The healing power of music is nowhere more evident than in the case of children with autism. Here are some stories of how music helps some autism sufferers.

A little background: Autism spectrum disorder, commonly known as autism, is a complex developmental condition that affects 1 in 150 children in the U.S. alone. The disorder typically appears during the first three years of life and is neurological in nature, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. A spectrum disorder is one that affects every individual differently and to varying degrees. Some children with autism don’t speak at all; some have difficulty interacting positively with others.

Children with autism can appear to be intolerant, inflexible and antisocial. Music by its nature has structure and predictability and captures the attention. Music therefore invites interaction, which then in turn can encourage social relationships.

Autistic children allowed and taught to improvise while listening to music have been found to communicate better in the areas of speech, emotional response, attention span and self-control.

There is a delightful blog by an autism mom, Kristina Chew, entitled “Autismland: The Autism Reality Show starring Charlie”. A few poignant insights about Charlie and music: Charlie plays piano and guitar; seems to prefer hearing music to talking; and can go from fixated and intractable, to cheery and filled with song, by listening to a particular CD. And Charlie’s taught his mom about the close relationship of music to speech as with “the rising tone of a question, the hammering strain of anger, and happiness’ warble.”

Autistic children often react to outside stimulation by being hostile; music as stimulation perhaps a step removed from direct human interaction can be experienced as non-threatening. Musical instruments, singing, and moving to music can be non-threatening intermediary interactions indirectly connecting the autistic child and another individual. So where a child might ordinarily physically ignore or reject attempts at social contact by others, music and/or an instrument can replace withdrawal from contact with inquisitiveness and fascination.

During a music therapy session, a child is encouraged and allowed to express himself in any way. It is then “ok” to hit things, yell, jump and otherwise react to the music. Having felt the effects of emotional reaction, the desire to communicate increases.

Donna Williams, author, composer, screenwriter and artist, has a most inspiring, touching website. She was born in the ’60s and lived her first couple of decades ill and under various diagnoses and medications, until finally she was diagnosed as autistic. She describes herself as a “musical thinker”, a doer rather than a thinker, living in a world of perceived patterns and mimicry. She describes her type of learning as “kinesthetic, learning through direct physical experience and hands-on doing, through the repetition of patterns, not mentally, but experientially.” She has struggled to learn to connect with people, and it is mainly through her artistic expressions that she does so.

By gazing through these windows into real people’s lives we find hope for possible connections between the autistic and the world they live in, and see how music can help bridge the gap.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am and is filed under Healing Music, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.