Music, Naturally!
The Naturals are Maurice Snell, Terry Bracey, Dan Massey and Craig Christiansen, a Chicago-area band. Snell and Bracey are autistic; Massey and Christiansen teach music. Christiansen co-founded the Creative Exchange Music Therapy program, which teaches music to children of different abilities. (I need to find a program like this around here—we recently found out that Charlie’s piano teacher has moved; Charlie plays as well as ever as we keep practicing, but a good teacher makes a big difference!)
You can see the Naturals performing on this video and, yes, it sounds good.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, chicago, disabilities blog, disability, Family, family blog, Music, naturals, Parenting, pdd-nos, piano
2 opinions for Music, Naturally!
Nelda of BI-CEC
Jul 22, 2008 at 12:35 am
Hi, everyone! I saw your article about what music can do to children with disabilities. I had my practicum in sped last summer in a school in Cavite, Philippines. I saw how boring it was for the children during the motivation or circle time. One teacher told me that their songs were first introduced to them a year or more and they sang them everyday so I guess It became boring. I thought of introducing new songs and brought some musical instruments (maracas, tamborine, drums). They were all amused and became lively. some of the songs were played from my cassette tapes i brought from Seoul, Korea (I was an English teacher there for 8 years). The directress was impressed and even asked me for copies. I also introduced arts durings fridays. I integrated music in my arts and saw the tremendous impact it brought them. I think they became happier even just for summer. I wish I could do more but my practicum days are over. Now, I manage my own center and will integrate music and arts in my curriculum. My daughter is a pianist and maybe next time I can design or publish my own motivation songs to help children with disabilities. Thanks a lot and more power!
Nelda
Big Ideas Center for Exceptional Children
Dasmarinas, Cavite, Philippines
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 22, 2008 at 1:36 am
Thank you for telling us about your work—would like to know about your “motivation songs.” My son’s been singing a lot, as ever; his own words to a jazz beat.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: