Scott Price currently serves as Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy, Head of the Piano Area, and Coordinator of Piano Pedagogy at the University of South Carolina School of Music. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and Bowling Green State University (OH), his recent engagements have included performances and clinics at the national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and solo recitals throughout SC, GA, ND, OH, OK, KS, MO, TX, and Washington DC. Dr. Price is creator and editor-in-chief of the on-line piano pedagogy journal "Piano Pedagogy Forum". Now in its 12th year of publication, "Piano Pedagogy Forum" has published more than 20 issues with participation from more than 100 writers from 84 different colleges/universities, 28 different states and two foreign countries. The Music Teachers National Association named "Piano Pedagogy Forum" as the recipient of the 2008 Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award. Dr. Price has recorded 35 compact discs of educational piano music for Alfred Publishing Company, and has published educational compositions with Alfred Publishing Company and the FJH Music Company. He serves as chair of the Committee on Special Needs Students for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and served as chair of the Autism Task Force for the Music Teachers National Association, and served on the planning committee of the 2006 National Group Piano/Piano Pedagogy Forum National Convention. Special teaching interests of Scott Price include teaching students with disabilities, very young children, and teaching keyboard improvisation to piano students ranging from beginning to advanced levels. His work with disabled students has been featured on WISTV (SC) and WLTX (SC), and in Clavier Companion Magazine, The State newspaper (SC), Columbia Metropolitan Magazine, and was featured at the 2005 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. One of Dr. Price's autistic students was featured on Dateline NBC, and CNN. Scott Price has been awarded the "Best of BGSU Outstanding Graduate" alumnus award from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 2002, and was invited back to the University of Oklahoma as a "Distinguished Guest Alumnus" in March of 2005 to perform, lecture, and present a piano masterclass. Other engagements include performances and masterclasses in Thailand, Singapore, and in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, lectures at the 2005 Georgia State Music Teachers State Convention, the 2007 Ohio Music Teachers Association, and the 2007 International Collaborative Conference of the Music Teachers National Association/Canadian Federation of Music Teachers/Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada, the 2008 Georgia Music Educators Conference, and the 2011 Indiana Wesleyan Pinao Pedagogy Conference, and the 2011 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. He was named a Foundation Fellow by the Music Teachers National Association in 2009, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. Dr. Price is the founder of the Carolina LifeSong Intitiative which is dedicated to providing piano lesson and music experiences for students with special needs, and in fostering best practices in teaching and teacher training.
Scott Price
School of Music
University of South Carolina
813 Assembly Street
Columbia, SC 29208
803.777.1870
sprice@mozart.sc.eduu
We are fortunate to live in a world where children with disabilities increasingly have equal access to educational opportunities. In recent years, it has been more and more common for parents of students with special needs to knock on our doors and inquire about piano lessons. These wonderful and deserving students are really no different in most respects from our other students, and they can be wonderful and vitally active contributors in our studios and musical culture. With some careful thought, patience, and persistence these students can be a rewarding part of any piano studio.
Any new or transfer student can be challenging prospect, but a student diagnosed with autism may appear to be an especially daunting proposition. A student with autism will demand more than just traditional piano instruction - the teacher will be challenged to manage and develop social relationships, social communication skills, and imaginative thought.1
Autism is a spectrum disorder. Individuals who have been professionally diagnosed by a team of specialists may exhibit few signs of autism and be considered high-functioning, or they may exhibit any degree of impairments to the point of being considered low-functioning. Each case is different and unique and requires a child-specific approach to learning.
While there is no "magic bullet," instructional method series, or even teaching technique that is guaranteed to reach every child with autism, there are several ways of proceeding with the process that will allow us as teachers to enter their worlds and interact with them in vital and positive life-affirming ways.
Entering their world
As piano teachers, we often see our role as that of bringing students into our world of serious art music, and of helping them experience the joys that we have experienced through this medium of expression.
When children experience the world from the perspective of autism, their impairments do not allow them to easily enter into the interpersonal communication constructs familiar to all of us as teachers - the interpersonal communication that is crucial to sharing the joys of music. Students with autism simply will not enter our world. We have to enter their world and find a way to understand their language.
In my experience with these wonderfully intense students, I have found that life as a teacher is easier, and my ability to reach them is more effective, if I focus on the following:
Shared experience
I accept the fact that the child is "typical" and I am the person with autism. I need to change my thinking to experience his world in the way he experiences it. I need to leave behind the social skills, communication skills, and imaginative skills that I take for granted in my everyday life. These skills simply do not exist in the world of a student with autism, and they are no longer effective in my teaching process. I have to let the student teach me and show me new teaching tools, and I will have to be able to use those tools in new and unfamiliar ways.
