Right Brain Learning - Adaptive Musical instrument for special needs
Ben's Q-Chord
Life is a
Song
Music is the passion in Ben's life!
To Ben, there is nothing better than music. From his earliest years, he has always been enthralled with speakers, tapes, CDs, keyboards, guitars, and stereo systems. Whenever we took him into stores, he would head straight for whatever music was playing. Not only did he have to see the stereo equipment the store was selling, but he had to check out the store's own music system. He noticed speakers and intercoms in the ceiling. If it was electronic, he had to know about it.
He is pretty rough on guitars and electronics, and has been through at least twenty children's tape recorders. (Each had its own name like the one he calls "Almost.") He used to push around a pair of old speakers, like they were giant building blocks. He even fell asleep on one. I wish I had that picture. When we brought home a his first guitar he just trembled with excitement. He immediately started signing and thumb playing, "Amazing Grace!" He played it so much he got blisters on his thumbs. Now, whenever we find toys or electronics that make Ben tremble we say "It has Ben's name written on it!" Music has truly been his driving force in his life!
Effective teachers and therapists have used Ben's passion for music to help him learn. In addition to the many challenges of 17q21.31 Microdeletion Syndrome, Ben has agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC). This means the fiberous band of tissue that interconnects the two hemispheres of his brain never formed before birth. As Ben's parents we believe ACC has presented several learning challenges including:
- Global Developmental Delay
- His hands are very limp and he has very weak grip. He will never have the fine motor skills, or cognitive ability to read music, to truly play a musical instrument.
- His fingers and brain will not work together.
- He has anxiety over where he is in time and space.
- He has many irrational fears of everyday objects
- He has lots of dysfluency, and stutters at times quite badly.
Ben seems to learn well through his right brain, and music has been the golden key to help him unlock pathways to learning. Ben often uses the words of songs to help express his feelings, even when he didn't have the ability to express feelings through words of his own. When he was afraid of oral-motor therapy, he would start singing, "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf," to tell us of his own fear of the therapist. Singing songs with steady rhythms helps him walk at a better, more fluid pace. It was at Adam's Camp where we first were introduced to the Omnicord, the forerunner to the Q-Chord. This was a musical instrument that was more like an electronic autoharp than anything. The school system bought an Omnicord to use with Ben's special music class. It definitely had his name written on it! We brought the OmniChord home with us so much, he wore down the buttons. Around the age of five, Ben began to develop favorite musical compositions. He loved all Raffi, Disney, Manheim Steamroller, and patriotic songs.He loved singing hymns. It didn't matter if he knew the words, he would just sing whatever sounded like the words to him. He loved all the classical composers and could identify lots of them. It wasn't long before he began figuring out how to change the cords on the Omnicord to play these songs to accompany his singing. The chords were just close to what they really should be, but It was just beautiful. The Omnicord was such a blessing to him. It was a lot more gentle to his fingertips, too, than that first guitar. Still the OmniChord actually belonged to the school, and Ben was wearing it out! Ben has been really rough on electronics, and the power adapter kept getting loose. Daddy felt he couldn't keep soldering it inside, and we wanted to get it back to school before it was totally unusable! So, we looked into buying one for home. We didn't know how we could afford to buy one, but we looked anyway.
We found the Suzuki website, and couldn't find the OmniChord. I almost panicked when we thought we couldn't replace it! But, fortunately, I stumbled upon the Q-Chord! It had all the features of the OmniChord, but also had lots of song cartridges! It certainly looked interesting. The price seemed reasonable, too. We would consider getting it some way ...... somehow!
God has worked many blessings for Ben throughout his whole life: our community has been very supportive of him. God was about to work another one, through the Rotary Club of Grand Lake. Usually the Rotary helps send Ben to Adam's Camp, but this year, we hadn't asked for funding from them. It was in November one day when I got a call from them. "We noticed that we didn't help with Ben's Adam's Camp this year, and we have already budgeted some money for him. Can you think of anything he needs?"
The Rotary bought him not only the Q-Chord, but also the case, headphones, demonstration video, music, and 4 cartridges! God had used the Rotary to help provide more blessings for Ben!
Early Christmas Eve, the Rotary's Santa Claus came by our house to visit Ben. With him was a big present. In that gift was one of the best therapy tools, Ben has ever loved. He just trembled with excitement. He was actually speechless for a few minutes. Then he started playing. It was love at first sight. The Q-Chord definitely had Ben's name on it. Nothing else Ben has ever received could even touch the passion he has for his Q-Chord!
Ben's favorite cartridge is the one with Lennon and McCartney songs. This opened up a whole new passion for Ben - The Beatles! We sat down with the music and sang all the songs with him. He can play along with the music with the strum plate. He can change the tempo and take out different parts of the music to add his own.
One of the best uses for the Q-Chord has been to combine his love for it, and a way to help him overcome his fears. One of the Beatles songs starts out with the words, "Hey, Jude. don't be afraid......." It was so natural to change the words to "Hey, Ben, don't be afraid of Earth Balls, or green cow toys..." It wasn't long before he was changing words to lots of songs to suit his needs. He now tells a joke related to his new passion - the Beatles. "Why did Sgt Peppers cross Abbey Road? To get to Penny Lane."
Since that Christmas over ten years ago, Ben and his Q-Chord have been inseparable! Because it can opperate on batteries, and it has headphones, we even take it on car trips. It went with us on our family vacation: It was the first thing unpacked out of the suitcase. When Ben went to I Can Camp this summer, he couldn't take electronics, so we made a cassette tape with his favorite Q-Chord songs on it.
Whenever Ben is having a difficult day, we talk about what songs would be good on a Disney cartridge. Just that thought is both calming and exciting for him! Ben's big dream is for Suzuki to make a Disney cartridge. He dreams that he would ask them to be sure and have "It's a Small World" and "A Spoonful of Sugar on it." We believe in Miracles!
The Q-Chord can have a tremendous benefit for individuals with special needs.. You should hear Ben play it! He spends lots of days, composing his own new songs, and changing words to the other cartridges. He loves checking out the different rhythms and changing the voices on the strum plate. He loves the birds singing. He has lots to learn to do, but he will, in time. The different cartridges have broadened his musical horizons.
For more information on the Q-Chord by Suzuki Music Click Here
For Visually Impaired information and how to use the Qchord - PLUS MORE information Click Here
Some Neat sites for Christmas Music with Chords
http://guitar.about.com/library/blchristmassongmenu.htm
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/OLGA/all/misc_christmas.html
http://www.praise-worship.net/christmas/
http://www.guitaretab.com/m/misc-christmas/tabs.htm
http://www.guitaretab.com/h/holiday/tabs.htm
http://www.e-tabs.org/tab/misc_christmas
http://www.christianguitar.ws/christian/christmas.phpClick to return to Faces of Ben.
