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TEACHING STRATEGIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR STUDENTS
WITH LEARNING AND PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
The Spring Teachers Exchange on April 11, 2011 was introduced by Adele Dreyer, chair of the Teachers' Exchange Committee. Elizabeth Ann Reed (Betty) gave exercises for various problem hands. 1) when first joint is double-jointed, push into first joint with thumb 2) double -jointed thumb: second joint must be strengthened - wrap hand around anything that will push the second joint out, then press hard 3) thumb must be struck on the side; if joints are swollen, run hands under warm water, play broken, not block, chords, no heavy octaves, work on light, fast fingers (Burgmuller Arabesque, Chopin Minute Waltz), play pp, never stress a swollen joint 4) little or no webbing: Vera Gorowitz's stretches - finger splits, always do carefully (if it hurts, don't do it - make sure you are doing it correctly) 5) pinky curl: lay arm on flat surface, make high arch, pick up 5th finger and then press downward, keeping curve 6) collapsed arch: squeeze small koosh ball, keeping thumb outside, or just make a tight fist (thumb outside), pushing knuckles out Any exercise can be done anytime, riding in a car or bus, at your desk, watching TV, etc. and should be done several times a day. Betty has offered to e-mail the slide presentation which accompanied her talk. She can be contacted at: pianoears@gmail.com Maria-Pia Antonelli spoke about her forty-five years of piano teaching at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. She explained in detail how Braille music works (feeling raised dots with finger tips), emphasizing its being horizontally read instead of the vertical way sighted players read notes. When the school, after her first twenty five years, began to take partially sighted but legally blind students, she could use some print music in the lessons. Latterly, there were students who didn't know Braille nor could they see enough to read. These she taught by ear and by directions, e.g., "first finger on middle C, a quarter note". People who have had to memorize everything have excellent memories, so, though cumbersome, music Braille readers have to memorize as they go. (Obviously, there's no way to play two hands and read Braille at the same time). The American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, is the largest and most important printing house in the United States. lf Ms. Antonelli couldn't get a piece she wanted from them, she would print the music out in Braille herself. (No easy task, comments note- taker). Ms. Antonelli's talk was personal and fascinating, but difficult to reconstruct. Christina Dietrich spoke of her personal crusade as being the result of having a ten-year-old autistic son. There are five pervasive developmental disorders: AUTISM (impaired social interaction and communication, restricted and repetitive behavior and delayed cognitive and language development); ASBERGER SYNDROME DISORDER (ADD) (mild autism where cognitive development and language are not delayed); PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENT DISORDER - NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED (PDD-NOS), diagnosed when full set of criteria for autism or ADD are not met; RETT SYNDROME and CHILDHOOD DISINTEGRATIVE DISORDER (more severe impairments). Ms. Dietrich expanded on some symptoms of these disorders and referred to Howard Gardner's eight basic types of intelligence: Spatial, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic. Developing the Musical intelligence helps with memory and speech improvement, along with its emotional contribution. We were shown children (autistic or ADD) having piano lessons with the speaker and one boy singing to her accompaniment. In teaching children with these kinds of problems, Ms. Dietrich recommends using constant repetition, cultivating "endless patience" and definitely keeping hope. She suggests Donald Waxman's books. | 
