Another early childhood example of Karl’s connecting to the
Music: A window into the
world of Autism
By Lynn S. Arezzini W
hat do parents do when their two year-old child is quiet, does not point to things and sits like a stone in his car seat? When two musician parents were faced with this
situation, music became the natural path to help their child. Karl is my son who happens to be musically gifted and has autism. He was that silent two-year old until music became “his window to the world” and the “world’s window to him.” Although Karl didn’t speak to us, music “spoke” to him. He
played music tapes and videos endlessly and at only two-years-old he could remember and perform hundreds of songs. My husband and I desperately wanted to reach Karl so we sang, played, and read to him and Karl responded emotionally to our music. Karl’s first real breakthrough with using music for communication occurred on a trip to the Bronx Zoo with his pre-school. Karl loved the small animals in the children’s zoo. He stood in front of a cage of mice and began to sing loudly “Three Blind Mice.” Then he moved to a cage full of chickens and he sang “The Old Hen She Cackled.” He couldn’t say, “Look at the mice and chickens.” Instead, he showed his excitement and knowledge of the creatures by singing their theme songs ala “Peter and the Wolf.”
28 Natural Nutmeg
outside world through music happened when his grandparents took care of him for two weeks while my husband Dave and I were away. My father (known as Pop Pop) could not convince his four-year-old grandson to get on the school bus one morning. He knew that Karl was mesmerized by Pop Pop’s accordion, so he got it out and began playing as he walked out the door toward the bus. Karl followed Pop Pop down the sidewalk like the village children followed the pied piper in the classic fairytale. He gleefully got on the bus and waved to his Pop Pop, who played until the bus went down the street. I believe that Karl learned to connect to his family because we are all musicians. Even though Karl could barely speak, he was com- fortable living in our “music house.” Our house spoke the language of music and Karl became fluent in that language. Along with seeing the power of music transform my son I have seen its healing effect on my music students as well. Children with autism often cry and scream due to over- stimulation, anxiety and frustration. I have seen students screams be turned off like a switch because music calmed or delighted them. Music can become a way to calm anxiety, be a positive motivational tool, as well as a way to communicate for children with autism. Music therapy offers yet another avenue to help a child with autism find their way in the world. At age five Karl began his journey with Clive Robbins at the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Center in NYC, which opened the window to the world even wider for him.
Music therapy as a path to self realization In Clive Robbins’ book, “A Journey Into Creative Music Thera-
py,” he tells about a five-year-old named Paul, who had autism and screamed most of the time. Robbins incorporated Paul’s high pitched screams into the music. Paul’s ritualistic movements were caught by a drum and turned into beating. Robbins matched his music to what children like Paul and Karl brought to each therapy session. Bill Sears, a professor from the University of Kansas, was impressed with music therapy’s effect on autistic children. Sears says, “In our work, we would take such a behavior (Paul’s screaming and ritual- istic movements) and eliminate it, but you people, you take what the child has and somehow bend it, and I think that’s better!” Clive Robbins says, “Music seems to be inherently invested with the pos- sibilities of communication between the child and the world, as it simultaneously promotes the awareness of selfhood as a separate but connected individual.” I couldn’t agree more, and NYU’s Nordoff- Robbins Music Therapy program not only nurtured my son’s ability to sing and play music, but also gave him a way to communicate with people, fostered initiative and independence, and most of all, gave him a sense of self. I believe that immersing autistic children with listening to music and participating in music therapy can help break the isolation of autism. Another way to reach these complex children is the study of a musical instrument. The method of study we choose for Karl was the Suzuki method.
The impact of suzuki cello training on
Karl’s personal and musical development Karl began his musical training in my womb since I sang and
played piano daily while I was pregnant. He began playing cello at five years old under the guidance of my colleague and friend, Dr. Connie Barrett, so he had the early training that Suzuki advocates. Karl’s progress was slow, but Connie and I continued to encourage
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