NYC Philharmonic Conductor Learns Value Of Music Therapy For Autism
Written by SAPL on November 12th, 2018 in Therapeutics.
Music can be beneficial to anyone, especially to someone on the spectrum.
Jaap van Zweden, a prestigious violinist who’s been affiliated with both the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw and the New York Philharmonic orchestras, learned this when the accidental discovery of music therapy enabled his autistic son to not only learn to speak their native Dutch, but English as well.
Twenty-eight year old Benhamin van Zweden displayed all the classics signs of autism, which included extreme repetition and lack of social interaction. One day, the family was singing children’s songs when they suddenly forgot one of the lines. Benjamin jumped right in and begin to fill in the blanks.
Since then, he progressively has been more and more verbal, something that prompted the current NYC Philharmonic Orchestra conductor to create a foundation where those on the spectrum can learn music and cooking.
Music therapy is not novel for assisting those with autism and other studies have pointed toward such therapy as improving skills on a variety of levels. One study found that over a period of several months, certain behaviors such as inattentiveness, were lessened after weekly sessions of music therapy. Such therapy has also been shown to enhance communication and social skills, cognition, self-reliance and even motor skills.
