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TEACHING VOICE LESSONS TO EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS who may have difficulty in learning due to impairments in communication and social skills requires necessary accommodations and modifications in curriculum and instructions to help them fulfill their potential. Such teaching methods are rarely, if ever, addressed in undergraduate or graduate courses for vocal performance, music business, or liberal arts degrees. Additionally, music education majors are required by most states to complete only one special education course.
Research indicates that music educators consider themselves inadequately prepared to teach students with disabilities in the classroom.1 Studio voice teachers also report feeling unprepared to teach exceptional students. In a survey of independent music teachers polled from the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), Furman and Steele examined the degree to which private music teachers encounter teaching difficulties with students who require special considerations and adaptations due to physical, mental, behavioral, or learning disabilities. Of the 193 teachers that responded, 69 reported teaching "special students" or those with disabilities, and 64 indicated that they had no special training to equip them for teaching students exhibiting visual or hearing impairments, coordination difficulties, or behavior problems. Results also indicated the teachers' desire for assistance from specialists, such as music therapists, when instructing these students.2
According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 68 children have been identified with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Likewise, a recent study in the journal Pediatrics concluded that over the years 1997-2008, the prevalence of autism increased by 289.5%.3 Given the number of individuals diagnosed with autism is on the rise, it is certain that voice teachers will be faced with, or have already had the experience of, teaching studio voice lessons to students on the autistic spectrum.
Success for students with ASD is incumbent upon voice teachers being educated on the disability and understanding the most effective methods of instruction and assessment for individual and unique learning styles. Through empirical research including observation, direct teaching experiences, and interviews with professionals in the field of psychology, this article aims to draw awareness to the teaching of exceptional students in the voice studio, and provide a methodology for instructing voice lessons to high functioning (HF) students with ASD, or what is commonly referred to as Asperger's...