I created a music based teaching system called Sounds into Syllables® which is
designed to assist these children with their communication and social
development difficulties by teaching them how to spell, read, classify words and
correctly identify the facial expressions for six universal emotions. Part 1 of
the system applies the musical component of ‘pitch’ or ‘tone’ to the process of
learning letters and words. The child learns to listen to the letters as musical
sounds as well as spoken sounds. With the mastery of the alphabet, the child
begins to learn 26 different nouns (animal names). The senses of touch, sight
and hearing are further integrated with the introduction of textured words,
drawings and sound effects. There is an accompanying teaching book entitled A to
Z Animal Book as well as a companion CD and A to Z Animal Workbook. In Part 2 of
the system, the 26 animal nouns are matched to 26 related verbs such as dog/bark
and lion/roar. There is a second book entitled Animals in Action with the
textured words and drawings of the animals in their passive and active states.
The child learns the related verbs in the same way he/she learned the nouns. To
establish the conceptual relationship between the animal and its action, an
animated computer program has been designed specifically for the teaching
system. Part 3 of the system addresses the difficulties of social interaction,
by emphasizing face perception and emotion recognition. Musical harmony is
introduced with the creation of six three-part harmonies each linked to the six
universal emotions of happy, sad, afraid, angry, surprised and disgusted. In
addition, three two-part harmonies have been created and linked to nouns, verbs
and adjectives to further expand word classification for the purpose of sentence
creation. These three and two-part harmonies as well as the musical alphabet
have been integrated into a forty page book called The Story of Little Bear.
Textured letters and color coding are used throughout the book which has also
been formatted as a computer book with a number of additional features, such as
rollover images and animations. In October, 2006 I implemented a research study
with a group of 20 children ranging in age from 6 to 17 who were diagnosed with
various forms of autism. The criteria for participation in the study were
demonstrated interest in music or musical stimuli and limited or no letter/word
recognition. This longitudinal study in ongoing however preliminary results are
encouraging. In addition, the system is benefiting a group of children who are
diagnosed with learning disabilities other than autism.
