autismandmusic

Autism Has Touched My Life...
I'm very proud to announce that the benefit concert, *Autism Has Touched My Life: A Benefit Concert to Bring Music into the Lives of Children with Autism, which I hosted in March, featuring the music of Walt Aldridge, Jim Ferguson, Beegie Adair, Gordon Ellis, Mark Leland, and Tammy Vice raised over $6000.00. This allowed me to purchase dulcimers for the inaugural members of the VSA arts Tennessee Dulcimer Choir for Children with Autism, make a donation to cover start-up costs of the VSA arts Tennessee Dulcimer Choir, facilitate teaching children with autism for the next four years, and provide dulcimers for any new students who come to me wanting lessons. I'd like to thank the following for their generous donations in helping me make my dream of bringing music into the lives of these very special children a reality: Janita and Bob Baker of Blue Lion Instruments, for their donation of 5 dulcimers Blair School of Music, for providing a wonderful hall and technical support Randy and Lynda Case, Bob and Judy Bailey, Teresa McWhirt, and the participants of Maureen Seller's Chatauqua on the Wabash, for their cash donations Dave McKinney of Modern Mountain Dulcimers, for his donation of 2 instruments Dan Landrum of Dulcimer Player News, for believing in my project and devoting space in his publication to tell others about it Jim and Betty Woods of McSpadden Dulcimers, for allowing me to purchase dulcimers at a special discount Dancing to the Spirit of the Wood, for advertisements Dan Pfeifer, Mary Nichols, and Sandy Conatser, for taking care of the performers and helping behind-the-scenes Amanda Musgrave, for handling ticket sales MHMS Class of 2008 and MTSU students, for handling the silent auction ASAP Printing, for printing of the tickets and posters Janita Baker, for her graphic design GR Davis*, for making the whole night run smoothly Thank you to these very special children, who give to me far more than I could ever give to them.

I am so grateful for the special relationship I share with Sean.	I have a cousin, Sean, who lives out in California. He was born in 2002, and he was the cutest child I had ever laid eyes upon! He had this chipmunk laugh, which made all of us around him smile. He just was so happy - you could tell that he loved being alive. Then, when Sean was about 18 months old, everything changed. He became so frustrated and so sad. Worst of all, even his laugh was gone. At the age of two years, Sean was diagnosed with autism. He immediately started intense behavioral, speech and occupational therapy, almost forty hours a week and biomedical intervention and dietary changes. He worked so hard with his therapists and parents...within six months, the smiling, giggling boy was back! He was truly happy again. Now, we have so much fun together. I never realized someone so young could ask so many questions! I just love to watch him play with his sister, laughing and chatting away.
Morgan and Sarah enjoying some "chill time" before her lesson.	I was so moved by Sean's struggle and watching his mom fight to get her little boy back, I co-wrote a song with Nashville singer-songwriter, Tammy Vice about it: There Are No Words © A little boy was born, precious to many A parent’s pride and joy They watched him learn and laugh and run and play But all of that was taken away There were no words There was no joy Just an empty space that took the place Of the life of a little boy He fought and struggled hard against that dark world That held his heart and soul They looked for the key to unlock his mind They longed for the boy who was left behind There were no words There was no joy Just an empty space that took the place Of the life of a little boy With time the key was found, the lock destroyed Now the sounds of laughter fill the void There are no words To tell the joy Of the love and grace that fill the space In the life of this little boy [Music and lyrics © 2005 by Sarah Elizabeth and Tammy Vice] Working with Tammy opened up another opportunity for me. Since the beginning of the summer, I have been working with her daughter Morgan, who also has autism. Tammy and I teamed together to develop a method of teaching music to children with autism. We first used this approach with Morgan, and it has become the basis for a curriculum we hope to spread across the state of Tennessee. Morgan surprises me with her humor and I am so honored her family allows me into their home to work with her.
Sean loves being soaked with the hose!	Sean and Morgan, along with their families, have brought so much more into my life than I will ever be able to bring into theirs! Because my life has been touched by autism, I want to bring music into the lives of these special children. Through Very Special People of the Arts we are establishing a performing dulcimer choir, which will be open to children with autism. I want to present each child who is chosen to be a member of the dulcimer choir with their very own instrument. In order to raise funds for these instruments, I organized a special event held March 8, 2008 — Autism Has Touched My Life: A Concert & Silent Auction to Benefit Very Special People of the Arts. Concert performers included singer-songwriter Tammy Vice, Beegie Adair and Jim Ferguson, Sarah Elizabeth, Gordon Ellis, Walt Aldridge, Mark Leland and some very special guest performers.

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