Drums
If you have watched any of our Autistic Princess videos under my youtube name Aspiemom42 you will have seen my daughter playing my brothers drums. My brother started banging on my Mom's tupperwear with her knitting needles, he just needed to pound and he has a natural ability. He has two full drum sets.....the thing if find the most amusing about the video is my daughter keeps asking him what his "floor toms" are and will not stop asking until he tells her the size of them....she did not accept that they were all called the same thing .
Anyway, it was my daughters first time ever picking up a pair of drum sticks and certainly the first time playing drums....she had played bongos before with her therapist and she also mentioned that Maddy had a natural rhythm. She also has perfect pitch and has picked out songs on her Hello Kitty keyboard. She can play Frere Jacque very well. Also she is very good at saying the few French words that she knows, even native speakers would not know that she was American.
Anyway, I was thinking of getting her a small drum set...they have special ones for kids but I would still use her eardefenders and maybe a large electric keyboard. I was thinking she was so good at the drums and my brother says sometimes he plays to release anxiety so maybe it would help her with all the issues she is having. Her B-day is coming up in a few weeks after I get back from the hospital, granted they let me go after two weeks I would be very unhappy to miss her birthday.
So I thought Id ask if any of your kids are musically inclined?....did you do anything about it? and most importantly, do you think it is a good idea to get my daughter either a used drum set or a small set made for children but still sounds like an adults...its just a bit more padded?
Crazy question, I know but I really dont have any friends and certainly none with autistic kids so I need some input on my nutty ideas like this one .
Thanks!
We bought DS his first little kid drums when he was four, he now has a full adult set, and a high end electronic set. The electronic one is great, as we hear his pounding, but it's not so loud.
I find it really addresses his need for deep pressure. He needs to either jump on the trampoline, play drums or ride horses daily. So long as he does one of them, his mood is pretty even. If he goes a few days with none, he is way more likely to have meltdowns.
Jayden is musically inclined. He has been obsessed wth music since a baby. His love of music has changed over time from kids music, to classical composers.He had his first iPod at 4 simply because I coudnt possibly carry around his expansive music collection with us, it was much easier on the iPod. I am told he has a "listening ear" which amazes me casue he never listens to me...lol. But, he can listen to a song, say Beethovens 5th Symphoy, and tell that it is different from another Beethoven's 5th. Basically, Beethoven isnt alive anymore and when we hear it, it is different orchestras playing it and he can tell the differences. I was told that people attend college to LEARN to hear those differences, and he has it naturally.
He also can play piano. It used to be his special interest.. He would sit at it for hours on end, figuring out songs. Mind you he is only 6. He can plaf Ode to Joy, Beethoven. The Autumn Hunt, Vivaldi. Lulliby, Brahms. Jingle Bells, Chopsticks, and a number of other songs in his piano songbooks. Those are just the popular songs I know. He also can compose songs. He makes up beautiful melodies and tunes. He has a piano teacher, and he gets lessons about 1x a week for 30 mins. She is impressed with his talent. He has recently taken to video games and spends less time on the piano, but I still see a future for him in music. He would love to conduct an orchestra, and I believe he may someday!
He got his first keyborad when he was 2, and it was the one he played on until christmas of last year. We then went out and got him a bigger keyboard with more effects, as he LOVES the effects on the keyboards. It was an investment. If he still loves piano in a few years, we may invest in a real one!
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CockneyRebel
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my son is almost 7 and we have been taking piano lessons for a year... he is not really musically inclined and it is not his special interest... he approaches music the same way my older NT son did.... he wants to be able to play but he sometimes hates to practice... I was going to stop lessons for him just because we were a little overbooked timewise, and to my surprise he got really upset
and i am glad i kept him in lessons... I go into lessons with him and am able to watch his behavior, his concentration level, and how he learns things... he is in a regular classroom at a public school, so I cannot observe there... and now when I get a note from the teacher, I can totally see with my own eyes what she is talking about and sometimes I am able to try things at piano and pass methods for coping to his regular classroom teacher..
the most important thing if you do go with lessons is to find a good teacher who has experience teaching younger kids and is flexible in their teaching method to find what works with your child... his teacher will do small things like make him approach the bench correctly and sit with good posture and wait to play ... this has been a huge help, since before he had some ADD-type issues and would just jump on the bench and start playing away without her being ready... also she has started color coding notes allowing him to more easily see the patterns in the music... this is also huge and has helped with things like math and hand eye coordination/eye tracking problems...
he has learned a lot from piano besides piano....and as long as he wants to take lessons, I am all for it
we had a drum set in the house too... he is overreactive to noise (headphones for gym and lunch) and he would complain any time my older son played, but as long as he was the one playing it didn't seem to bother him...
