Super amazing excitedness! :D

philpot

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So. I have an annoying, bratty, ADD cousin right? Yeah, hes pretty hard to handle. I can only imagine once he gets a little muscle on that 8y.o. frame, then he can really start wreaking havoc... but anyways, hes always wanted to be GOOD at something. He watched videos of people playing guitar and piano and he sits down and wants to play like that but hes frustrated that he cant. Well, he seemed to take an interest in my uke today and he asked my grandma if he could have one. Shes like "heyy, how much would a cheap ukulele be?" So I, being the well informed uker that I am, (lol) told her that the music store downtown has Dolphins in stock for 35 bucks. She thought it was a great idea! And, not only that, but I go over to my grandmas three times a week to tutor my other cousin (sweetest little kid, he has aspergers so hes having some trouble in school) and she said she would pay me double what I'm getting now if I would help teach the other little brat uke after tutoring the nicer one :D maybe this'll be the thing to get him on track and calm him down! Wish me luck!! :D
 
Aloha Phil,
That sounds like a nice thing to do and teach him and plus get paid for it too...you both have something to gain and be proud of...Happy Strummings....Have fun and enjoy..MM Stan
 
It is a nice thing to do. Good luck with it.
 
good on you Phil. I think that's awesome and a potential blessing for both you and your little cousin. Sharing the gift of music is a precious thing for sure. All the very best to you both mate!!! You might end up enjoying it so much that you won't even want any money for it...

Just incidentally, there is a wonderful book written by Oliver Sachs a few years ago now, called 'Musicophilia' where Sachs discusses the impact of hearing different types of music on those with neurological disorders. You might find it inspiring or at least interesting. Cheers! :)
 
Good for you Philpot, maybe you've got another Uker in the making there!
 
Thanks guys! I'm looking forward to it. The payment is gonna go straight in my Kamaka fund ;) and, at the very least, my grandma said if he doesn't stick with it... I can have his Dolphin ;) so it'll be worth it in the end!! haha ^.^
 
Will do him good learning a instrument. Plus you get some money towards your kamaka.
 
Aspergers and ADD in the same house? Sounds like my kind of party! Probably working with an IQ level there that is through the roof! Being a science teacher, these have always been my favorites. Kind of like backpacking an elephant for a while, but when they get it- hello MIT. One who wants to only look at something for about three seconds, one who wants to look at only one thing forever- sounds like my 7th grade class. Your head is going to hurt after these sessions.
If I may offer a few up from a seasoned veteran? 40 a class, often six or seven diagnosed...and a teacher who probably should be- I have a heck of a lot of fun teaching my ADHD kids (probably unusual for a teacher- oh well). First, no chairs. Pilates ball is the greatest invention ever if you can handle it. My little guys bounce all day, but the thing is, if I can let them bounce (and get them to stop fighting over who gets which color) they THINK. For more than three seconds! God send. Put him on the ball for the lessons- first few will be rough, but he will settle into it and focus.
Of course, my situation is different, but I also made some bones for some of them (with permission). Seems that percussion also helps take the edge off for them. Bones are pretty primal, and something about the motion and the sound makes them as tame as kittens (and me). We have learned to only take them out with permission or at recess (or Mr. L gets them back) and they seem to calm down even knowing they can hold them as they live in their pockets. Just another idea, as I am sure the first road block you will hit with the Uke is tempo and rhythm. Certainly a great choice though (I have three in my classroom) as they are immediately rewarding for most.
Good luck with it- my idea of fun for sure.
 
Aspergers and ADD in the same house? Sounds like my kind of party! Probably working with an IQ level there that is through the roof! Being a science teacher, these have always been my favorites. Kind of like backpacking an elephant for a while, but when they get it- hello MIT. One who wants to only look at something for about three seconds, one who wants to look at only one thing forever- sounds like my 7th grade class. Your head is going to hurt after these sessions.
If I may offer a few up from a seasoned veteran? 40 a class, often six or seven diagnosed...and a teacher who probably should be- I have a heck of a lot of fun teaching my ADHD kids (probably unusual for a teacher- oh well). First, no chairs. Pilates ball is the greatest invention ever if you can handle it. My little guys bounce all day, but the thing is, if I can let them bounce (and get them to stop fighting over who gets which color) they THINK. For more than three seconds! God send. Put him on the ball for the lessons- first few will be rough, but he will settle into it and focus.
Of course, my situation is different, but I also made some bones for some of them (with permission). Seems that percussion also helps take the edge off for them. Bones are pretty primal, and something about the motion and the sound makes them as tame as kittens (and me). We have learned to only take them out with permission or at recess (or Mr. L gets them back) and they seem to calm down even knowing they can hold them as they live in their pockets. Just another idea, as I am sure the first road block you will hit with the Uke is tempo and rhythm. Certainly a great choice though (I have three in my classroom) as they are immediately rewarding for most.
Good luck with it- my idea of fun for sure.

