Very often when we receive a call from a parent of a student with learning difficulties we may be their last hope. This is what happened to the piano teacher and mum of four, Janet Olsen, from Utah in the US.
Janet knows what it's like to parent two children on the autism spectrum and she certainly wasn't looking to take on any students with special needs. Janet tells the story when one day a lady called and said...
"You are our last hope. We want to do music. We know our child enjoys it. Would you be willing to do something with him... anything with him?"
My brain was saying "no!" But they came over and as soon as he walked into the studio and had this huge smile, my heart just started beating really fast and I said...
"I don't know what I'm going to do with him or how we're going to do it, but if you want me to try I would love to have the opportunity to learn together with him."
It's been an adventure for sure and we are both learning!
"Before (joining The Studio), I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants really. If I ran into a situation with a student I was literally thinking as I was going along, 'What can I do? Let's do this? Let's do that?' Just dealing with everything as it happened. I couldn't write a lesson plan because it just never worked with these children. If he or she was having an off day it was terrible. So it was just very frustrating.
The studio has totally turned things around. These kids are loving it! They are doing rhythms I didn't think they would ever do. They're singing along. They know their Do, Re Mis. They can sing it on pitch. It's been awesome!"
- Janet Olsen
Very often when we receive a call from a parent of a student with learning difficulties we may be their last hope. This is what happened to the piano teacher and mum of four, Janet Olsen, from Utah in the US.
Janet knows what it's like to parent two children on the autism spectrum and she certainly wasn't looking to take on any students with special needs. Janet tells the story when one day a lady called and said...
Janet Olsen
Piano Teacher: Utah, U.S.A
"You are our last hope. We want to do music. We know our child enjoys it. Would you be willing to do something with him... anything with him?"
My brain was saying "no!" But they came over and as soon as he walked into the studio and had this huge smile, my heart just started beating really fast and I said...
"I don't know what I'm going to do with him or how we're going to do it, but if you want me to try I would love to have the opportunity to learn together with him."
It's been an adventure for sure and we are both learning!
