachers have any role in "family intervention". That is the role of trained social workers, family therapists and the like, undertaken with the voluntary permission of the parties concerned.

However, if a family member is interfering with the teaching process, the nature of that interference should be addressed.

I actually threw these thoughts out this morning to see what would be done with them. I am especially interested in hearing the response of the gentleman who has identified himself as being autistic as well as learning to play the piano.

I agree than generalizations are even more difficult than among most normal people ! Each person has one's development path, and I wonder how much can efffective, or frustrating teaching really influence future development.

Firstly, as a kid I was considered more towards 'bright' than 'disordered', and treated by people according to better or worse common sense. There was no label then. Sure, enough harassment/bullying at school preying on my social cluelessness, and no real hint how to escape... other than with more scholastic learning getting to more ununderstandable bullying.

With piano at 8, I think my rigidity clashed with teacher's different kind of rigidity. And motor clumsiness became ever more obvious relative to the pieces' increasing difficulty, and the teacher could not figure why. AND... I was badly "pestering" WHY some things are this way and not others, that historic notation is illogical etc. Often the teacher did not know the answers. I knew about logarithms then, she didn't ever heard about.
I tried to be 'well behaved' up to a point, then frustrations accumulated and I stuck to a hard-line refusal (of the lady and any official style of teaching; not of music). Never got to biting etc.

I still agree with "have fun!" but the same FUN can have a much different meaning for Spectrum people. I enjoyed the sound itself, the technical process and hidden patterns to discover, and just the WHY, WHAT, HOW ? And the process of figuring pop songs and improvising harmony. That teacher's most recent concept of pop at piano were 1920's tangos, which were too hard for my level then with full arpeggios etc.
'Stupid praise', cutesy pictures, social prospects for playing, recitals etc. were NOT my kind of fun.

But the same teacher lady had good success teaching typical older (10-13 years old) girls. Guess her ways suited to teaching "DeeDee" instead of the "Dexter in his Laboratory" I was then...

"You can teach a cat to do... anything she wants!"
And they said that autistic and like people are more like cats than like dogs.

With time I changed; I became cumulatively tired of the unrecognized effort at imitating normalcy, now I recognize and allow more mild traits of autism to express. Still it's lighter than Kanner's original clinical definition.

But is this not also the path of serious musicians? There are a number of people I know who have been caught out by the "have fun" approach, becuase their fascination was with the process of playing, technical considerations, the principles of musicianship. And they were stuck in these formulae of "what motivates students". It does .... must ..... but not all.

Yeah - I always thought that the "fun" approach is patronizing to no end. Most of my experience is in tutoring math, not teaching piano, and on a regular basis, some student of mine would bring me an assignment that was supposed to be "fun". None of these assignments actually were fun for the children. Most of these looked like the author had never seen a child, let alone interacted with one. None of these actually taught any meaningful mathematical concept.

I rather think that my autistic student enjoyed herself at the piano. She seemed happy to see me when I came, and eager to go to play the piano. I don't think she needed me to do anything extra to "entertain" her or to make things "fun". The piano playing appeared to be quite fun enough for her.

Mind you, with a nonverbal child, it is hard to tell just what they're thinking and feeling, but I have the feeling that if she weren't enjoying herself, she wouldn't play at all.