Benefits of learning a musical instrument for children with disability
An opinion piece by Freya Dalgleish
With the right teacher (or musically talented support worker), you can tailor your child's experience with music to suit their needs and personality.
Learning a musical instrument might conjure up images of tedious piano lessons in stuffy rooms, anxiety-inducing end-of-term concerts, and hours of screeching violin practice.
But it doesn’t have to be that way! If you can find a sensitive and creative teacher (or a support worker with musical skills and a willingness to teach as part of your support plan), you can experience all the benefits of childhood music without the parts that don’t suit you or your child.
There are so many benefits to children playing instruments, regardless of the strengths, skills and challenges of that child. As a disability support worker and music therapist, I’ve witnessed first-hand how learning an instrument develops motivation, social skills and engagement, attention and memory, coordination and motor skills, emotional regulation and expression, academic skills in language and maths, self-discipline and feelings of achievement.
Here are some of the benefits that can come from a child with disability learning a musical instrument, accompanied by real-life examples.
Neurological benefits
Active music-making has been proven to increase neurological firing across the brain and increase cortical thickness and neuroplasticity in children (and adults) – stimulating motor, auditory, visual, emotional, and executive (planning, regulation and attention) all at once.
Teaching piano to a highly intelligent 6-year-old living with ADHD and who showed disruptive behaviours in the classroom meant modifying the lessons to keep up with his brain and keep him interested and motivated. Ensuring he was being challenged, with quick switches between pieces and verbal pop quizzes on music theory rather than worksheets worked well.
After a few weeks, his parents reported that he was practicing every day after school because he wanted to be able to play all the pieces without mistakes as soon as possible (this included Christmas songs in June!).
As soon as I started playing, people hummed, while others danced, sang, clapped and smiled. Some even laughed and cried. Everyone reacted in different ways.
Social benefits
Learning to play an instrument can provide an inclusive activity where children can participate fully with others. A three-year-old with Downs syndrome and a global developmental delay was highly motivated by the ukulele and loved to wear it with the strap around his neck like a ‘rockstar’.
His siblings also loved to raid the percussion instruments and we developed their explorations into “family jam sessions”, where each child had access to whichever instrument appealed, and it was held together (usually) with a guitar or drum to give some structure. This allowed the child to have meaningful, fun, physical, focussed, and equal interactions with his siblings in a way that wasn’t possible during unstructured play or more structured games.
Physical movement benefits
Coordination and motor skills are also enhanced by instrument tuition. With a teenager with an intellectual disability and coordination issues – but with energy to burn and beginning to display emotional outbursts and defiant and anti-social behaviours – playing djembe (West-African drum) along to a Spotify playlist of his favourite songs was the best route.
Often playing the same piece over and over, he would enthusiastically drum along, learning the three main techniques for playing djembe, improving his rhythmic skills, and eventually singing along. He was significantly more engaged in education, more focussed and less resistant to social interaction.
Self-esteem benefits
The sense of achievement and self-efficacy that comes from playing an instrument successfully is one of the greatest benefits for kids that might not have much control over other aspects of their lives. A child with quadriplegic cerebral palsy who loves listening to music, has found joy in a synthesiser keyboard which is the right size for him to reach most of the keys without assistance, thus providing an opportunity for self-expression that doesn’t require the input of others.
Emotional and behavioural benefits
There are also positive effects on self-regulation, particularly for children dealing with big emotions. A teenage girl on the autism spectrum who was experiencing extreme anxiety and anger outbursts, including violence to herself and others, has uncovered a surprise love for the recorder, calling it her “flute”, and learning the way different sounds can be made as finger holes are covered and uncovered, and breath intensity is altered.
She can now play happily on the recorder (without squeaking!) for 5-10 minutes, varying pitch and dramatically acting out a tune or emotional state. Her anger and aggressive outbursts have been slowly channelled into safer forms of self-expression.
These instances are just examples of the ways that the benefit of music tuition can help children living with disability. That said, these same benefits exist for adults, and for young children who are typically developing. The most important thing is to find a teacher who is sensitive to your child’s individual personality and developmental goals, and who can be creative and engaging while still educating.
Freya Dalgleish is a musician, disability support worker and former registered music therapist (RMT).
