Music is a sensory experience, and individuals with autism will respond to different music in different ways. Although D and K have very different likes and dislikes in music, they enjoy playing the piano together.

I should clarify, they are not playing the piano the way you might expect, more like playing with the piano. Ours is an electric one, with different keyboard sounds (“grand piano” and “harpsichord”) and some other electronic features. They like turning on the metronome as fast as it can go, experimenting with one or two notes over and over, and making high and low sounds to express mood. They even try to sound out Nintendo game themes.

So it’s not Beethoven…. it works!