Effective music training for preschool-aged children with autism

The purpose of this study was to present the initial results of a keyboard program for autistic students implementing a spatial-temporal approach to learning music. Teaching autistic children using the Trion (c) music spatial-temporal approach developed by Dr. Gordon Shaw has served as a powerful test of new concepts being developed at the Music Intelligence Neural Development Institute (M.I.N.D.RTM Institute) in Irvine, California. The components of this pilot program for autistic children include spatial-temporal Trion(c) Music Charts played on an electronic piano keyboard and the first stage of the Trion(c) Music Game on the computer.;This researcher served as the music teacher for a group of twelve autistic preschoolers and gave individual music lessons to each of them twice a week for nine months, beginning in August 2002. The results of this study were supportive of Dr. Shaw's theories; the children showed distinct improvement in ability to play the keyboard.