Eight Reasons Why Your Toddler with Autism
Should Start The Piano
The discussion on whether or not to begin piano instruction with a child typically starts around the age of 5 or 6 years of age. This is largely due to the perception that the piano is difficult to learn and that it is a more ‘refined’ instrument. When you consider that the piano is truly a percussion instrument, it is very durable and it offers instant feedback to the player: you may begin to change your view! While these eight reasons can be applied to all young children, the possible benefits associated with an autistic toddler exploring the piano can be even more important.
1. Give Them a Head Start
When a 5 or 6 year old student begins to learn an instrument, a lot of time is spent on the basics; such as sitting appropriately, focusing on the page and using rhythm. By starting to teach to these basics earlier on, the student will be well on his way to learning simple songs and using both hands while the former student is just starting to explore the instrument.
2. They Can Do It!
If your child can match – they can play the piano. It really is that simple!
3. You Can Do It!
Yes, even if you have no musical background! After all, these matching exercises are, relatively, not complicated and exploring more advanced material would most likely be counterproductive here.
4. Help with Focusing
Even though your toddler will most likely not be practicing for extended periods of time, there are still benefits associated with starting the process. The act of designating short time periods which are ‘only piano time’ will begin to instill a sense of routine in the child. These time periods can gradually be increased over time.
5. Great Way to Introduce Other Instruments
Certain concepts such as reading musical notation and rhythm are shared by all instruments. Since learning the piano will eventually introduce both Treble and Bass Clef note reading skills, almost every other possible instrument will be available to them in the future.
6. Less Competition
School and an increasing amount of peer related activities will very quickly become a major competitor with any extracurricular activity. In these early stages of the child’s development, you can devote more time to the piano and still have time to just have fun!
7. Social Skills Development
While the piano may seem like a stand-alone instrument, it can eventually open the doors to many community based activities. This is especially important in toddlers with autism since many individuals on the spectrum have challenges, later on, with expressive language and socializing. Attending recitals, professional performances and interacting with other musically inclined peers are all great ways to increase social skills development.
8. Changing Perceptions
Like it or not, many people still have a distorted view of just what individuals with autism are capable of. Learning how to play the piano can have a huge impact on the perception of siblings, family and friends and society in general.
Errorless Teaching
Prompting Toward Independence
Consider a student who is first learning the alphabet. This is commonly done by pairing syllables to written letters and helping the student independently identify and associate these concepts with each other. As a teacher or a parent, how would you start this process? Would you lay out all the letters in the alphabet and ask them to find an F? Of course you wouldn’t! Most teachers would begin by isolating a single letter and just teaching to that concept, and then eventually move the student on. This is an example of reducing the amount of distractors. A distractor is anything which does not have to do with the current teaching element being addressed. Distractions are part of everyday life and are often part of the teaching process – but initially, many students will benefit from the removal of these distractors to allow them to be successful, gain confidence and be reinforced. Reducing the amount of distractors is the first step, but what if a student is still not successful?
If a student makes a mistake this implies a few things; he may not comprehend the material, he might not yet be independently able to complete the task and/or there could be behavioral challenges which are inhibiting his response. The ‘and/or’ in the previous sentence is important because students with autism and other learning challenges often have a complicated combination of challenges which may be affecting his/her responses. Let’s consider behavioral challenges. A student may respond incorrectly because; she could be prompt-dependent, i.e. doesn’t respond independently, she may be seeking attention since she has received more attention in the past for incorrect responses, she may be frustrated, distracted, hungry, excited, tired, bored or simply testing the teacher. Since there a lot of ‘may’s’ and ‘could be’s’ in a discussion on why a learner is not being successful - errorless teaching procedures reduce the chance that the previous myriad of possible variables will negatively effect the student’s response. By minimizing the chance that the student will respond incorrectly (at first) the teacher is building a foundation of correct responses for the student to draw from. This also allows the teacher to initially reinforce the student for these prompted responses which will help him associate learning with fun and enjoyable situations.
Students can be prompted by changing their environment, i.e. in the above example of distractor reduction, or by physically helping the student to respond correctly. Physically prompting, in respect to errorless teaching, would be accomplished by completing the desired response with the student by having them respond correctly. For example, when teaching to colors, a teacher could request, “Please point to red”. The student would be assisted by physically helping him point to the red item in an appropriate amount of time. The teacher would then reinforce that prompted response. Without this level of reinforcement, a student will be less likely to respond independently in the future when he/she is not being prompted. This form of prompting works well with certain activities but other skills like language and verbalization cannot be physically prompted in this manner. Here, repetition and the modeling of correct responses are more effective. Physically prompting a student is, of course, not sustainable in the long term because the goal of most skills is for a learner to independently complete an activity. At what point, though, does a teacher know when to stop or begin to stop prompting a student in this manner? After using errorless teaching procedures for an appropriate period of time, teachers can analyze the amount of progress being made by removing the prompt and making the exact same demand. Based on the student’s response without being helped, the teacher can then determine whether more teaching trials are required or the prompts can be faded. The process and extent to which these prompts are faded is completely dependent on the student and his un-prompted responses. Reinforcing future attempts and/or independent responses is extremely important in the student’s long-term success and ability to sustain and generalize these skills. Learning a new language can sometimes be challenging. One way to help learn some of the names of everyday objects is to label the items in your room or house with the word in the other language. This is a form of errorless teaching since it (initially) eliminates the chance for incorrect responses. Not surprisingly, these items will not be labeled in such a manner when speaking with an individual using this other language; so these labels or prompts will have to eventually be removed. Prompts such as these can be difficult to fade if they become embedded in the learning process. Removing then as soon as possible, or systematically fading them over a relatively short period of time, will reduce your dependency on them and allow you to more independently recall the names. One way to begin to fade a prompt such as this is to cover a letter or part of the word with tape. When you are comfortable here you would cover more and more of the word until it is completely unreadable. These and other forms of errorless teaching procedures can be very helpful to all learners – but they are especially beneficial for students on the autism spectrum. The key points with all errorless teaching methods are; the subsequent fading of these prompts, providing adequate reinforcement and the goal of independence.
