The Music Says It All
My son Charlie does not simply like music. It’s simply an essential, and natural, mode that he expresses himself with and just something that he enjoys. He did music therapy when he was 2 1/2 years old and enjoyed hearing someone sing and play the piano to him and try to get him to play maracas and bells. But the effort to teach Charlie to actually play an instrument and read the notes has most shown how music is a medium that Charlie is drawn to.
When he was about 6, Charlie singing “Frére Jacques” was a sign that he was agitated and we started to realize that music was something that Charlie uses to communicate his emotions. Under Istvan Molnar-Szakacs of the UCLA Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity, researchers are conducting the first-ever study to see if autistic children process musical emotions and social emotions in the same way that “typical” children do. Using neuroimaging — functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI—Molnar-Szakacs will explore how autistic children identify emotions in music and how they identify them from other people’s facial expressions:
“Music has long been known to touch autistic children,” Molnar-Szakacs said. “Studies from the early days of autism research have already shown us that music provokes engagement and interest in kids with ASD. More recently, such things as musical memory and pitch abilities in children with ASD have been found to be as good as or better than in typically developing children.”
In addition, he said, researchers have shown that because many children with ASD are naturally interested in music, they respond well to music-based therapy.
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In this study, Molnar-Szakacs will use “emotional music” to examine the brain regions involved in emotion processing.
“Our hypothesis is that if we are able to engage the brain region involved in emotion processing using emotional music, this will open the doorway for teaching children with ASD to better recognize emotions in social stimuli, such as facial expressions.”
15 children on the autism spectrum aged 10-13 will be participating in the study.
Molnar-Szakacs also notes that “‘Importantly, this study will also help us promote the use of music as a powerful tool for studying brain functions, from cognition to creativity.’” I’d also say that for Charlie (and for me) music is a “powerful tool” to for communicating and for tapping into abilities of Charlie’s, that would otherwise go—yes—unheard.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, brain, cello, Education, emotions, feelings, fmri, Music, Neuroscience, parents, pdd-nos, pianoRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Language, Music, Neuroscience, cello, piano
8 opinions for The Music Says It All
Daisy
May 14, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Hmm…I’ve heard that perfect pitch is a common talent in people with autism. We think Amigo has it. His violin teacher was certain of it.
Marla
May 14, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Very good. M has little talent when it comes to music but she sure has a great appreciation for it. Of course it can not be loud or unexpected.
sharon
May 14, 2008 at 9:22 pm
My older son loves music. His first “words” were singing the alphabet song at 18 months. He has a gift for playing by ear and can mix lots of different sounds into a cohesive and enjoyable song.
One thing I have found interesting is that he is now liking heavy metal music just like any 11 year old though that type of music is not played at home or at school. He found it by scrolling around the radio dial and got hooked.
Shawn3k
May 14, 2008 at 10:39 pm
My son in is also very attuned to music…ever since he was a baby - the song “Salsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel has the amazing ability to make him extremely happy. I have the funniest video of him at a year old, shrugging and bopping in his high chair to the song. I don’t drive anywhere, without that song in my car. The lyrics might mean something entirely different - but for me, they represent that connection that allows my son to bridge the gap between his inner world and our outer world.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 15, 2008 at 12:12 am
I really do think that Charlie has perfect pitch. Since he has been learning the notes I suppose it might be possible some day to test him. When playing cello, he often has been listening to me singing the different notes and saying the letter name and then playing the right string.
Shawn3k, I like very much how you describe music as bridging that gap, and building a road to connect on.
HCN
May 15, 2008 at 1:34 am
Music and the brain should be its own field of study. I recently read a book titled “This is your brain on music” which gave some insight. Oliver Sacks has also written a book on the effect of music on the brain (I have a hold on it at the library).
I did try to give my oldest son music lessons. He is the one with the severe speech and language disorders, and whose high school psychologist suggested had Aspergers (his official diagnosis is oral motor dyspraxia with functional dysarthria and some dysphasia which may or may not be related to a history of seizures), but we stopped when he developed a case of anti-practicitis. He did not like it enough to practice. Oh, well… he listens to music (though it is music most of us hate, mamby pamby pop music, yuck).
The other two kids did persevere more with music. Number two child has stuck with it the longest. He is 17 years old and still plays the alto sax in band, including marching band. He is presently teaching himself bass guitar to participate in a garage band with his friends (I apologized to the neighbors when they were practicing in our garage!).
Yesterday he substituted for another swim teacher at the pool he works at as a lifeguard. His most difficult part was the singing of “Motor boat, motor boat” in the mom/dad/tot swimming class. He found the different pitches of the song being sung irritating to his musician ears.
Weird… the last time I paid for a music lesson for him was six years ago! I stopped paying for music lessons when his music teacher moved to New York. Yet his participation in school band has made him cognizant of how music should sound.
By the way, I appreciated paying for his piano lessons, and his sister’s violin classes when they both told me to switch the car radio away from “Radio Disney”! It seems both of them could not stand Britney Speers. Unfortunately, as teenagers both of them are into weird metal rock. sigh… I tried.
Autism + Music
Jun 8, 2008 at 12:24 am
Perhaps you would like to hear some AutisMusic?
Autism + Music
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:24 am
Sure–thank you!
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