Your Personal Neurodivergent Toolset
You may not be aware that some of your students are in fact neurodivergent! ADHD, autism, ADD, and other diagnoses fall under this umbrella. Your traditional lesson may not be as effective for a student with these needs. Having a neurodivergent toolset will increase the effectiveness of their learning and enjoyment, AND yours!
This is actually a photo of my own son, Kyson, who is currently 3.5 years old. He has a beautiful personality, is sweet and caring, and truly enjoys life. He also suffers from extreme anxiety and gets emotionally overstimulated easily. Typical parenting approaches that may be effective for my daughter, does NOT bring me to his level of learning.
This is true for my neurodivergent students as well. Many of my past and current students have varying degrees of neurodiversity--and they are SO MUCH FUN. They bring a special uniqueness to a piano lesson that challenges me as a teacher to connect with them and understand them better.
In the beginning of my teaching career, this learning curve was hard. And it still isn't always easy to know how to BEST help a student feel safe and secure in my studio environment. I'm learning that my goal should be to transform MY studio environment to THEIR learning environment, whatever that looks like!
So I want to share with you the MOST USEFUL TOOLS in my own neurodivergent toolset so that you can have them too!
Neurodivergent Tool #1 - Spend More Time Listening & Learning
I have several neurodivergent students that are OBSESSED with dinosaurs. Like I swear they could tell you each species of dinosaur, its diet, and how large it actually was! It's honestly incredible.
I utilize the time when transitioning from one song to another within a lesson to ask them about new dinosaur facts to share with me. They love being able to share their knowledge, and they feel listened to! It also helps me connect certain musical principles to their interests so that it "clicks" for them and makes the lesson engaging!
Neurodivergent Tool #2 - Implement More Tactile Activities
We've all heard that some people learn well by listening, some learn better by having a visual, and some people learn BEST by doing. Neurodivergent students most often learn best by hands-on activities (but every student is different, so make sure you're connecting with them the way THEY learn best!). Personally, I've found that tactile learning increases their ability to remember certain concepts and exert their learning energy in a new, interesting kind of way that captures their focus.
I've included 5 of my FAVORITE tactile activities below (NO PRINTOUTS!!!):
Beachball Beats - I picked up an inflatable beachball at the dollar tree, and drew varying note patterns on each color of the ball. Students love to toss the ball and clap whichever rhythm that is facing up!
Flour Drawings - Sometimes to mix it up with my theory books, I pour flour in a shallow pan and have the students draw their answers in the flour.
Twister - I don't have a SINGLE student who doesn't LOVE this game! I took an ordinary game of twister, and drew the musical alphabet letters on each of the colored circles. I alternate flashcards or use the keys on the piano to instruct them on which letter to move to.
Driving Lessons - Another great activity to incorporate your student's interests. I like to use hot wheels cars for this, but you can use any tiny toy figure that your student is into. I call out an interval or name a key, and the student has to move their toy to the correct place on the piano.
Sticky Note Exploration - This is a great one for the first lesson! Place sticky notes all over the piano: a group of 3-black keys, a group of 2-black keys, the fallboard, the damper pedal, etc. The student picks one sticky note at a time, and you explain that part of the instrument. Students love the hide-and-seek nature of this game!
Neurodivergent Tool #3 - Earn and Build Their Trust AUTHENTICALLY
It's important that you earn and build trust with ALL of your students, but this is especially true for neurodiverse students. Effective learning takes place in an environment where a student feels safe. Start to build that trust by asking them questions and making them feel heard. I usually break the ice with some fun get-to-know-you questions on the VERY FIRST LESSON! This helps them to open up and get excited talking about their interests, but it also helps them get to know you as a normal person with fun hobbies as well!
This process takes TIME. Some students open up more quickly than others. As you are patient through this process, you will find satisfaction and fulfillment with each connecting moment!
You cannot fake this process. Students are intuitive, and they will know if you aren't being genuine. This will result in insecurity in the learning environment and it will be much more difficult to teach!
Got your toolset packed and ready to use?
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As always, stay tuned!
(Pun unapologetically intended)
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