In a recent Music Educators Journal, Ryan and Amy Hourigan discuss communication, support structures, and adaptations to help students with autism make connections with those around them.

• Find a communication strategy to use with the child.  Try the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), which uses picture cards to convey ideas.
   
• Practice classroom routines and appropriate behavior.  Expect occasional disruptions, and use both rewards and consequences to encourage all students.
   
• Use peers as models.  Positive relationships can develop when compassionate students help each other. Everyone, including the teacher, benefits from this.
   
• Recognize that all children can acquire some music skills.  Learn what works with each child, knowing that some children have multiple disabilities and sensitivities.
   

In the words of the Hourigans, “A combination of being aware of cues and having a working relationship with the child’s educational team will result in a clearer understanding of your student.”

Diagnoses of autism are rising by about 10 to 17 percent per year in the United States—approximately one child in 150 has autism, say the National Centers for Disease Control. Music teachers need to be ready to help these students as their numbers increase.

The article mentioned here, “Teaching Music to Children with Autism: Understandings and Perspectives,” was published in the September 2009 Music Educators Journal.  [Your MENC ID number is needed to log in.]

MENC member Ryan Hourigan is an assistant professor of music at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. Amy Hourigan is a board-certified music therapist at Music Therapy Connections, LLC, Muncie, Indiana.

Additional Resources:

• “Keys to Success with Autistic Children” by Scott H. Isemiger, Teaching Music, April 2009

• “Teaching Strategies for Performers with Special Needs” by Ryan M. Hourigan, Teaching Music, June 2009

• An Attitude and an Approach for Teaching Music to Special Learners by Elise S. Sobol, 2008. Available from RLE Education.

--Ella Wilcox, November 2, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)