About Us.

Wishing Well House will offer one to one education for children in the NorthWest with autism and it will also focus on the arts, in particular music, singing and movement to help develop and encourage communication skills and musical talent

At present there are 80,000 children in the UK officially diagnosed as being autistic and only 20,000 school places.

Wishing Well House That does not include children whose autism has been left undetected, many of whom are struggling to cope in mainstream school.

Although there are specialist schools in the London area providing this intensive education programme, there are none in the north-west specialising in ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis).

Wishing Well House will offer hope to the parents of autistic children in the NW of England by ensuring their child is maximising their learning potential and improving their communication skills to ensure that they have the best possible chance of becoming independent.

What the Experts Say.

Dr Tony Attwood, expert in Aspergers Syndrome: "Music therapy is excellent. It can help with the development of communication and the expression and management of emotions. Some children with autism and Asperger's can develop talents in the area of music."

Myra J. Staum, Ph.D., RMT-BC, Director and Professor of Music Therapy, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon:

'Music Therapy is particularly useful with autistic children owing in part to the nonverbal, non threatening nature of the medium. Parallel music activities are designed to support the objectives of the child as observed by the therapist or as indicated by a parent, teacher or other professional. A music therapist might observe, for instance, the child's need to socially interact with others. Musical games like passing a ball back and forth to music or playing sticks and cymbals with another person might be used to foster this interaction. Eye contact might be encouraged with imitative clapping games near the eyes or with activities which focus attention on an instrument played near the face. Preferred music may be used contingently for a wide variety of cooperative social behaviours like sitting in a chair or staying with a group of other children in a circle.

It has been noted time and again that autistic children evidence unusual sensitivities to music. Some have perfect pitch, while many have been noted to play instruments with exceptional musicality. Music therapists traditionally work with autistic children because of this unusual responsiveness which is adaptable to non-music goals. Some children have unusual sensitivities only to certain sounds. One boy, after playing a xylophone bar, would spontaneously sing up the harmonic series from the fundamental pitch. Through careful structuring, syllable sounds were paired with his singing of the harmonics and the boy began incorporating consonant-vowel sounds into his vocal play. Soon simple 2-3 note tunes were played on the xylophone by the therapist who modelled more complex verbalizations, and the child gradually began imitating them.

Since autistic children sometimes sing when they may not speak, music therapists and music educators can work systematically on speech through vocal music activities. In the music classroom, songs with simple words, repetitive phrases, and even repetitive nonsense syllables can assist the autistic child's language. Meaningful word phrases and songs presented with visual and tactile cues can facilitate this process even further.”

About Us.

What the Experts Say.

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Autism Charity for Autistic Children