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Music programs have been proven to have a profound impact enhancing speech and language and increasing self-confidence and self-expression in children on the Autism Spectrum and other developmental delays. However, traditional music learning programs have long been inaccessible to many children with special needs. And that’s where we want to help. Founder and Clinical Director of Arts for Healing, Karen Nisenson, and Australian Music Educator and Founder of Simply Music, Neil Moore, have created a unique, adaptive piano program that transforms the issues that prevent a child with special needs from learning in a conventional way.
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The Simply Music Gateway program will be an online streaming program designed specifically for any child with special needs who thinks differently and needs to learn in a different style.
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Simply create an online account and access the customized training, support and guidance materials that have been designed specifically for occupational therapists, music therapists or music educators, as well as parents/guardians or care-providers. No extensive background or training is necessary, anyone can teach this program!
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EMPOWER CHILDREN with special needs and their families through music.
PROVIDE SCHOOLS & ORGANIZATIONS with special needs programs.
Impact the special needs community on a GLOBAL SCALE.
Provide our program completely FREE OF CHARGE.
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Jewels Harrison was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3. He had major difficulties with speech and language and the inability to use his hands and fingers. Look at him now!
Using the Simply Music Gateway program, Jewels’ learned how to play piano in small steps that are easy, fun, and playing-based, rather than reading-based. By focusing on his learning differences one sensory system at a time, his motor skills improved vastly. Now at age 13, his fine motor skills have improved vastly, and he plays blues, classical, and popular pieces with ease! Simply Music Gateway has given him a new means of self-expression through music.
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The impact on students and their families is profound. Children with special needs, through acquiring musical self-expression, have a new means communicating and revealing their individual personalities and talents. The Simply Music Gateway programs offers a new opportunity for socialization and further inclusion in their school and greater community.
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The core curriculum for the Simply Music Gateway program is under development and we are eager to begin production on this breakthrough program. Through this Indiegogo campaign we're aiming to raise enough funds to make the program reality.
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• Producing the program student materials – Streaming video.
• Producing the specific instruction guides – Printable PDFs for parents/care providers, music educators and music/occupational therapists.
• Building the online delivery system for global distribution of the program.
• Testing and polishing the final program and making it ready for the public.
The program will be delivered via an online system. The only requirement you need to get access to the program will be a web browser and an internet connection!
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Karen Nisenson is Founder and Clinical Director of Arts for Healing. She holds a Bachelor and Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Juilliard School, Bachelor of Science from Hunter College, a Master of Arts degree in Music Therapy from NYU, where she has been an adjunct professor and affiliated with the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy since 1978. Karen developed the integrated music and art therapy methodology (IMAT) and the Adaptive Music Teaching Curriculum. She has also created early childhood academic programs specifically designed for children on the Autism Spectrum. Karen is a contributor to Special Parent Magazine and The Motor Story Online News Magazine. Karen consults to schools, and frequently presents talks and workshops to parents and professionals about the impact and importance of the arts in education.
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Karen Nisenson has been a global leader in special needs for the past 30 years.As a Creative Arts Therapist using music and art as vehicles of expression,she saw the impact that music had on each individual, no matter the behavioral or emotional issues present. The elements of music, rhythm, harmony and melody provided paths to non-verbal conversations that communicated feelings and ideas, and stimulated speech in those that had no verbal ability. The power of interactive improvisation allowed anyone to make music, and so began her “playing-based” adaptive teaching method.
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Pairing Karen’s specialized piano program with Neil’s compositions and natural approach to playing piano, a program was created and designed specifically for children with special needs – ranging from ADHD, processing and developmental disorders, to the autism spectrum. The Simply Music Gateway program focuses on fine motor development while exploring and playing the keyboard. Familiar songs are learned without having to read music, and students, with a variety of processing disorders, were able to incorporate information and develop their musical skills.
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