Autism and Drums – rum-pum-pum-pum
Cherie Willoughby of Repercussions and Willoughcraft Drums requested that I write a testimony as to how drumming helps people on the autism spectrum. I certainly can do that because my son, Doug, who has autism, was a drummer for many years. He started taking lessons in sixth grade and continued through two years of college at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) where he was member of the Star of Nevada Marching Band.
Individual lessons are important at the beginning for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The individual attention assists with focus to task, socialization, following directions, and of course, one of the most important aspects for any child, building a positive self-esteem. For our family, these individual lessons soon bridged into lessons with another drummer and then into the junior high band as a whole.
The reasons I, as a mother and speech-language pathologist choose drums as the instrument of choice for therapy, communication, social interaction, and personal development are listed below. They are numerous. They are simple to complex. They are about life.
Drumming helps develop: turn taking skills, attending/focus, choices, listening, planning, sequencing, coordination, judgment, problem solving, eye contact, reading body language,
Drumming brings in the right hemisphere of the brain where rhythm is lateralized. This assists with total body coordination for walking, running, and hand-eye coordination. This will assist with reading, writing, and academic skills.
Drumming assists with pragmatic language skills (social language) Being a part of a group that specializes in music is significant for socialization and self-esteem. The responsibility of one person to a group of people does not come easily for a person with ASD ~ but with more practice the better it gets.
Drumming assists with learning how to drive – that might seem far out but from a speech therapy point of view it is not at all. All of the above skills are necessary with learning how to drive a car. In people with ASD, it takes many different aspects of bringing all of these skills together, over time, to accomplish this complicated driving task. Yes, people with ASD can drive. My son, Doug, has driven since he was seventeen.
Drumming assists with happiness and fulfillment in life. Perhaps this is the most important aspect of all. Give your child with ASD something to be happy about. Too many people point out children’s weaknesses and drumming, be it loud or soft, good or bad, within the beat or not, will make them and you HAPPY!
Thank you, Cherie Willoughby, for prompting me to write this testimony to DRUMMING. It sounds to me like YOU do a fantastic job for families with autism and without. Keep the beat alive!
Tags: ASD, Autism, disability, Education, Memories, Parenting, Speech/Language Therapy, writing
Even if a person is disable he/she can learn drumming.If you love drumming even it is difficult, you will have learned for it.
Right on, Lee. Keeping the beat keeps life on track in many ways. Thanks for visiting my Kathie’s World. Come back often.
Hello Kathy,
Thank you for writing such a wonderful and in depth letter for me! You succinctly describe a number of reasons why drumming is so important for people with ASD. I didn’t realize the driving dynamic, makes perfect sense now that I think about it.
I can’t thank you enough, I will keep you posted as the project progresses, here’s to it’s success.
Kind Regards,
Cherie
This is a great article! It is touching! I am a drummer and all of those things that you mentioned that drumming can do in a person, I have! If it is okay with you, I would like to link to this article from my website at http://www.start-drumming.com in the drumming therapy section. It has great information and a lot of positive things about drumming.
Thank you, Laura. I went to your site – how nice. I neglected to mention that drumming is so wholesome. Thank you for visiting my site. Come back often.
Our son Connor has autism. Connor loves music in general and drums in particular. He drums on everything that will make a sound ( ex. pots , pans, railings ). I think it is the repetitive motion and the sound. My mom has Connor enrolled in swim classes currently, and I am thinking about music lessons as well. I am glad to hear that it has proved helpful in these cases as well.
Hi David, I don’t know how old Connor is but he is using the right side of his brain when he drums on everything. That is the side of the brain for rhythm and the left side is for language. Help him mesh those two sides together by adding verbal sounds or words to his drumming. Don’t push it too far but just a nice and easy does it approach. Glad to see that Connor is in swim classes as well and the fact that your mother has him enrolled tells me that Connor is one lucky little boy with an extended family. My very best to you and to your son. Thank you for visiting Kathie’s World, it’s a world where you can find information and inspiration. Have a wonderful day.