A few months ago we cover the fascinating area of music therapy for children on the autism spectrum. You can read the overviews here and here.

So I was delighted when Jaime Highfill of Charis Music Studio got in touch to tell us a bit more about the course she is offering this Fall.

Miss very kindly shared a bit more about the course and why she set it up here.

She wrote ” My name is Jaime and I own a music studio in Owasso, OK (Tulsa area). I have a special needs son Micah who is 13 going on 14. He is autistic with some motor movement issues like flapping his hands or screeching. He is kind, polite, funny and has a love for music. Ever since he was little he has loved every musical instrument known to man! We (his father & I) would purchase all of the silver plastic instruments for him to play with. He would play with them till they broke and we would buy more. After a while these instruments wouldn’t do. He wanted the real deal! So we searched Craigslist, pawn shops, anywhere to find real instruments for birthdays, Christmas -used and beat up he didn’t care![

Micah never was a fan of school but in 6th grade he got scheduled for band to finally learn an instrument! His dream come true! The school called us after day one and told us that micah to sum it up couldn’t be in the class because he would be a distraction. We tried to fight it for a while. We had many conversations with the school before the band director to contacted us directly. We were angry we were hurt and most of all we had to break the news to our son. How could they know after one day? How could they know without putting an instrument into our son’s hands?

My heart still breaks to this day for my son. I own a music studio so I promised him I would get him a teacher for any instrument he wanted to play. This incident stays with my son. We as his parents know what a blessing he is. He touches lives everywhere he goes as do many of these kids. We didn’t want to force the issue and put our son in the hands of someone who didn’t want to be bothered.

I’m sure that there are many instances like this with the special needs kids. I am sure that every parent has faced an issue like this.
So with all that being said, I decided to offer a music class for special needs kids. I have been wanting to do this for a while. I am lucky enough now to have a teacher who has an autistic brother and it is getting her degree in Speech Pathology and a minor in psychology. We are going to offer these kids voice lessons instrument lessons, music theory, rhythm, music history in a new and fun way. It will be a group class each week and we will have a different theme. If any of these kids are interested in some sort of Music area we can now figure that out through this class and perhaps offer them one on one lessons with exactly what they want to do. The main thing we are doing now is a group lesson ages 7 to 18 separated into two groups younger and older. We will have each parent fill out a questionnaire to know about each child specifically.
I am so excited about this program! It cost $30 per month and we will be starting in September. If the child doesn’t enjoy it they can stop at any point. ”

You can call Miss on 918-272-6879, or send her an email charismusicstudio@sbcglobal.net.  If you have any more general questions about music therapy for children on the autism spectrum please do ask them in the comments section below and we will ask Miss to share her thoughts.