When it´s bath time for Janna Simpson, her mother sometimes throwstogether a tune. "Take a bath, take a bath, take a bath," Judy Simpson mightchant, luring her daughter into the water. Janna isn´t a toddler, and her mother isn´t simply singin

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When it´s bath time for Janna Simpson, her mother sometimes throwstogether a tune. "Take a bath, take a bath, take a bath," Judy Simpson mightchant, luring her daughter into the water. Janna isn´t a toddler, and her mother isn´t simply singing along.Janna is a 15-year-old with autism, a speech impairment and a seizuredisorder. Music, Judy Simpson says, has been key to getting her to engage insuch everyday activities as taking a bath; it´s also an alternative toverbal instructions in helping her overcome social and behavioral problems. Janna, who never developed normal speech, receives formal musictherapy at West Virginia´s Hedgesville Middle School, where she is enrolledin a classroom for students with autism. Her mother, a former musictherapist who is director

of government relations at the American MusicTherapy Association, based in Silver Spring, Md., continues with thattherapeutic approach at home. "Latitude, longitude, looking through a microscope: Such skills arenot important," Simpson explains. "She needs basic skills to live, such asbrushing her teeth, taking a bath, the pragmatics of engaging with people.This is a difficult thing to teach." Simpson´s confidence in music therapy is based on her own experienceand that of other parents of children with autism who are eager to find waysto increase their children´s ability to function. But exactly how and towhat extent music therapy works is not well understood. Just over a yearago, a session titled "The Autism Agenda" at the American Music TherapyAssociation conference stressed the need for more research and for practiceto be based on evidence.

Despite the limited data about its effectiveness, making music hasbecome an integral part of many programs for children with autism. LeanneBelasco, a music therapist at the Kennedy Krieger School´s MontgomeryCounty, Md., campus, says music gives structure and a predictable rhythm toverbal directions. When Belasco strums her autoharp to her students, shesings encouraging, instructive lyrics such as, "I know I have what it takes;I am a good listener" and "Be flexible." At the school, where all 37 full-time students are enrolled in musictherapy, Belasco begins her 30- to 45-minute sessions by singing a refrain:"Hello, everybody, it´s time for music today." She wheels around the groupseated in a horseshoe formation, addressing each student in song as she doesso. A 16-year-old, who regularly wears headphones in class because of hisauditory sensitivities, responds with apparent

enjoyment, as does a youngerboy, who strums the autoharp with seeming pleasure as he rocks back andforth in his chair. When Belasco asks her students to shake the blue plasticmaracas she has passed out, classroom assistants help. When one studentseems pained by the exercise, the assistants physically settle him in hischair.

Love, Gabby. :0)

http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

"I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin." ~ Jerry Newport