Autism Vox

Music and Art

by Kristina Chew, PhD on July 2nd, 2007

At his Sunday piano lesson, Charlie finished playing “Bingo” with both hands and his piano teacher and I clapped. Charlie played a few more songs—”Clementine” and “Heart and Soul” (in which he has had to play one of the black keys for the first time, F sharp), and the C scale. When there are a few of the same note to play—a few C’s in “Bingo”—-Charlie sometimes plays more than are indicated in his music book; his teacher noted this, and then, after mentioning how ABA teaching can put a great premium on precision and exactitude, he said, “But I think it’s all right if he plays too many notes. You can tell what song he’s playing, he’s having fun, and it’s music. It’s art.”

I had just time enough to agree before heading out the door: Charlie had already run across the grass and gotten into the green car. I’ve thought that Charlie tends to play a note repetitively perhaps from a lack of motor coordination; from difficulties simultaneously reading the notes on the page and coordinating his fingers; from enjoying the repeated sound of a note (he smiles very big when pressing down on the keys with all five fingers in rhythmic banging). Why not think of adding a few extra notes as a small bit of Charlie’s signature when playing—his adding his own flourish to the chorus of “Bingo”?

The teacher’s comment also made me think about what may have been an over-emphasis on precision and exactitude in teaching Charlie, especially in some of his earlier ABA teaching. On the one hand, he of course has to know the letters of the alphabet; if Charlie says “are-dee” for “Charlie,” people are not sure what his name is. On the other hand, Charlie’s learning was sometimes slowed down when it was insisted that he be able to recognize and say all the letters of the alphabet perfectly before moving on to other things: Charlie still confuses “B” and “D”; when he was younger, and he struggled more with apraxia, he referred to all the letters that have an “e” sound as “d” or “e.” Drilling him on a few letters so that he would say them correctly often brought frustration on both sides of the table.

And insisting that Charlie play every single note of every song on the piano just so can really take the fun out of it: Piano for Charlie is not about training him to perform in Junior Bach Festivals. Since learning to play an instrument himself, he has become much more interested in using his iPod and in listening to different kinds of music, and has been going through the CD case we keep in the car to find his favorites.

Or rather, Charlie has been carrying the CD case from the car to his bedroom and setting it by his bed when he goes to sleep. I think I will add this Art for Autism CD to the collection: The CD was created by 21-year-old Amanda Zadroga, who has two cousins with autism and a younger brother with developmental delays; Art for Autism is a compilation of mostly New Jersey bands (including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) and has the goal of improving services for adults with autism. Zadroga created Art for Autism as a project for a senior seminar English course entitled the “Rhetoric of Activism” (and she is a recent graduate of Rutgers, where my husband Jim attended college and graduate school—Charlie has had some good times running in the shelves of Alexander Library and walking the streets of New Brunswick).

The Art for Autism CD faces a little competition though. vis-à-vis Charlie’s listening preferences. Charlie leafed through the CD case and pulled out one with a purple paisley design: “Turn on,” he said, looking at me.

“Can—-” I prompted.

“Can I have, hear, Jimi Hendrix?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, and he fell asleep to the sound of “Rainy Day, Dream Away.”

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POSTED IN: Art, Education, Music, Sensory