Students with Autism

[MarkDustin]

Hello everyone!

I have a student that is high functioning autistic, and I'm curious if anyone out there has any experience with teaching this type of student. I've taught him for several years, and he has become very technically proficient on his instrument. However, I'm having a lot of trouble trying to communicate to him more of the "subtleties" of playing. His sound needs a lot of work, because he's really tight. However, I can't just tell him what to fix...he doesn't process what I'm telling him. Do any of you have any "tricks" to get him to feel more relaxed that don't require verbal communication?

Thanks in advance!
_________________
Michael Attaway
President, Center Stage Brass

www.centerstagebrass.com
www.providencebrass.com
www.facebook.com/providencebrass

[Craig Swartz]

By "subtleties" I'm assuming you mean "stylistic" differences? How does he respond to you demonstrating what you want rather than trying to explain? I find this the best method, even with fine and skilled student musicians. I know I have never been one to understand terms and descriptions anywhere close to actually hearing what someone is trying to explain. In teaching it is important to demonstrate, over and over until the student grasps the subtle differences in what you are demonstrating. To do this one must copy what the student is actually doing and then what you'd want them to do. Sounds simple, but it's a form of advanced ear training. Many of us did this automatically but it can be taught if one is insistent.

And some other "dumb" questions:
-Any chance he is playing by ear?
-Can he differentiate between tones that are flatter, sharper, or
intonationally matched?

As per being too "tight"- why not try some mouthpiece drilling and horn warm ups from the BIM edition of Stamp warm ups? They come with an accompanying CD that may help him match pitch as he plays. Bending down half and whole steps from long tones in the lower staff and back to pitch may also help loosen him up. Again, you probably will do best to do it with him. Good luck.

[Don Herman rev2]

The one time I was faced with a similar situation I did exactly what Craig Swartz said. Verbal communication did not work. What did was playing for him and having him echo, and playing as close as I could to his sound then playing the same thing with my (arguably better) sound. Sometimes I would say "no", play "his" sound, then "no" again. He would sometimes acknowledge. I would play my sound, say "yes", repeat, and we would go back to play and echo. Progress was slow at first but picked up a bit. The trick was to try different things to communicate "good" and "bad" with minimum verbalization. I only saw the student a few times, still wonder how it worked out...

I did similar things with some ADHD students. In both cases, at times they would get captured by the music, and magic happened. One of the ADHD students was a handful until he started playing, then focused and settled down better than most any other student I had (better than me most of the time!) But I had to keep things moving or he'd wander again, no discussions, just play...
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"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley

[Brad361]

Not exactly the same syndrome, but I taught a student with a seemingly mild case of Asperger's. With him, a quiet, calm, methodical approach worked very well. While he WOULD speak, he preferred to listen. Not such a bad trait really, more "normal" should listen more!
This student started with me as a beginner, in one year he had made much more than normal (there's THAT word again!) progress. Maybe sometimes "normal" is overrated.

Brad
_________________
When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval

[Craig Swartz]

A couple other tricks that worked well for me over the years:

As we teach, we often sit side-by-side with the student. That's well and good, but often times I would turn and blow the sound in a much-reduced volume directly at the student, sometimes even almost into their ear. It often seemed to filter out something they may be hearing in the ambient sounds coming from around the room. I remember the little girl I was teaching the first time I did this many years ago- both of us having a tough time, so almost in frustration, but in humor, I turned and played softly into her left ear. It was like turning a light on for her. As far as I know she had no real hearing problems but something in that action changed everything for her. (In that mode, ever notice how many students today cannot match a brass instrument pitch to one given on piano but can easily match pitch when given by the same instrument? Or cannot match vocal pitch with one dictated on piano but can if the pitch is sung? So much for the general music classroom that starts in Kindergarten... I advocate a lot of time spent on ear training when beginning students on instruments, especially brass and strings.)

With a lot of younger kids, using non-verbal communication is often better as well, especially if one can bring them into the "action". I'd often use the "thumbs up/thumbs down" signal, which they'd then give back to me. Often quicker, more effective, whether individual or group. I'd also teach oral abbreviations, such as "S2", etc. It wouldn't be long before they were using it with others around them, although today some a-hole administrator that never did learn to teach would probably have a fit. In any event, it was having small successes with kids over the years that made teaching rewarding.

