I’ve often talked about how music affects literacy skills. Today, I want to mention briefly how music can help verbal skills.

I work as a para-educator, and daily, I work with students who are autistic or who have ADHD. So many times, I watch them dance and spin around to their own music in their heads at recess. They also love their music classes. Music speaks when words cannot. I’m not sure who to attribute that quote to, but it is certainly appropriate for these students.

Yesterday, I worked with a student who was primarily nonverbal. He had a hyperfocus, and he could talk about that, but aside from that hyperfocus, he did not speak.

When I was with him at recess, he started singing, The Bear Went Over the Mountain. I was shocked. I knew the song, so I finished it with him. And then he sang once again, “and that was all that he could see!” It was so adorable. I tried to teach him another children’s song when we got back inside. He didn’t respond, but I sang it three times to him, and I hope that it set in.

I look forward to seeing him soon to see if he’ll sing that song back to me. And maybe I’ll keep singing it to him!