Sean Neely discusses the importance of teaching percussion to students on the autism spectrum. He shares his personal experience as an autistic individual and emphasizes the growing prevalence of autism diagnoses. Neely advocates for understanding and inclusivity in music education, highlighting that educators will inevitably encounter autistic students. He stresses the need for tailored teaching strategies, such as providing clear instructions, incorporating praise, and managing sensory and emotional dysregulation. Ultimately, Neely aims to help autistic students achieve their potential in percussion, fostering a sense of value and connection in their musical journey.

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Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that is becoming more commonly diagnosed each day. In 2001, the year I was diagnosed, the rate was 1 in 110. Now, it’s 1 in 36. When I was diagnosed, my parents had no idea what my life would be like. They tried to not set expectations about how my life would look, as it was anyone’s guess. I don’t think, though, they’d envision their child at 24 years old studying to get a master’s degree in social work while also presenting research at the largest percussion convention in the world over the disability that has impacted every facet of his life and will continue to do so.

A lot of times, outside of music therapy contexts, autism and other disabilities are not spoken of widely in the percussion world. But the truth is, it’s not a matter of if you will encounter an autistic student, but when. Getting an understanding of who your students are is important, and it will only serve to make you a better educator. We as percussionists, composers, educators, etc. come to PASIC each year to learn more about percussion — maybe about specialized topics we wouldn’t have been able to learn about before. I applied to present at PASIC because I thought this was a topic not widely spoken about or represented in previous years. My goal is inclusion: to help students on the autism spectrum reach the same heights as their peers.

To start, you’ll need to understand autism and how it affects people. Autism has two central components: deficits in social and communication skills, as well as restricted, repetitive behaviors and interests. Both components must be present for a diagnosis; one can have autistic traits without having autism itself. Traits start from birth and can be detected as early as nine months old.

Autism can and does affect every facet of one’s life, even with things you may not think of when you think of autism, such as motor skills and executive functioning. For me, I have trouble holding a pencil the “normal” way; I hold it using more fingers for more support. Knowing this may help explain why I had trouble learning how to grip a snare drum stick until I learned the three-finger fulcrum rather than a two-finger fulcrum. Knowing that autistic people have a much slower processing speed than their neurotypical peers at otherwise matched IQs, it makes sense that I need a minute to process instructions or may need things repeated. Knowing that autistic people often have trouble determining the “central idea” of media and instructions they encounter, it makes sense why I do better when I have concepts taught to me in smaller steps. Understanding autism and how it affects people is your first step to teaching students on the autism spectrum.

Your next step is knowing how to instruct — especially how to give feedback. Knowing that autistic people face an increased amount of rejection from their peers and superiors, it makes sense that I’d come to expect nothing but negative feedback or be overly judgmental of my own playing. Incorporating praise into any feedback you give encourages students to keep going and find those good things in their own playing. Knowing that autistic people have a hard time understanding “hidden meaning,” it makes sense to not include figurative language and to spell out everything you need to say into explicit detail. Knowing I sometimes struggle with short-term memory, it makes sense that having things written down helps me a lot.

The last component is mitigating dysregulation. Autistic people often struggle with dysregulation, whether it be sensory or emotional dysregulation. This can lead to autistic people becoming upset and the instructor seeing such “behaviors” as meltdowns, shutdowns, impulsivity, or hyperactivity. The best way to approach this topic is to stop the dysregulation before it starts.

Using the previously described strategies will also help you, but so will allowing ear protection and frequent breaks, warning autistic students of any changes coming up, offering frequent encouragement, and giving students an outlet to fidget. The reason you see these “behaviors” is always beyond surface-level observations, so helping students manage their own dysregulation will help you and them, because autistic students don’t like being dysregulated either.

I do a lot of autism advocacy in many different settings, but one of my favorites is percussion because I enjoy playing, and often there’s a lot of people interested in the topic. I believe seeing your students as people first and percussionists second will help you understand them and be able to make more of a connection with them. When you take a more in-depth look at autism and the components behind it, you start to understand your students as people rather than just percussionists. If your students feel like they are valued and appreciated, they will be more likely to stick with percussion rather than walk away from it. 

I believe percussion can have a positive impact in anybody’s life, and percussion can be particularly beneficial to autistic students for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to the fact that it works on skills autistic people can use in their everyday life, and a dedicated hobby can help autistic people achieve self-actualization. If you’re reading this, it’s because you have an interest in percussion, and it’s a valuable thing to be able to spread that interest to others, no matter how they may be different from you.