“Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder which occurs in the first three years of life. It generally affects three parts which is known as the triads of autism, namely, communication skills, social skills, and thought’s flexibility,” informed Dr. Amatya.[break]
After that informative speech, Liesbeth Staelens, a music therapist from Belgium, took over and explained how therapists use music to teach autistic children.
“Since these kids are different, they learn better through therapies rather than going to conventional schools. We work on their social skills, communication skills and emotional development through music,” said Liesbeth.
She further explained that the first step is building relationship with the child and that they do it by imitating their voices, making funny sounds to entertain them, and make them feel comfortable and accepted.
Then, the children are ready to follow their lead. They make songs of numbers, alphabets, sometimes even children’s names and what they are doing. In addition, she also informed how they teach them to take turns, listen to the others and even let them play from time to time to raise their self-esteem.
At the event, another professional music therapist, Kedar Gandhari, shared, “Music therapy has proven to be very effective in stimulating speech in autistic children. They utter their first word after undergoing this therapy.” He adds, “Sylvia, a child at their center who barely spoke, sang the song we taught her. I’m in music. She’s playing drums after taking months of music therapy.”
Towards the end of the event, Raj Kaji Prajapati, an art therapist, explained how he lets children draw their thought patterns and tries to understand their psychology through their drawings.
“Children have different levels and we give them a piece of paper and let them make anything they wish to with it. Some scribble whereas others make astounding sketches and we understand their level which helps us in teaching them accordingly,” explains Prajapati.
In the end, all the people who attended the workshop were also made to draw something that was running in their minds and express their emotions through art.
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