This blog is a way of sharing the information and resources that have helped me to recover my son Roo from an Autism Spectrum Disorder. What I have learned is to view our symptoms as the results of underlying biological cause, which can be identified and healed. I say "our symptoms" because I also have a neuro-immune disorder called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

And, of course, I am not a doctor (although I have been known to impersonate one while doing imaginative play with my son)- this is just our story and information that has been helpful or interesting to us. I hope it is helpful and interesting to you!


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Some Random Musical Pieces

Roo loves music.  It's common for people on the spectrum to have musical talent, but this seems to be especially true for people with Hyperlexia, and Roo is no exception.  What is extraordinary for Roo is that when he was younger his sound sensitivity was so extreme that music was painful for him so for years we had no music in our house.  His sensitivity even extended to people singing, which is part of the reason why he didn't attend any sort of classroom or preschool environment when younger.  The fact that his sound sensitivity is mostly healed and that he can now enjoy music is one thing we are very thankful for and has been one of the wonderful things about Roo's healing.  It's also further evidence that his ASD traits aren't "who he is"- they aren't by choice- they are limits that have bee imposed upon him, and when they are removed he can spread his wings and enjoy the freedom.

So, here are several musical pieces that have caught Roo's and my attention for various reasons.  This first video is of a young man with autism named Martin who has a wonderful talent for sining, but is otherwise essentially non-verbal.



This next video is a performance of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" by a recovered child at the 2009 AutismOne conference.  While Roo loves to watch other people who have autism (or did have autism), I also find the lyrics to be particularly appropriate for a conference about autism recovery.  I have found that the lyrics of so many songs have taken on new meaning to me and I know I'm not alone in this.



This last piece is the song "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane.  Roo has a picture book that presents this song in a graphic way to illustrate some of the musical ideas of Jazz.  We decided to look for the song on YouTube so that he could hear it (he loves looking things up on YouTube and because of his Hyperlexia has been able to do this independently for a while).  He was enchanted with this version where the music appears to be written as the music is played.  I'm not entirely sure that written music has the same appeal to him as the written word, although I have always wondered if it would, but he was so entranced by this video that I had to include it here.

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