Social interaction and communication through music
As part of Daisi’s Soundwaves project, funded by Youth Music, music opportunities were set up in North Devon in partnership with a parent-run support for young disabled people - The North Devon Autism Forum.
The project worked with the north Devon Autism Forum (NDAF) to promote a series of family music making workshops for young people with autism, in response to consultation that showed that there we no accessible opportunities locally for young people to make music with others. Young people, parents and carers were invited to take part through the NDAF website, social media and newsletters. Workshops were held on Saturday afternoon in a central community venue in the town of Barnstaple.
“We wanted to give a very clear message to parents and carers that the workshops would be built around the needs of the young people, we weren’t expecting them to fit into our structure. No commitment was needed, people could drop in and access what they could manage” Peter, Project Manager
The project evaluation showed that the music was particularly effective in encouraging the young people’s communication and interaction. Comments from young people and their parents and carers recognised that the music helped the young people's interaction with others to develop and provided opportunities for self-expression to flourish:
“I was very apprehensive at the start, but I love the fact that we can join in as a group and no one feels any pressure…I’ve grown to be more confident and meet new people…I feel it helped me overcome my challenges, joining in and listening to other people and trying new things, it’s a great stress reliever” Young person
Despite the relatively short life of the project the number of young people who took part grew across the weeks. Parents and carers recognised the benefits for their children and were quick to encourage others to take part. The project provided an opportunity for young people to come together and communicate through the common language of music:
“Many of these young people don’t have a great deal of verbal skills so its great when you start seeing that the music is allowing them to communicate at quite a complex level, something that wouldn’t be possible through their verbal skills” Peter, project manager
“For both my children there is a great social aspect to music, it’s a real motivator, especially where A is concerned, it helps him to communicate with other people and it gives him a vehicle to express himself – he’s got a great deal from this” Parent
If you are interested, please do read the full article on Daisi's Soundwaves site here