Our 8-year old son, Zachary, has been taking private piano lessons since September.  This was precepitated by an "after-four" school program called "Little Fingers" which Zachary enjoyed and showed the promise of strength in music.

Our music teacher, Hilary, is an eclectic woman who, although she has never taught a child with hyperlexia, was willing to try.  She has shown the flexibility to accommodate Zachary's need for mini breaks and to mould her demands to amplify his strengths.

My role is to sit behind Zac and to interpret his moods -- more explicitly to cue the teacher when to push Zac to keep going and when to ease off.  I also have enough music background to suggest when Zac is ready to jump into something that might seem like a big step.

The results have been exciting!

Zachary is already playing both left and right hand piano by sight reading the sheet music and we have just learned that he can hum the music in key by sight reading the music, without accompaniment.

With the right teacher attitude, a structured environment, and fun, amazing things are happening. While we've used song as a tool for teaching our son so many skills, we are now so very proud of him being able to express himself through music.

We are all very excited by Zachary's progress.  Music may well become
Zachary's friend and ally as he grows up to find his place in the world.

Bob White is the father of 3 children, Rebecca, Zachary and Sabrina.
He is a high school math teacher, living with his family in Toronto.  He is also an avid guitar player and a Joni Mitchell fan.