Vocabulary
I need to realize that a student's cognitive age may be very different from her chronological age, and that the generalizations, word associations, and vocabulary that we use in typical teaching situations simply no longer exist. These students may not understand some of the words we use, and they may not have developed many of the associations we take for granted in our every day lives. As much of their world is self-focused, they may not have experienced any of the life situations and coping mechanisms we have come to expect from our other students
Precision
I need to say exactly what I mean, and mean exactly what I say. In our everyday lives, we communicate with each other through a combination of gestures, word associations, slang and pop-culture references, and shared experiences. We often come to an agreement without ever actually saying exactly what we mean to express. We find that the other person gets the "gist" of what we are expressing and we agree and move onto the next subject. Students with autism simply cannot function in this type of social situation. They need us to say what we mean in exact and specific language. They need step-by-step breakdowns of the tasks they need to learn and complete. Try asking yourself how many times a day you actually say what you really mean, or if the people you interact with have said what they really mean. The answer is probably "not often." Isn't it extraordinary that we communicate at all? If we are able to make this realization, then we have a beginning understanding of what students with autism experience all day long in their everyday lives.
Under this three-part mindset, I always try to remind myself that I have the impairment, that my standard and accepted practices in teaching just aren't very useful, and that what I normally say and the way in which I say it often doesn't have meaning to the student. Those are daunting concepts, but they force me to think and act in a way that provides my students the step-by-step, specific, and brutally honest and accurate information they need to be successful at the piano.
Once this realization is made, we have to find a way to approach these students on their terms and enter their world. Students with autism often thrive on order and repetition. They do very well with predictable, stable, and repetitive routines, and working with their personal everyday routines is a way to enter their world and begin the learning process.
Routine
The establishment of routine is nothing new to teachers, and it works well with students challenged by any disability, but routine is especially useful when teaching students with autism. The establishment, maintenance, and facilitation of a routine under the mindset mentioned earlier may be just the teaching tool we need to travel on a musical journey with these wonderful and deserving students.
Much of what I have to say about the building and establishment of routine is related to the ideas and practices of "task analysis" and "Applied Behavior Analysis." Any internet search will provide you with information on these practices and some basic resources are included at the end of this article.
We are all familiar with the importance of the Parent/Teacher/Student triangle and how those three (or four) people interact in the support and education of our students. In the case of a student with autism, I might argue that the parent/teacher/student triangle becomes a square with the parents at one corner, the teacher and student at additional corners, and the team of professionals diagnosing the student's conditions (including the professionals who counsel us on the education and care of the student) at the other corner. This team of professionals aids the parents in developing an Individual Education Plan (IEP) that outlines the student's goals for the year and helps each person in the process chart success and progress toward those goals. If you are worried about the IEP and how it works, rest assured that the student's parents will be your best resource. The IEP is required by the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and it can serve as a springboard in creating detailed procedures for developing and learning the skills necessary for success. These detailed procedures, referred to in this article as routines, are crucial for success with an autistic mind that thinks in details and not in generalizations.
The goals of the IEP provide an opportunity to build detailed and repetitive routines in the student's life. Routines provide a sense of normalcy and stability for the student and help avoid outbursts or a complete shut-down of the student's attention or behavior.
Routines may be many and varied, but a workable format usually includes long-term and short-term routines, in addition to task-specific routines for individual components within the lesson. These routines can involve schedules for the week, for the individual piano lesson, and for each component of the piano lesson. Some examples are listed here - these are actual routines used by parents and myself with children who have autism.
Weekly Routine Example
Each day the parent says, "Tomorrow is Monday" (or whatever day of the week happens to be on the calendar). "On Monday, we are going to:"
Wake up.
Take a shower.
Get dressed.
Eat breakfast.
Brush our teeth.
Get in the car.
Go to school.
Come home.
Practice piano so we can have a piano lesson with Dr. Price on Thursday.
Do homework.
Eat dinner.
Put on pajamas.
Go to bed.
The same schedule is followed on each day, and it always includes a reminder that the student will have a piano lesson on the given day of the week.
Lesson Routine Example
When a student comes to my studio, we always enter and begin the lesson in the same manner. We enter the room and sit down at the piano, and I begin with a little chat. I ask the same questions such as "How are you today?" I then ask questions about what the student did during the week and questions about activities and/or school. Following the short question and answer session, I always read to the student a list of what we are going to do in the lesson. Here is an example of list I have read with a student:
Today, we are going to work on right hand and left hand.
Then we are going to work on finger numbers.
Then we are going to work on white key names.
Then we are going to work on black key names.
Then we are going to do your pieces (and I list each piece in order).
Then we are going to do your harmonic minor scales.
Then we are going to a duet.
Then we will be done.
