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Mrs. Cortes' Classroom Edit display name

  • Shady Brook Elementary School
  • Kannapolis, NC
  • Nearly all students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

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My 8 students in my autism class have a variety of instruments they can learn to play in the class, but currently there is not one instrument that we can play as a class. After researching about small class sizes and special needs classrooms, I was able to find an instrument that would work perfectly for my autism class that visits each week. The autism students will be able to learn as a class how to keep a beat and play different rhythms around a giant gathering drum as a class. I would love to have a consistent instrument that the autism class could use to improve their musical knowledge and meet their sensory needs. Why a gathering drum? One of the most important early skills a child can learn is imitation. This is a motor planning difficulty, meaning that the child can't just watch another person and then make his or her body do the same thing. Imitating, a child on a drum tends to interest the child in the whole concept of imitation. It also addresses the problem of motivation. Motivation is the greatest challenge in effectively working with these kids. Drumming out a repeated rhythm over and over, gives the child the opportunity to enjoy how it magnifies the experience if they do something like this together. This is a great social concept for a child with autism to learn.

About my class

My 8 students in my autism class have a variety of instruments they can learn to play in the class, but currently there is not one instrument that we can play as a class. After researching about small class sizes and special needs classrooms, I was able to find an instrument that would work perfectly for my autism class that visits each week. The autism students will be able to learn as a class how to keep a beat and play different rhythms around a giant gathering drum as a class. I would love to have a consistent instrument that the autism class could use to improve their musical knowledge and meet their sensory needs. Why a gathering drum? One of the most important early skills a child can learn is imitation. This is a motor planning difficulty, meaning that the child can't just watch another person and then make his or her body do the same thing. Imitating, a child on a drum tends to interest the child in the whole concept of imitation. It also addresses the problem of motivation. Motivation is the greatest challenge in effectively working with these kids. Drumming out a repeated rhythm over and over, gives the child the opportunity to enjoy how it magnifies the experience if they do something like this together. This is a great social concept for a child with autism to learn.

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About my class

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