Handling Autism

When my daughter was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 5, I thought it was the end of the world. Our lives would never be the same, we would never be able to go out for dinner, go to see shows, blah blah blah. That has never been farther from reality. What did happen was a lot of work had to be put in and is still being put into making sure our daughter achieves her highest potential. Part of the work involved looking at anything and everything that could serve as therapy. We opted against using any type of medication. What I read and enventually found was that among other things, piano would help her with focusing. So she was enrolled in piano lessons taught by a wonderful and talented Russian piano teacher. She taught "classically". Because I am Filipino, I have had my share of piano lessons courtesy of my mother's insistence. I never took them that seriously but in my adult life found them extremely calming and relaxing. In helping my daughter with her piano lessons, I realized that simplifying the lessons would make them easier to understand and less frustrating for the student. So, I went about re-writing the music sheets using a color-coded method. I used only the notes and took out any cartoons and other musical notations. This way we could concentrate on learning how to read notes. Do you know that this actually worked? I ended up taking in a few special students, with an explanation to the parents that these were intended to show the kids how enjoyable and fun piano playing can be. As they got better, the kids would move on to a more capable piano teacher. The lessons were an honor and a joy to give. If you want Book 1 of these lessons, let me know and I'll email them to you. Hope you have fun with them......