I've been teaching a Keyboard Class since September. In one of the classes there is a young boy, who is in Year 4. I couldn't make head nor tail of why he found it difficult to read music, as he says he practices at home but he just 'forgets' and 'finds it too hard'. I found out randomly from a teacher that he has dyspraxia and finds it really hard going reading and writing in his classes. He's a bright, smiley kid who laughs it off but I know it really bothers him.

He has been on Keyboard for Young Beginners Book 1 for 2 years; his previous teacher spotted he had a problem, but did nothing about it except send him to a corner with a Keyboard on his own, with a pair of headphones, and asked him to make up his own stuff. This led to chopsticks and that other tune all children seem to know on the Keyboard, using only the black keys. Nothing else. So now he's starting from the beginning again.

Having never encountered this problem before I thought some teachers might have some advice as to how to proceed? I thought that since he is keen to improvise and can pick things up aurally quite well that I'd start him off on Jazz Keyboard beginner material, but the problem with this is that the other boy in his class is on the road to being really gifted in classical playing (his mother is a church organist) and I'm not sure how I'd go about teaching the two of them together.


Any advice?

Hi,

I teach a couple of students with dyspraxia. One a flautist, the other plays clarinet.

One of the first things I might ask is, is it possible to get the child on his own out of the class lesson?

The flautist I teach had group lessons and due to the lack of time the teacher spent one on one sorting out her problems, which is usual in any group I know, but the teacher does not have the time to write detailed notes in the note book. This girl had only a sentence written for every lesson. I was shocked. I.e. 'Practice scales' - no indication of which ones. The next week, 'Keep working on peices' - Work on what exactly?! I was shocked and completely understood why this girl was really unmotivated when she came to me.
Both of these pupils I teach require exact instructions on what they should be practicing and what was required in the lessons and also suggest that a parent read the notes and help with practice.

Reading music can be quite daunting for a dyspraxic I understand, so take it slow - I'm taking two bars at once kind of slow. Play it through a couple of times to really let them hear it, then from the starting note, show them the shape of the melody rather than the different notes. Does that make sense? Ie. Relating one note to the next and so on. Like A is one up from G, so ask them to move up one note. Playing by ear is quite an important skill to learn. You will probably find that tunes they know will be much easier to read. They know when they go wrong. I taught the flautist this evening and we had a go at walking in the air, and she managed fine - she knew what is was supposed to sound like and used that, paired with looking at the shape of the melody. Some of the bigger leaps were slightly harder, but we got there.

Sorry I can't help much more, and I know that the keyboard is a completely different ball game as you are working with two hands.

Good luck.

My son is dyspraxic. I don't teach keyboard... but he does have trombone and singing lessons. He is pretty musical . He is good at aural but I would feel that group lessons are going to lead to frustration!!!
My son's progress on trombone has been very slow. He follows the jazz syllabus so that he can rely on only a limited notation. He can then improvise and memorise.
He panics when sight reading.
He is disorganised... and therefore you have to help organise him and his music!!!
BUT he has passed his Gr 1 Trombone and is about to do Gr 2 singing (in Dec).. so it is possible.
He has a very patient teacher.
My son can enjoy music and has made progress.
It is so easy to disheartened when you are dyspraxic. It is very important to note pprogress and remind the pupils of how far they have come!!!!
Good luck!!!!

I have been teaching piano to a dispraxic girl for six years. She used to suffer from lots of different symptoms, extreme tiredness (to the point where she just couldn't do anything at all), lots of upset from the school day (children being nasty because of her clumsiness) and then of course her co-ordination difficulties.

I have taken things extremely slowly with her, working through tutor books (me and my piano, because of the additional help of all those usually frowned upon finger numbers!). I think because she found things so difficult and was in the shadow of an extremely talented sister, there were times when she just didn't practise at all. But from perseverance and just having to let her work through each song very slowly (lots of hands separate work, rhythm work, note recognition games, internalizing beats and rhythm by moving to music etc) she has developed a good set of basic skills. I did not put her into exams until I knew she would be able to do really really well as I didn't see the point of putting her under unnecessary stress.

So after that rant I would say:

Try to teach the boy on his own
Be extremely patient; he is likely to get quite tired from school and other activities, as he has to work that bit harder.
Present information in small chunks and in lots of different ways till you see what sticks/works for him...take a gently gently approach; if he can't work out notes or rhythm, do something else for a bit and then look at it from a different angle, you'll soon find what works from him.
When you see any progress, as ClairiNicki said, lots and lots of praise.

As I am not in the UK I don't how old Year 4 is, but I took her on when she was 8 and had a very slow three years or so. Gradually things began to click and now she is quite a good sightreader and is very enthusiastic! She still has some co-ordination problems and issues with rhythm, but has come really far!

Good luck! (hope that's not too long, have had a glass of wine!!!!)

Thanks for your advice everyone, it's much appreciated! The only problem is, the school won't let me give him lessons on his own, that's not the way it works. So he is stuck in a class with a kid that is far ahead of him, and he doesn't seem to be learning anything. Taking him on his own is impossible because the school wants group lessons only, I have asked about this previously as well as changing the groups around a bit, but it's a no-no. So I feel like I'm stuck in an impossible stuation. He could do more practice at home, but why would he want to when he feels like he's stuck with someone he'll 'never be as good as'?

If he has recognised dyspraxia then the school has a duty to provide individual lessons - funding wil lbe available. All Special needs children (either learning difficulties or gifted and able) are entitled (think that's not just in my county of Norfolk) Have another go after consulting the Special needs policy or speaking with the Special needs coordinator. Sounds like group lessons are would be counter-productive for him.

I agree, again I don't know the UK system, but common sense says a child with any learning problems needs extra support and praise, not to be made feel even worse by the talented boy who is zooming ahead!

The head teacher should be told that continuing in a group system is not helpful to this boy, indeed it is likely to really squash his self esteem.