Mark Hyman

Mrs. Klossner

Foundations

January 29, 2017

Imitation with Autism in Music Education

A huge focus in early music education is imitation or teaching by rote. This is often

presented by a teacher performing a task and the student or students mimicking this task. This

relies on creating neural pathways through muscle memory and repetition. Most teaching

methods, including the Kodaly and Suzuki methods, rely on this type of teaching to some degree.

Unfortunately, these are elements that children with Autism Spectral Disorder struggle with.

Students with Autism Spectral Disorder must be accommodated for through different exercises.

Autism Spectral Disorder inhibits students ability to perform imitation because they do

not have the desire to imitate other students, teachers, strangers, family, or really anyone. Most

students feel good from getting positive feedback after imitating a task. Students under the

Autism Spectrum do not understand gain anything from this feedback, so they do not imitate

others. Students with these disabilities also tend to not understand gestures and social cues.

Passive gestures like waving and active gestures like pointing do not make sense to these

students, so specific gestures like fingerings and slide positions for band instruments would not

make sense. Also, any gestures that a choir director may make regarding how the sound should

project or how to breathe would not make sense, making it difficult to teach students under the

Autism Spectrum the fundamentals of performing music.

 A teachers ability to gauge his or her students is very important in deciding how to go

about teaching each lesson. Students under the Autism Spectrum vary in their cognitive and

social abilities. Some students who are autistic may not be able to hold a conversation at all,

while some students who are autistic may pick up on many concepts quickly and may just

require a little extra practice or repetition to master a skill. The teacher must know where on the

spectrum the student is so that he or she can engage the student to the best of his or her ability.

Students under the Autism Spectrum respond well to repetitive stimuli. They also

respond well to imitative behavior. Studies have shown that when the students gestures,

movements, and actions are imitated; especially by someone they are not familiar with, they are

more open to imitating this persons actions and also become more socially liberate. This is an

important thing for teachers with autistic students to keep in mind because by imitating them

before a class or before beginning class instruction, they are more likely to see participation from

the student.

I believe that this is something all teachers and future teachers should prepare for because

it is unknown whether they will come across a student in their program who is under the Autism

Spectrum. They are also unable to know how prevalent the symptoms will be in the autistic

students. It is important that when teachers have these students in their programs, they are able to

actively engage the students in class and give them the same musical experience that other

students seek and feel. There are plenty of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder who regularly

perform music for audiences on the professional level, so it is not impossible. It is the teachers

job to cultivate the possibility and allow his or her students to grow socially, cognitively, and

musically.
 Reference Page

Scott, S. (2016). The Challenges of Imitation for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with

Implications for General Music Education. Update: Applications Of Research In Music

Education, 34(2), 13-20.