A Story about Autism and The Music Class,
by Rivkah Magnus Eidex
Hey Rob, long time no speak. As a mom who did some 30+ sessions of The Music Class over the course of a decade, I wanted to say hi and share a couple of things.
Speaking of "long time no speak" my middle child, Effie, just turned 20. As you may or may not recall, he is profoundly autistic and for all intents and purposes, nonverbal. I thought you might find it interesting to know that although he has no reciprocal or meaningful speech, he does sing. When he was two and three I remember our teacher Berné "introducing" Effie to you because his pitch was astoundingly perfect. Anyway, although he doesn’t speak, he sings TMC songs. I mean word for word. You see, developmentally he is an eternal two-year-old. Often I will sing (for example): "Saw my mommy and mommy said..." (that’s the only prompt he needs) and he goes into the whole Clicky Clicky Clicky Clack song AND changes the color for each verse! It's amazing the impact of The Music Class on our family. He can’t make himself a sandwich, but he can sing every Music Class song over a decade and a half later. Specifically, the fact that the verses repeat while leaving a "blank" for the kids to fill in ("Driving down the road today...") is great for keeping a child engaged while driving and very important for a kid with autism.
Because of this, the second thing I wanted to tell you is that I recommend TMC for the autistic kids I work with. I am a psychologist. A large part of my practice is evaluating kids who have developmental delays, autism, learning or speech problems, etc. TMC is now officially listed in my clinical recommendations when I write a formal evaluation for these kinds of kids!
I just wanted to share the far-reaching impacts of The Music Class with you and your families.
All the best,
Rivkah
Every so often, I get an email from a past family telling me how The Music Class impacted them. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to hear these stories! See information about our special needs scholarships program in Atlanta. - Rob
Effie Then
Effie Now
