Piano for Students with Special Needs

Dr Nathan provides tailored piano lessons for children and adults who are neurodivergent, have cognitive or physical disabilities, and psychosocial disorders.

Learning is guided by principles and techniques of music therapy and adapted to each student’s specific needs. Piano is the preferred instrument for these students. Some gain benefit on the other instruments offered, however piano has been shown to be a superior medium for special needs students to improve psychophysiological co-ordination and emotion regulation. An essential requirement for special needs lessons is that a parent attend each lesson. It is very beneficial for parents to see the student/teacher interaction, understand what is taught, and how they can support their child in home practice.

Students with Special Needs

Benefits

Learning piano is a way to –

• promote social interaction

• develop a sense of the self

• improve hand/eye co-ordination

• expand finger span and motility

• develop imagination and creativity

• express inner thoughts and feelings

• promote calm and emotion regulation

• reduce anxiety and minimise meltdown

• refine fine motor function and dexterity

• develop kinaesthetic awareness of body

• recognise and manage sensory overload

Why Piano?

Piano is an ideal instrument for special needs and neurodivergent children and adults, combining musical development with therapeutic benefits. The way special needs students learn music differs from neurotypical students. They benefit from an instrument that promotes multi-sensory development through combining sight, sound, kinaesthetic touch, body movement, and eventually memory development. The piano naturally provides this. The keyboard presents a concrete layout of visual and tactile shapes, and colours that correspond with variable musical pitch. From this, the keyboard becomes a concrete representation of organised musical tones that facilitates visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic memory, thus automaticity in playing.

Whilst this is a natural development for any piano student, it is especially important that special needs students develop a visual of the keyboard. When looking at or feeling the piano keys, students learn how the 12 note octave is a repeated pattern that corresponds with what they hear. They learn that moving their body and visual of the octave pattern to the right or the left of the keyboard corresponds with high and low pitch respectively. Over time, this expands their bilateral auditory field. This can be particularly beneficial for students with speech, language, and other auditory processing challenges.

Understanding the keyboard helps students recognise patterns, repetition, develop memory, mental focus and discipline. It can support emotional states through fostering a sense of order and calm. Whilst this is beneficial for all music students, it is especially valuable for students with all types of special needs.

Learning piano supports the physical development of the brain by strengthening the areas responsible for vision, hearing, movement, memory, and emotion regulation. Over time, these areas become more strongly connected through a process called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity occurs when, through constant and repeated sensory input, the brain generates new neurons (neurogenesis) and pathways, stronger connections between neurons, and increased density and remodelling of the neurosynaptic space through dendritic arborization. This reinforces and expands the areas of the brain that govern a specific cognitive, emotional, or physical function. Whilst this is a natural progression for anyone learning a musical instrument, it is especially powerful, in fact life changing, for people with special needs.