Teaching Music to Students With Special Needs ─ A Label-Free Approach

Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs is a practical guide to and reference manual on teaching music to children with special learning needs. Thoroughly grounded in the latest research in music education, this book addresses special needs as a concept in the broadest possible sense, including physical disability, mental disability, and multiple disability, to equip teachers with practical, proven, research-based curricular strategies that are also grounded in both best practice and current special education law. A common thread throughout the book is the necessity of and advantage to a team-based approach, and the authors offer concrete, readily implementable tips for music teachers on approaching and learning to collaborate with special educators, teacher educators, and mainstream classroom teachers in all educational settings. Importantly, this book also includes extensive curriculum development ideas, lesson plans, and observation and fieldwork ideas.
Throughout, the book argues that teaching children with special learning needs actually has much in common with teaching any other diverse group of students; best practice is to move away from a labels-focused approach with micro-tailored lesson plans to a more broadly conceived strategy that concentrates instead on larger pedagogical aims. Chapters address the full range of topics and issues which music educators face when teaching music to children with special needs, including parental involvement, student anxiety, field trips and performances, and assessment strategies. The book concludes with an up-to-date section of resources and technology information for music teachers.
Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs is a critical resource for all in-service music teachers, music teacher educators, and students in music education.

Alice M. Hammel teaches for James Madison and Christopher Newport Universities, and has years of experience teaching instrumental and choral music. Ryan M. Hourigan is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Ball State University and a recipient of the Outstanding University Music Educator Award from the Indiana Music Educators Association.