Objective vs. Subjective Music Education
Developing Effective and Measureable Teaching Methodologies
for Students on the Autism Spectrum
The goal of this piece is not to tout the correctness or incorrectness of either objective or subjective music education teaching styles. Rather, its attempt is to clearly depict their differences and the situations in which each, individually or in conjunction, may be beneficial for the education of students with autism. Music is, of course ultimately, an art form which is driven by a performer’s ability to emote and interpret a piece of music. Assessing an artist’s performance is, perhaps, the definition of a subjective judgment, but we are not dealing with artists…yet. We are dealing with students of an art form. A student’s performance needs to be shaped and more clearly defined, eventually allowing them to relate to the instrument as a conduit for his expression and exploration. To a certain extent this is an ever continuing process since we are all growing and changing as human beings. In respect to the early education of students, though, each response can be objectively measured and analyzed. “But, why do you need to objectively measure their performance?” you may ask. First, let’s define what objective and subjective measurements are and how they are used.
An objective measurement is one which is independent of the teacher’s individual perception of what the answer is. For instance, two separate piano instructors may listen critically to a student’s performance and ultimately come to two, very different conclusions in respect to the student’s interpretation and adherence to the fundamentals of piano performance. This is not so much a misunderstanding or radical divergence in the teachers’ knowledge of core piano education principles; rather a personal and subjective assessment of the student and what constitutes a correct response. To be clear, all teaching is based on shaping and having teachers accept approximations made by a student. Teaching is very subjective in nature, while assessing the results of these teaching efforts should be objective in nature. The question then arises, “How can teachers objectively assess a student’s performance if art is fundamentally a subjective form of expression?” The answer, of course, is that the focus of early music education is much more associated with execution as opposed to interpretation. Therefore, it can be clearly and objectively measured whether or not a student independently depressed a particular key of the piano or identified a musical note correctly.
The reason that objectively measuring and analyzing a student’s early performance is so vital is twofold. By not initially being objective, teachers may be inclined to 1) assign unrealistic goals and objectives for a student or 2) create an unchallenging and stagnating teaching environment by withholding more difficult material. In this discussion, concerning students with autism, both situations are possible but the latter is much more of a likely phenomenon. For many teachers, without prior special education experiences to draw on, it is quite understandably common to base a student’s future curriculum on certain challenges that the student has currently. For instance, if a student has not yet learned how to read, exploring the skill of reading musical notation may seem out of reach for them and is then withdrawn. Alternatively, another student may display fine-motor challenges which could inhibit his dexterity at the piano. In both of these scenarios the student very well might not be able to execute the skill in question at first, but this should not effect the teacher’s decision to begin instruction on that skill and measure the response.
As previously mentioned, when teaching (as opposed to assessing progress), instructors correctly use a subjective analysis of factors to help the student succeed. This practice is often based on a teacher’s intimate knowledge of the student, his environment, his behavioral and comprehension challenges and previously successful teaching methodologies. For instance, after objectively determining that a student has met the criteria for the current phase of instruction, a teacher decides that the next and more difficult phase of instruction should commence. Ten minutes into the lesson, the student presents behavioral challenges and the teacher subjectively determines that this more difficult phase would increase the student’s frustration level at this point and delays the introduction until tomorrow. In respect to another student, this inappropriate behavior may be related to task avoidance and the determination to continue with the more difficult phase of instruction would be made. Both decisions may be appropriate, it simply depends on the student and the situation.
Objectively measuring the early performances of a student at the piano is very plausible; it can be clearly determined whether or not the student depressed a certain key of the piano or played a particular note with his left hand for example. As the material systematically becomes more difficult, though and variables such as dynamics, tempo and artistry become more of a factor, it is more and more challenging to objectively assign a numerical value to the performance - which is based on the execution of each variable. This should not be surprising since the student’s performance is now (at least in part) approaching an artistic expression. At this point, a teacher should use their experience and knowledge of the instrument to make a subjective analysis of the performance. Here, the student is guided by the teacher’s individual perception of what constitutes a correct response. This determination is not only made based on the factors above, but also on the current skill level of the student, the difficulty of the piece and the environment (is this a music recital or a practice session?). An expectation of absolute perfection from a relative beginner at the piano would, of course, be counterproductive. Therefore, as the pieces increase in difficulty the subjective criteria relaxes. In early piano instruction students are being taught core concepts which are mutually exclusive. For example, the skill of identifying a note on the piano is required before teachers can begin instructing the student to play a song with correct fingering. Because these skills are mandatory and used in every piece they will learn in the future, the criteria can (and should) be set as high as possible. Later, typical music instruction involves the introduction of multiple trials of similar pieces of music. The goal is not, necessarily, to perform each one perfectly; rather to present similar pieces and develop the student’s ability to generalize the concepts which are presented in each song. By initially using the objective performance measuring techniques described above and transitioning to a more subjective analysis at the appropriate point, instructors can effectively introduce the piano to individuals from across the spectrum of autism.