We then proceed through the list of activities. I have found that it is important to bring closure to each activity and to ask the student's permission to begin any new activity. Even if they say "no", I ask again, and the instructional process is much easier once the student has said "yes" and invited me into his world. You may be wondering how you will remember all of the routing and what will happen if you forget one of the elements. It is fine to keep a list on the piano. If you forget the list or don't have time to make one, don't worry. Students with autism have excellent memories for lists and routines. Just ask your student "what's next?" and he will tell you - usually without missing a single step.
The routine gets more detailed and intensive when dealing with individual portions of the lesson where you are teaching the student a specific skill or piece. This is where we have to say exactly what we mean in specific language. Vocabulary and tone of voice are both crucial to the success of the lesson component.
When teaching the concept of playing two black keys to a student without autism, we often use a variety of teaching tools including modeling, finger number and key color associations, verbal cues, or any combination of physical/aural/visual cues. A typical student is able to absorb all of those things, perform the task, and then transfer the concept to another group of black keys.
A student with autism may not be able to pay attention to a model performance (and may often refuse to do so), or may be startled by any element of the physical, aural, or visual cues in the teaching. Any one of these things might be a trigger that prompts any number of behavioral problems. Your student may not be able to understand the association of numbers to fingers, may make the association between actions and the words that describe them, or may not be able to generalize and transfer the concept to the performance of another group of black keys. A traditional method of explanation is simply too layered and leads to intense confusion.
Lesson Component Routine Example
The following routine is an actual routine I have used with a student with autism when teaching the particular skill of playing a black piano key:
This is your hand.
This is your right hand.
This is your finger.
This is your finger number 2. (The number 2 may be just a name to them and they may not be able to understand cardinal or ordinal numbers. In this case, it may be just a finger name.)
This is the piano.
This is a piano key.
This is a black piano key.
Touch the black piano key with your finger number 2. (You may have to actually ask permission to take the student's hand and finger and show them how to touch the black piano key with their finger number 2.)
You are touching "C-sharp/D-flat".
Push down the black piano key "C-sharp/D-flat" with your finger number 2.
You just played the black piano key "C-sharp/D-flat" with your finger number two.
Do it again.
Good job!
This routine may seem very overly detailed, repetitive, and impossible to remember. But this is how a student with autism thinks - in details, not in generalizations. Details are the key. As we build up basic skills in this detailed-oriented way then the student begins to learn how to approach new skills and execute new tasks. The step-by-step process (or task analysis) must be more explicitly examined and stated for a student with autism. This process can seem difficult, demanding, and even mind-numbing, but it becomes easier for the teacher over time. The process will become second-nature with time, practice, and a lot of patience.
I ask that a parent is present at each lesson, and parents often take notes and practice the same way at home as I taught in the lesson. Conversely, if the parents have specific routines they use at home, I try to use the same vocabulary or routines in the lesson to foster a greater sense of normalcy in the student's life.
I have found that this is the reality of the process in teaching a student with autism. When the details are followed, and the routine is established, the lesson goes far better than it does without details or routines. Without routine, the lesson may not happen at all.
The process is highly detailed and organized. It is difficult, time consuming and exhausting intellectually, emotionally, and physically. The process requires a great deal of forethought and planning, constant observation, reaction and improvisation during the process, and a great deal of reflection and evaluation afterward. And the lessons aren't always good. When they are good, however, they are fantastic, and the result is worth every bit of the effort. From these lessons I believe I learn far more about myself as a person and teacher, and much more about music and its true place in the world. These students deserve attention, and they just might have wonderful things to teach us about how we approach and communicate the art of music and piano playing to all of our students. All it takes is a little adjustment in our pedagogy to accommodate them. If each of us accepted just one of these students, then imagine how well we would serve this population.
1. Sicile-Kira, Chantal. Autism Spectrum Disorders. New York: Perigee, 2004, p. 20.
Basic resources
Exhorn, Karen Siff. The Autism Sourcebook. New York: Regan Books/Harper Collins, 2005.
Grandin, Temple. Emergence: Labeled Autistic. New York: Warner Books, 1986.
Powers, Michael D. ed. Children with Autism: A Parents' Guide. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House, 2000.
Sicile-Kira, Chantal. Autism Life Skills. New York: Perigee, 2008.
Sicile-Kira, Chantal. Autism Spectrum Disorders. New York: Perigee, 2004.
autismspeaks.org (Advocacy Organization)
www.autism.org (Autism Collaboration)
www.autism-society.org (Autism Society of America)
www.centerforautism.com (Center for Autism)
www.behavior.org/autism (Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies)
"All in a Day's Routine: Piano Teaching and Autism" reprinted by permission of Clavier Companion Magazine.
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