Spectrum children and singing?

[Walking-Iris]

Curious?

 

Does anyone else have a child on the spectrum who can't sing?

 

My oldest ds8 (pdd-nos/spd/ocd) cannot sing. He likes listening to music just fine, and doesn't really mind when people are singing. Although he will get a cases of the covering of the ears at birthday parties or other places where lots of people are singing. But all attempts from us and OT and speech therapist have been 0 success rate at getting him to be able to sing.

 

Simple songs that children usually sing along to (Twinkle Twinkle, Old McDonald, etc etc) he has really never been able to sing.

 

He talks the song...meaning he says the words as if he's reading them or just parroting back. No melodic voice at all. And when we do get a bit of song from him, it's really painful to watch. He really looks like he's being tortured...tearing up and getting really anxious. He has always scored lowest on his prosody.

 

Always since he was a pre-kinder he has reacted this way to songs. He'll occasionally sing along to a movie song---but really whispery and still talking the words.

 

Is this something to really worry about? I'm not interested in him being a pop star lol---but isn't singing these early childhood songs helpful for development and literary skills etc?

 

I've always sung to my kids and played the finger rhymes and games (head shoulders, hocky pokey. ring a ring a rosies) and my 4 year old and 18 month old respond to them and my 4 year old makes up his own little songs.

 

It's just something that has always concerned me and wondering if others have had similar experiences. Or ideas to help.

[Dmmetler]

I teach early childhood music, and have had quite a few kids on-spectrum. And, honestly, it depends. Some spectrum kids sing before they can speak, and memorize and pick up on songs easily. Kids who use echolalia often do beautifully in music classes IME, because it's one point where everyone is repeating. But that's not all of them. Some never sing (but may love instruments). Some sing beautifully, but only by themselves, or can match with an instrument but not a person.

 

One thing I've noticed is that kids who struggle with singing in groups are often those who are hyperauditory, and I think part of the problem is that their ears are so attuned that they hear the differences between each person singing and struggle to match at all-so they either go silent or go monotone. Which is fine. There's lots of other ways to develop musically besides singing in a choir, and often such kids are GREAT at learning an instrument by ear and at tuning.

 

I would also add that you can get the phonemic awareness benefits of nursery rhymes and songs by speaking as well as singing. The main benefit of singing is that it's a natural mnemonic-but there's no reason why talking with inflection won't work, too. And in fact, when I'm teaching parent/child classes for infants, that's where we start, because many adults are uncomfortable singing initially and need the support of chanting for awhile.

[Laurie]

I have two teens on the spectrum. My dd sings a lot. A LOT. My ds never sings and never has. He likes listening to music, mostly classical and other instrumental-only music. I've never tried to make him sing, and my dd more than makes up for it. He's expressive in other ways.

[Walking-Iris]

I wanted to add that he doesn't have any echolalia. He did slightly around 4-5 years old, but no longer. He has good inflection when just talking or reading. Singing is the only area where he struggles.

 

I'm not going to worry over much, I guess. Because he does enjoy music. :)

[DandelionMom]

2 aspie daughters, my oldest has always been a singer and has always belted out tunes...all the time. She has great pitch and may even have perfect pitch. My youngest has struggled with singing and refuses to sing in front of others. Her voice is moderate. She can carry a tune with a few breaks and errors.

[JessicaLady]

My ASD ds cannot sing but has never really tried. He also cannot move to a ryhthm, understand ryhming words, and REFUSES to do the chicken dance at his special needs baseball games. He has an overall dislike of music. I still try.

[Walking-Iris]

My ASD ds cannot sing but has never really tried. He also cannot move to a ryhthm, understand ryhming words, and REFUSES to do the chicken dance at his special needs baseball games. He has an overall dislike of music. I still try.

 

Same with dance! Clapping or following a dance step or even finger plays is difficult as well.

[longnightmoon]

This is a helpful thread for me to read! Your ds sounds similar to my dd. My dd (HFA) rarely sings and when she does sing, it's barely more than a whisper. She doesn't sing along with others, either. She absolutely loves music but HATES it when people sing. Singing is off-limits in our house and has been since she was a toddler. I'm not sure why she can handle singing on the stereo as opposed to singing live but it has always been that way.

[Critterfixer]

My hFA son doesn't sing, but he will tolerate singing.

He could take or leave most music, but does like some of the Beethoven's Wig CDs. The best thing I got for him was a recording of Stomp--he loves that.

I wouldn't ask him to sing if he didn't want to. It's likely he got his hFA through me, and although I sang in a choir for most of my young years, it had nothing to do with wanting to sing, and everything to do with wanting to hear. I loved to hear a choir breaking a song into parts, simply because it was like seeing light split into colors. I like loud bass on the stereo because the vibrations wrap around me like a warm, dark coat.

If the music is not performed well, it actually grates on my ears---to the point that I have to cover my ears and hunker down to get away from it. (There are stores that I can not go into due to the music played in them-it is such an sensory battery that I can't stand it.)