[Brad361]

[jungledoc]

Thank you all for this discussion. Autistic kids are often brushed aside, as they can be difficult and frustrating to deal with. Music can be a key to success and development for some of them. I'm the parent of an "autistic spectrum" daughter, and have been the doctor to a disproportionate number of autistic kids, and I understand how hard it can be. I can't offer specific tips on teaching them trumpet, but a few generalizations that may be helpful.

The best thing in this thread is the whole attitude of seeking out what works for a particular kid. It can be difficult to make accurate generalizations about autistic kids. It may take a lot of trial and error to figure out what works best for one, then that won't work well for another.

Knowing how a kid reacts to physical touch is very important. For some, it is a totally negative thing, and even a pat on the back can make them uncomfortable. Some have trouble tolerating loud sounds, but probably trumpet lessons filters most of them out. They might be better suited to flute. Some don't do well with a lot of visual stimulus, and a place with soft lighting and few visual distractions might be a better place for both lessons and practice.

One of the fairly safe generalizations is that autistic kids is their inability to understand body language, gestures, facial expressions, etc. Coupling verbal with non-verbal can be good.

There is a lot of confusion and controversy about classification, but I think it is clear that Asperger's is part of the autistic spectrum, often referred to as "high-functioning autism". Those kids often have incredible vocabularies, though they will often express themselves in odd, or inappropriate ways. They will often have "splinter skills" things that they are very good at, while other things that we may associate with "intelligence" are missing. My daughter can't add 2+2, but she can recognize and name someone she met briefly many years before. So the question about a kid playing by ear is relevant. It's easy to imagine a kid who may be one of those "perfect pitch" geniuses, who can't get the hang of reading music. Or vice versa. Usually, of course, social skills are very difficult for them.

The biggest "trick" to working with autistic kids is love and acceptance. When they feel safe and relaxed they will do far better than when they feel tense, and under pressure. And keep goals focussed in the right place. You may not make your student into a great trumpet player, but if you can make a kid who has had a lot of failure in their life into a happier person, you've achieved something that many people can't or don't bother to try to do.

One last point is that many autistic spectrum people continue maturing far longer than others. They often continue to improve in their ability to relate to others, communicate, etc, well into their thirties. If you have a chance to continue working with one over time, you can expect to continue to see progress.

And thanks for caring enough to teach them!
_________________
Andy

I'll admit it. It's a TR300, but it wants to be a Strad when it grows up.

[razeontherock]

[BullJive]

MarkDustin: it's interesting to hear about your student. For the past 4.5 years I've been working closely with a student who is on the autistic spectrum, and the sound issues, tightness, and somewhat mechanical approach to playing you talk about describes my experiences exactly. My student has the same impressive technique you talk about. Impeccable rhythm and attention to detail also.

I don't have any great advice necessarily. I will say, the student I've been working with sounds great on flugelhorn! I've learned it's important to be clear, direct, yet patient. In the last few years my student's sound and intonation have improved gradually, but it's still not near the level of this player's technique. During every lesson we do something related to sound, and there's slow gradual progress there. We do a variety of everything I can think - breathing exercises, lip bends, pedal tones, leadpipe only, mimicking sounds, all kinds of lip slurs, mouthpiece buzzing, submerging the bell under water, etc. etc. Everything including the kitchen sink, literally.

The student I work with has a hard time - at least at first - of doing 'unusual' things like lip bends and pedal tones. Those ways of playing are so different than normal playing that it causes a sort of sensory overload. So I've learned to ease into those studies. It's very challenging for me to ask questions like 'where in your mouth are you tonguing' or really anything to do with the physical side of playing. I imagine this is a reflection of the difficulty some autism-spectrum people have with body awareness.

Working with the student I'm describing has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my teaching career. This person has grown so much over the past few years, both musically and personally. Things were touch and go for the first year or two (this student is a college music major), but I'm so glad we stuck it out and continued to learn from each other. My student has their senior recital coming up (which is shaping up to be a great program!) followed by graduation soon. It's going to be especially sad to see this person leave the studio.