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4/17/2010 06:00 PM
Christopher's Story
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Christopher’s Story
Christopher is an 8-year old music therapy student here at the Music School with a very special gift of music that he loves to share with others. At 8-years old, he has faced challenges well beyond his years. Here’s his story.
Christopher’s biological mother abused drugs when pregnant with him. As a result, Christopher’s drug screen was positive for cocaine at birth. He was born prematurely, weighing only 1 pound, 12 ounces. Because of his premature birth, Christopher’s eyes did not develop properly, and he was diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, leaving him 100% blind. The beautiful eyes you see are actually shells made specifically for him. He remained in the hospital until he was five months old, when he was discharged to foster care and placed in a family with other special needs children. When Christopher was 14 months old, he was placed in the custody of his paternal aunt and uncle and was adopted a year later. He has lived with his adoptive family in Manchester since August of 2002, where he is loved and well cared for. When Christopher was 4 years old, he received a preliminary diagnosis of autism. This year, Christopher was officially diagnosed as Autistic.
One of Christopher’s challenges is the condition of echolalic speech. This means he will echo any question he is asked back. For instance, if you were to ask him “How are you today?” he would answer, “How are you today?” Also, he will repeat something he has heard on television or in a movie randomly days after he heard the phrase. As you can imagine, it was very difficult for Christopher to have a conversation and, as a result, develop relationships with other people. This has an effect not only on Christopher, but also on his entire family and in the school setting.
 In October of 2008, Christopher’s mom thought they would try music therapy, since Christopher loves music and has an instant response to it. They came to the Music School and have found his experience to be transformational. Over the past year, he has made remarkable progress. We discovered that Christopher has perfect pitch and naturally learns music and instruments quickly. Through Christopher’s music therapy at MCMS, he is developing basic, lifelong skills such as the ability to have a conversation. This happens by focusing on speech and language skills while singing and playing the piano. Suddenly, learning and developing these skills is fun because of music!
By re-writing songs such as Puff the Magic Dragon together with his teacher, Director of Music Therapy Shannon Laine, Christopher is developing abstract, creative, and critical thinking skills. After less than a year of music therapy, Christopher’s family ceased some of his other therapies, as he is gaining more skills through the constant stimulation he gains through music.
Today, Christopher is at MCMS three days/week – twice for music therapy sessions and once a week for Suzuki piano lessons. Christopher is writing his own lyrics to songs, is learning how to play guitar, and is beginning to compose his own music. His next goal is to play the harp. Also, because of his perfect pitch, he can easily sing harmony, transpose songs on the piano, and play them in any key – an amazing skill for anyone, but especially an 8-year old.
Today, Christopher interacts with other students at his school – Northwest Elementary in Manchester, can communicate with people at his church, and has conversations with his family. These gifts through music are all beyond measure. And this is just the beginning of Christopher’s journey.
This is the power of music – freeing an 8-year old boy of the constraints of autism, blindness, speech challenges, and difficulty communicating with others. Music has opened up Christopher’s world. Music has given Christopher his voice, friends, family and a caring community here at MCMS where he is safe, nurtured and encouraged to grow.
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