MMJMOM sounds like your son is a lot like Maddy. She sang before she spoke and she loves music, she will play songs over and over and over until we all go batty. We finally got her some earphones thinking it would help but then she just sings louder Oh well, we tried.
I was worried about the noises as well Wreck-Gar. I would put her and my son's (who might be interested in banging on the drums as well) eardefenders on but I have elderly neighbors who even complain about my dogs who only bark when other people feel the need to stand in front of my house with their dogs so its a major barking-fest!
I think maybe electronic drums or just starting her with a snare drum and a high hat.....she loves using her foot, if you watch the video she was using the high hat pretty well and she loved the kick drum. I am also thinking about a real keyboard and just letting her play both and see which she takes to the most. There are some apps on the iPad with drums (you use your fingers) and we might get her one of those to play around with for awhile.
I decided just to buy her the Lalaloopsy dolls for her birthday this year as it is the first time she has actually been interested in a "typical" toy and she actually plays with them.....she has been watching other little girls make movies with their Lalaloopsy's on youtube so she makes them on her iPad....she does mimic them but she is having fun and playing. We are trying to save money for our own house here in France. We dont want to live too far away from our kids school, their therapy (SESSAD) and my doctors so we are looking for somewhere away from other people (Im not big on other people, yeah know? . We just need to find a place here and we want some land as I would like to start a cat rescue (there is none here) if I get well enough...also wed like our own chickens so we know we have cruelty free eggs and we want a garden and a pool (just a small one) for me as It is easier for me to walk and do exercises in the pool. Im mad I missed my pool therapy (Im in the rehab unit of the hospital still...it will be another week or so that I will be here) I had to have a dopler test in my legs as they were turning purple when I was standing but the cardiologist said everything is normal.
OliveOilMom
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Drums are a cool instrument, but I'd suggest thinking about how it's going to be to hear them for hours at a time, every day. Unless you have somewhere like a garage to put them, I wouldn't get them. I'd try something like a guitar or piano instead.
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I just wanted to add, it has been very rainy in our area lately and DS hasn't been able to jump on the trampoline. He was really Bonky yesterday walking in circles, pacing not able to focus. We finally got him to take a drum break for 15 minutes and was able to then focus on his schoolwork. At least for him, the OT value in his drum playing is really astounding.
And I need to add, electronic drums are the way to go. He still gets the OT value of hitting hard but not the same degree of noise. Don't be mistaken, you still hear them - just not as loud.
Thank you for the tips and ideas kailuamom and oliveoilmom. I know I have told you guys about the video but I decided to post it so you can tell me if you think she has some ability....its more toward the end. Like I said, I love that she is not happy until he tells her the size of the floor toms....she keeps asking him what they are until he gets it. This was a year and a half ago and its kind of sad when I look at some of her videos because she has regressed so much....I will put up a new video for you guys so you can see that, even though she has picked up some French words this school has made her regress....too loud, too many kids, very little understanding aside from what my husband and I try to give them. She has to wear incontinent pads now because her aide pays little to no attention to her (she was her aide last year and we didnt have these problems). Im in the hospital right now so Ive been collecting more pecs from the google images to help her in school. She screams and cries more than she ever did and her communication has dropped dramatically....she mainly quotes movies or youtube things. Anyway, we will get all these sensory issues worked out. Her teacher loves her, he is a perfectionist too but he says Maddy is a too much of a perfectionist....if things are not perfect she will tear them up before they can stop her then have a huge meltdown screaming "Im sorry, Im sorry"....its horrible. Next year she is going to the same school as my son but she will be in the autism class or maybe the same class as my son. My sons class is for kids with Learning Disabilities and PDD's. Most of the kids in the autism class are non verbal but the teachers and aides know all about autism and Maddy feels more comfortable among her own kind, if you will. Its also pretty funny when my brother tells my husband that he should get her some drums and says "That will be.....loud" and my husband says "Yes the neighbors will appreciate" if you cant understand his accent .
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pp_3tqqgaA[/youtube]