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In February 2009, the news was released officially. In South Africa, Kindermusik is recognised as a therapy by the medical board. We are the first country in the world to achieve this
status and naturally, we are delighted. An enormous thanks to Kindermusik South Africa CEO and President, Heidi Twilley, who did not give up in what she believed in.

Here are photos of some of the special needs children I teach (in mainstream as well as special needs schools)

I have been involved in outreach work which has taken on a new dimension in terms of the type of disabilities I have encountered among the children and the wonderful people who have given their advice, which I so appreciate.

I love “my” Children of Fire:

These children have touched my life like no other. Dorah is the most severely burnt survivor in South Africa to date. She has no hands, her face has been restructured surgically and she wears a prosthetic nose. Her head is a different shape than the norm because she has no frontal bone. She will never be able to talk and will most probably always be shunned by society, however,  when the music goes on, she wraps her arms around me, holds on tight and sings and dances 'like there’s no tomorrow'. Little S was tortured and sodomised. When he came to the school he was only 2 years old and severely traumatised. Now he sings the loudest out of everyone in the Kindermusik class! Sizwe was dowsed in petrol and set on fire by a family member and now he finds comfort in banging the most glorious rhythms on a drum. There are many such stories at my outreach of the strength of the human spirit to survive and music bringing joy and healing.

Special Needs Classes

When Claudia laughed all the way through her first class, I knew she was in the right place and incidentally, so was I...!
Claudia and Caregiver Esther

Over the past 3 years, many special needs children have passed through my Kindermusik classroom who have been delightful. One of these little girls, Claudia got my attention. She has Angelman syndrome, and she has a helper with her all the time to see to her needs. The question that suddenly popped into my head after almost two years of teaching Claudia, was “where are the rest of these special needs children?” and “Is there a way to measure the progress that such a child would make as a direct result of the brain stimulation that Kindermusik brings?”. Immediately I began searching for experts to put together a panel who would be able to advise me on how to write a curriculum for these children, which I am currently doing.

My thinking is, if there are so many special needs Kindermusik and Kindermusik stimulates all areas of the brain, emotional, social, language, physical, musical and cognitive, Kindermusik as brain stimulation should be able to help these children to a degree. They children need a place to socialise, a place to feel safe and be completely surrounded and supported by loving family and / or caregivers. Through that reasoning, I began to offer Kindermusik classes for special needs children.