Thomas J. West Music

This morning, I made two discoveries while reading through recent tweets on the #musiced hashtag on Twitter. The first was a BBC Radio 3 program called Music Matters. Music Matters is BBC 3's flagship classical music program, being only one of a large number of programs they offer on music of all kinds.

The other discovery is a service called Music for Autism. As the parent of a child on the spectrum, I understand only too well how a service such as this could be very beneficial for many families living with the challenges and joys of having an autistic child.

From their "Our Mission" page: Music for Autism is raising public awareness and enriching lives through autism-friendly, interactive concerts developed specifically for individuals with autism and their families. The concerts, held in the United States and the United Kingdom, feature professional musicians, including Tony Award winners and Grammy-nominated classical artists. To ensure equal access for all, every Music for Autism concert is fully subsidized. Families note that the concerts fill a major psychosocial void, enabling them to enjoy enriching activities that are inclusive of children with autism.

While their concert locations are as of yet limited primarily to the northeast U.S., an organization such as this can only grow and assist many people in time to come. Some great features of the site are an interactive flash piano keyboard, social stories designed to assits autistic children with attending a concert, and guides to the concerts for caregivers.

This article (c) 2011 Thomas J. West. All content on ThomasJWestMusic dot com is licensed under a Creative Contributions Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Please contact the author before publishing on or off-line.

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