Here it is, my real rarity! I just walked through the living room in our home and my lovely wife was watching "America's Got Talent" and I stopped to watch because there was a kid who was about to sing who is autistic. I just spent some time lecturing in North Carolina about how one of the greatest gifts we can give to our children (especially our children who are autistic) is the gift of expressing themselves through music.
Howard Gardner spends some time in his landmark work ""Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences" discussing how children with autism tend to excel in music. My experience has been that Gardner (in nearly every area that I have read him in) is absolutely correct! I worked with two autistic kids when I was a senior in high school and it was through music that they could best express themselves.
Needless to say, with autism on the rise, incorporating autistic children into church music ministry programs is something of a soapbox of mine!
So, I'm passing through the living room and I stop down to watch. Please understand me: I HATE REALITY TV, MOSTLY BECAUSE I'M INTO REALITY!!!! And so, this nine-year old young man starts to sing a Jackson Five song (he claims that the Jackson Five are his favorite group, which is proof, if you ask me, of his autism, as he was born in 1999!) and, while he has some substantial pitch issues, on the whole he nails it.
The feeling behind his singing brings me to tears.
It was beautiful.
I never thought reality t.v. could do that to me!
I hope he does well and continues to utilize music as a tool to express himself!
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