The benefits of music education for children with disabilities
Music-making requires a range of skills and abilities, and, above all, is enjoyable! Because of this, it is of potential value to teachers and therapists over and above its intrinsic artistic merit. It can be used as a tool to promote learning and development in a variety of other areas. For example, performance, at any level, may well enhance fine motor control and co-ordination, while listening relies on cognitive skills such as concentration and memory.

Singing can offer unique support in the early stages of language acquisition, and making music in a group provides a context and structure for socialising: participation may heighten a child’s awareness of self and other, foster tolerance, and enable individuals to contribute to a larger whole. Hence just as literacy and numeracy permeate mainstream curricula, underpinning many areas of study, so music can inform the wider curriculum of children who have disabilities.

- An excerpt from ‘Music for Children and Young People with Complex Needs’ by Dr Adam Ockelford (Published by OUP this autumn) -

AMBER today
More recently, the Trust has shifted its focus and is now concentrating on children up to 18 years old. AMBER recognises that children with special needs are less likely to have opportunities to access music. In order to address this, we have set up The AMBER Music Awards programme, which has already made a significant difference to the lives of many blind or partially sighted children.

AMBER helps research
AMBER is also helping to raise funds for research, such as the ‘Sounds of Intent’ project, which aims to investigate, assess, record and promote the musical development of children and young people with severe, or profound and multiple learning difficulties.

An AMBER success story
Derek Paravicini is one of the amazing young people that AMBER has helped. Despite being born blind with severe learning difficulties, he has achieved extraordinary success as a world-reknowned jazz, pop and classical pianist.

Read more about Derek in his biography ‘In the Key of Genius’ – available from all good book shops and on the Internet.