Adam and his sister getting along

Music unites a family

Adam is a fourteen year old boy with autism.  He is non-verbal with moderate comprehension. Adam had an issue with his twelve year old sister, hitting and pushing her when she was anywhere near him.

Having run music programs at Adam’s school for a number of years, his mother brought this issue to our attention, to see if we could help their family.  We have used music to bring Adam and his sister together to engage them both in a fun and interactive activity.

After 4 weeks of a 12-week program, they were able to sit in the same room together, with Adam becoming more accepting of his sister.

Each week, we use a hand drum, which we play together with continuous positive encouragement so that Adam can see that he can enjoy his sister’s company and together they can have fun making music.

At week 10, we have an excited mother, who is thrilled to let us know that Adam is nowSiblings getting along happy to be with his sister, even outside of our music sessions and she has sent us these images of her two children just ‘hanging out’.

“The music sessions with Josh from The Rhythm Village have helped so much. I can’t believe that a few months ago I was needing a psychologist to help as I didn’t want the situation between my children to escalate. I am so grateful.”

Sam, Adam’s mother