 

Oh, please, please, please don't make any issue out of an ASD child not wanting to dance! There is nothing so humiliating as realizing that try as you might, there is no way on the green earth that you could ever coordinate your movements to someone else's. I can't even clap in time to music, let alone do any sort of dance that requires me to match rhythm. Believe me, it costs me nothing now, but as a child I dreaded things like that. Especially the ones that I thought looked ridiculous. I remember when a grade school teacher had us all dancing the ole Hokey Pokey song. I still get sick to my stomach thinking about the horrible feelings I had about that--not being able to tell my left from my right, being sure I'd mess up and be laughed at...Not pleasant.

[Walking-Iris]

My hFA son doesn't sing, but he will tolerate singing.

He could take or leave most music, but does like some of the Beethoven's Wig CDs. The best thing I got for him was a recording of Stomp--he loves that.

I wouldn't ask him to sing if he didn't want to. It's likely he got his hFA through me, and although I sang in a choir for most of my young years, it had nothing to do with wanting to sing, and everything to do with wanting to hear. I loved to hear a choir breaking a song into parts, simply because it was like seeing light split into colors. I like loud bass on the stereo because the vibrations wrap around me like a warm, dark coat.

If the music is not performed well, it actually grates on my ears---to the point that I have to cover my ears and hunker down to get away from it. (There are stores that I can not go into due to the music played in them-it is such an sensory battery that I can't stand it.)

 

Oh, please, please, please don't make any issue out of an ASD child not wanting to dance! There is nothing so humiliating as realizing that try as you might, there is no way on the green earth that you could ever coordinate your movements to someone else's. I can't even clap in time to music, let alone do any sort of dance that requires me to match rhythm. Believe me, it costs me nothing now, but as a child I dreaded things like that. Especially the ones that I thought looked ridiculous. I remember when a grade school teacher had us all dancing the ole Hokey Pokey song. I still get sick to my stomach thinking about the horrible feelings I had about that--not being able to tell my left from my right, being sure I'd mess up and be laughed at...Not pleasant.

 

 

Oh I totally agree. I can't dance! :lol: And I'm not very coordinated in sports. I guess where I'm going with this is from a more gross development sort of place. How much of basic movements, singing etc are necessary to encourage for good rounded development and how much to attribute to just personality etc.?

[Critterfixer]

I guess where I'm going with this is from a more gross development sort of place. How much of basic movements, singing etc are necessary to encourage for good rounded development and how much to attribute to just personality etc.?

 

I don't know how much singing would contribute to gross motor development, or dance for that matter. I could not do ballet, and I can't keep up with dances that make me coordinate my movements with more than one person. But that doesn't mean I can't (or don't) dance. In the quiet safety of my home, to the stereo where no one can watch me!

Same thing with singing. I like to sing--just not the melody, and not with other people. Sometimes I will make up my own nonsense words or language to sing with songs that don't have words. Or do have words that I don't care for or can't hear properly. So I sing in the quiet safety of my home, along with the stereo where no one can hear me.

 

I can do sports where I can keep my own rhythm; like running, but I can't match them with even one other person. So tennis is out, volleyball, things like that. Can't say that I shed any tears over it.

 

To me, music and sports (I'd call dancing a sport, or an art) are deeply personal things. And as a previous poster has said, there are so many ways that music can be expressed without singing a thing. I think that was one reason my son really enjoys percussion based music. It's different, a joyful noise as it were. And I'm perfectly happy to let him bounce around in a terrifically uncoordinated way, because the whole point of music and dance, as I see it it to express the emotional state of the individual.

[Jennifer-72]

For ds his kodaly music classes have most certainly aided his gross motor development. Learning how to stay on beat is extremely helpful for children with coordination difficulties. Ds has always enjoyed music and does sing. He wasn't always able to both sing and do actions to a song at the same time. I had to really focus on the singing first and then teaching him the actions after he got the song down. As his motor planning difficulties have improved he is much better able to do both at the same time.

 

It is always so tricky to know what is something ds doesn't want to do versus something he isn't currently able to do.

[onaclairadeluna]

My son hasn't been diagnosed as spectrum but is SN and has rhythm-singing issues that I suspect are part of his LD (expressive language difficulties)

 

When he was little I used to jump on a trampoline and sing nursery rhymes with him. This was very helpful for him learning to keep a steady beat. Also on walks I sometimes would break into song and we'd march or skip (much later) or hop or do some other movement. I always would keep it fun, no stress or pressure.

 

As far as matching pitch my son can (kind of) match pitch now, but not consistently. As a kid he was essentially monotone. He plays an instrument and I think this is a great way to encourage a child who is having trouble singing to be musical. He has the music inside, it's just hard for him to get it out.

 

After years and years of playing an instrument he (once and a while) actually sounds like he is singing the correct melody. This is kind of cool, but even if it never happened it wouldn't be the end of the world. You can still give a child a music education even if they can't sing.

 

I find it pretty similar to teaching him writing. He has a world of knowledge in his head but getting it on paper takes baby step after baby step. You keep letting him read Dickens and write the Three Little Pigs. No need to worry and like other posters have said there are millions of functioning adults who can't sing and dance so if that ability never fully blooms it will be OK.