Reaching Children with Autism through Music Therapy
The cost of a handbell set, twelve egg-shakers, a set of bongo drums, a conga drum, three tambourines, a gathering drum, and two sets of mixed percussion intruments from Kaplan Early Learning Company is $621, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Kijowski's classroom raised $638
This project is fully funded
P.S. 369K is a self-contained special-education program in Brooklyn. Among the students in our school are six kindergarten classes of students diagnosed with autism. Autism manifests itself in many different ways, but some common traits we witness among our students are sensory issues, difficulty with fine- and gross-motor activities, and social-emotional challenges.
A major goal when working with children diagnosed with autism is to introduce them to activities in the world outside their inner selves. By providing situations for our children to interact socially in an age-appropriate environment with their peers, I hope to draw them from within their inner worlds in a manner that resembles the way typically developing children interact with each other and with the physical world.
Research has shown that music therapy provides a successful means of reaching children with autism. The children respond very well to music in general, and playing musical instruments with a group often helps facilitate communication (another major goal for each of our students).
Our school contains a "multi-sensory" room, where students can address their personal sensory-perception issues while exploring materials that access the five senses. Unfortunately, our school lacks a music program, and it would be ideal to implement this addition to the multi-sensory room. By providing percussion instruments, bells, egg-shakers, and other instruments, you will give our children the opportunity to explore the musical realm in a socially-interacitve setting.
Music and the arts are such an important aspect to every child's education, but especially to students such as ours, who often learn more musically and rhythmically then through traditional, academic means. If implemented, this music program would be utilized by forty children with autism on a daily basis. I feel that the main goal of working with my students is often just to introduce them to activities other children might take for granted. Offering our students an experience in the "real world" can provide them with the knowledge that it is safe, comforting, and even fun to interact with others in the way typically developing children do and to break free from the anxieties that trap them within their own bodies and minds.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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