Music and neurodiversity

It was back in 1999 that I knowingly took on my first neurodivergent student. With a dyslexia diagnosis, my student started his education in a special needs school due to difficulties with speech and language. Having an actual diagnosis at that time was rare; the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) suspects that only 4% of children with the condition were diagnosed. It became incredibly clear that my usual teaching strategies were not working for this lovely young man. I reached out to the BDA for support and that was when I first came across the Music Committee.

Margaret (‘Peggy’) Hubicki MBE, a member of the committee, helped me over several years to support that student and many others to come. To this day, I use much of the wisdom Peggy shared with me (I will be forever grateful), and her truths are incorporated in this article. When Peggy died, in 2006, The Telegraph described her as ‘an eminent teacher of harmony and before the war enjoyed an exciting career as a composer and pianist until tragedy intervened; she later invented the colour-staff system of notation to help people with dyslexia to read and enjoy music.’