Oh yeah, they are both crazy smart. Ethan (The one with aspergers) is incredibly intelligent, he has a super great memory, and can remember facts like nobody else. He would be doing better in math but his teacher absolutely doesn't care. My aunt even put him into private tutoring with his teacher and his grade went from a C to an F. (My theory? the teacher doesn't want to deal with him and is trying to get him to fail so he HAS to get put in special ed.) And Alex (ADD)... hes a handful, but he catches on to stuff sooo fast. He learns easily, and shouldn't have a problem learning some uke chords :D I'm looking forward to it!
 
Maybe entering into this calling him a brat is not the best approach. Given the time, you may be amazed that although ADD and Aspergers make a person different, they can produce astounding bodies of work. He may be giving you lessons soon.
 
Giving up your time to teach uke is an amazing thing to do (pay or no pay!).
 
Maybe entering into this calling him a brat is not the best approach. Given the time, you may be amazed that although ADD and Aspergers make a person different, they can produce astounding bodies of work. He may be giving you lessons soon.

I didn't mean brat in a bad way :p I really do love the little kid. Hes a handful, but he has so much potential. His dad died a couple years ago, and my dad (his uncle) is... not the best influence, so I'm pretty much the only male influence in his life. Its cool to be able to help him.
 
I didn't mean brat in a bad way :p I really do love the little kid. Hes a handful, but he has so much potential. His dad died a couple years ago, and my dad (his uncle) is... not the best influence, so I'm pretty much the only male influence in his life. Its cool to be able to help him.

philpot that is excellent!! I really hope for you that you can share your love of music with this young man and make an impact in his life! Way to go! I can't play enough uke to teach a rock!
 
Haha- just read that bit about Ethan there...teacher wants him in special ed insanity. Likelihood is the teacher has never worked with an Aspergers kid. Like I said, they take some time, but the rewards are amazing. Most teachers will more likely throw up their hands than get there- I know I wanted to when i first encountered one. Sounds like your aunt certainly has here hands full with the two lads- good on you for stepping up to the plate to help out.
 
Haha- just read that bit about Ethan there...teacher wants him in special ed insanity. Likelihood is the teacher has never worked with an Aspergers kid. Like I said, they take some time, but the rewards are amazing. Most teachers will more likely throw up their hands than get there- I know I wanted to when i first encountered one. Sounds like your aunt certainly has here hands full with the two lads- good on you for stepping up to the plate to help out.

More then likely. Yeah, both of em together are a handful but its well worth it to help them out!

Alright, heres an update. Before I started tutoring Ethan, his weekly quiz grades were in the 30s-50s range. The last two quizzes he brought back were a 70 and an 80, and his end of the unit test (the unit I jumped in on in the middle of) he got a 64. He would have gotten much more, but due to unclear instructions (I dont really care for that teacher...) he did an entire section of the test wrong, getting 6 problems wrong (out of 25 total on the test. I know he could've gotten them because we did literally hundreds of that type of problem leading up to the test.) That said, its an improvement. And its good I can help at the beginning of this unit instead of jumping in the middle of one.

Now on to Alex... His ukulele just came in today, pretty little red Makala Dolphin. I like the uke, but the strings that are on it definitely need to be changed. Some black nonsense, they sound like poo. But anyways, we spent the whole hour going over parts of the uke, string numbers, strumming technique and learning the F and C chords. He wanted to use a pick and I said nope, better to stop the habit before it starts ;) hes having trouble getting a good clean sound out of it, but considering the improvement from beginning of the lesson to the end of the lesson, I think he can get a handle on it. By the end he was getting the two chords rather well. Next time I think I'll work on switching between the two, and learning the G chord. Once he gets those three I'll teach him Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or some such song so he can have a song to work on to practice chord changes. It actually wasn't too bad, I enjoyed teaching him! I go usually 3 times a week to tutor, so I'll be tutoring and teaching Sundays Wednesdays and Fridays usually. Today was an exception from normal because I had to help them with their pinewood derby cars (ah the wonder of cub scouts ^.^) so yeah, overall, fun time, and I cant wait to help him learn some uke and spread the love! :D And for 10 bucks an hour, it'd be worth it whether it was fun or not ;)
 
He wanted to use a pick and I said nope, better to stop the habit before it starts ;)

Good on 'ya there. . . he he he. . .
 
Allriiiight so heres a progress update on the little booger (I mean that in the nicest of ways ;) )

I left him with a chord sheet and strum chart to work on, just a C, F, G, C thing starting with down down down and then doing down up down, etc. and what do you know, the kid actually practiced!!! He was switching pretty good between C and F, but G needs a little work xD but once he got that down, we got started on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. DAAAANG that kid catches on fast!! He memorizes like nobody's business. He ran out to play for his mom ten minutes later and she almost cried :) shes very happy hes taking an interest in it. So I left him with a chart of Twinkle Twinkle to work on, and taught him the A chord so he could practice that :) good day! This is going better then I had hoped :D
 
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