Last year I taught music to a close to non verbal boy with autism named Stephen. We played a game in the class called Jingle at the Window. It involved the children sitting in a circle passing a tambourine from one child to the next. Each child held the tambourine just long enough to play 3 beats on it in time to the music. Not only did Stephen take the tambourine, play his 3 beats and pass it on to the next child in time to the music, he judged where the tambourine would be in a particular part of the circle, ran to a point just beyond that, and succeeded in getting himself another turn out of the deal; very forward thinking I thought. He is about 7 years old now and has gone on to play the drums. It is clear that he has great musical talent which is nurtured by his family.

Maria