A musical key

it may just be the way to unlock their emotions, finds STEPHEN LEWIS

WHEN Liam Brunskill first saw the drum kit at his granddad Alan's house, his eyes lit up. Within no time, he was hooked. "He went straight over to them," recalls Liam's mum Mandy. "His granddad said Liam played them better than he did!"

That's no mean achievement, since Alan Brunskill used to play in a jazz band. But for Liam, playing the drums was more than just a way to make music - it was a way to let out some of the feelings and emotions locked inside him.

The eight-year-old is autistic, trapped in a world of his own from where he finds it difficult to reach out to other people or share his feelings. In music, he may have found a way of communicating.

He took to the drums immediately, Mandy says, banging out rhythms and even playing the cymbals. He now has his own drumsticks, which he uses to beat out rhythms wherever he is.

He loved music so much that Mandy and her husband Rod leapt at the chance for Liam to attend a course of music therapy sessions. "I knew he was going to enjoy it," Mandy says.

Nine weeks ago, Liam went for his first half-hour session at Clifton Family Centre with music therapist Angela Harrison.

At first, Angela recalls, he was a little cautious and wary. There were a range of instruments for him to try, including a large Congo drum and a xylophone. "He was a bit anxious about using the instruments and about the sounds they made," she says. "And he was cautious about sharing the instruments."

But the lure of the music was too strong, and it wasn't long before he'd forgotten his anxiety. Soon, he was taking part in a musical 'dialogue' with Angela - rattling out a rhythm and then looking up at the therapist to see what her reaction would be.

"He would play the drums really loudly then really quietly, and once he saw I was responding to what he did, he was able to expand that more and bring in a sense of anticipation," she says.

"He would play very softly, then look at me and wait. That's highly significant, for an autistic child to look at you with raised eyebrows, waiting to see what you will do."

Liam is one of eight autistic youngsters from across York who have been taking part in the music therapy sessions, thanks to an Age Concern Millennium Award to the Malton-based North Yorkshire Music Therapy Centre, the organisation Angela works with.

Music can be hugely important in helping autistic children to come out of themselves, Angela says. She believes part of the reason they are trapped in a world of their own, unable to communicate properly or relate to other people, is because they are so overwhelmed by 'input' from the world around them - sounds, colour, movement - that they can't cope. Whereas most people are able to focus on what is important and shut out the rest, autistic can't, she believes - so they live in a frightening, confusing world of sensory overload.

Music, she believes, helps them to focus, to separate out what's important from what isn't. Because they're in control when they make music, it's non-threatening - and by learning to take turns when beating out a rhythm, they learn to communicate.

"They're learning to be close to somebody, to respond to somebody," she says. "It can give them a sense of being understood and listened to. You listen to what they want to play and how they want to play it and meet them there. By meeting them there, you can draw them out. They don't feel threatened, so they don't feel they have to withdraw from the world."

Music therapy can also bring joy into the children's lives, Angela says. "It's a wonderful way of getting a child to have a real feeling of joy and sense of achievement."

Mandy can attest to how much Liam enjoys his regular weekly half-hour sessions. It's become a highlight of his week, she says.

"He knows when we're going," she says. "He tells me, 'It's music therapy with Angela!'"

Sadly, tomorrow's session will be Liam's last. The Age Concern funding was enough to pay for only ten weeks of sessions for each of the eight youngsters on the programme.

However, the York Autism and Aspergers Support Group, of which Mandy is secretary, is going to buy a range of musical instruments of their own so they can continue the good work Angela has begun, thanks to an £800 grant from the York White Rose branch of the Foresters.

Angela herself will advise the group on what instruments to buy - and the hope is that parents who belong to the group will run music therapy sessions of their own on Saturday mornings during school holidays, at the Burton Stone Community Centre, where the support group meets.

Angela is hoping to organise a workshop with some of the parents, where she will show them how to use the instruments to communicate and draw out their children.

It may not be a substitute for music sessions with a trained therapist - Angela is still hoping she may be able to find funding to continue her work with the children - but it will be far better than nothing, and may even help parents develop a better relationship with their own children, she says.

"It is wonderful they have got this grant. The children will benefit considerably, and it will help the parents find a more relaxed way of relating to them.

"You can't work miracles, but if they can find some way of expressing what's going on inside, their whole life is going to be different.

"I have worked with a lot of adults with autism, and you feel there is so much frustration, so much unexpressed emotion that they cannot manage. It is so important to catch them early."

For more information about the work of the North Yorkshire Music Therapy Centre check out its website at www.theshed.co.uk/musictherapy, or call on 01653 698129.