This our 12th Episode of the Teach Piano Today Podcast and we’re excited to introduce you to Pat Hensely. Pat is a National Board Certified Special Needs Specialist and is on the National Board of Directors for the Council for Exceptional Children. We’re chatting with her today to give piano teachers some valuable insights into how to motivate and engage students with learning differences.
Tips for Teaching Piano to Kids with Special Needs
Most piano teachers have encountered a student with learning differences, and we’re often left wondering what strategies we can use to best serve the unique needs of these children. As piano teachers, we’re not often specifically trained in this area of education, and so we may feel ill-equipped to adjust our teaching practices to fit what our student may need.
Pat is here today to share her 30 years of expertise in this area, and to give piano teachers some concrete ideas you can use tomorrow to adapt the way you teach in order to motivate and engage these students. Listen in as she shares:
Her 3 biggest pieces of advice for piano teachers who are teaching a child with special needs for the very first time.
Her most effective strategies and tools for meeting the needs children with learning differences.
The questions every piano teacher should be asking the parents.
And MUCH more!
Whether you’ve taught special needs children for years, or if you’re a newbie to this area of piano teaching, you’ll definitely learn something from Pat’s many years of special education experience.
Links We Mention:
Pat’s mention of the iPad app (Classdojo) that can help track student behavior can be found here
Our really effective strategy for students who need a visual schedule and a reward system can be found here.
Pat’s personal blog with vast amounts of information can be found here.
Listen Below
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I have a student with autism. He has responded very well to me writing down the exact number of times he should play each piece. If there is a trouble spot, I put a sticky arrow on it and write down how many times he needs to practice that section. I circle the number of times he should play it in his notebook, so that there is no question what is expected. Thank you for all the information you send.
Great tips Tiffiny – thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for this interview. I’ve had a student with Autism for about three years now, and lessons with him have changed so much throughout that time. I started off feeling completley lost on how to teach him hte piano. What I should have done was really talked to the parent like Pat said and asked her how best he learns. Over the years I’ve found that this student is exceptional in many ways. He has absolute pitch and some form of synesthesia as he associates each note with a color and a shape.
Although it’s difficult sometimes to get him to do what I ask him to do, his mom suggested having treats for him for motivation. She always brings some crackers now which really get him moving in the right direction each lesson.
Teaching a child with special needs has been really eye opening, and has really made me a better teacher. I’ll definitley use some more of the techniques Pat suggested to see if I can make it even more of a rewarding experience. Thanks again for the post!