I got Christopher to spread his fingers out today!

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Christopher is child I have been teaching piano to for perhaps two years. He is a special needs kid, but I don't know what his official diagnosis is, nor do I really care. I think he is Autistic. He is about ten. He looks kind of at me and kind of through me. He sometimes ignores questions and repeats his ritual behaviors. He has the musical gift, as have other Autistic children I've worked with. He plays the piano mostly with his two index fingers. He likes to repeat a left/right sequence and then slightly change the notes he is playing. But if I show him a certain melody (his family wants him to do Christmas carols), he will play it. He can already play Jingle Bells, Rudolph, Joy to the World, and the beginning of Beethoven's Fur Elise. I can say, "Play C and G, 'Christopher style,' so I can play a melody over it." He will do it. "Now play D and A, so I can make up a sadder (minor) melody." Done. He enjoys our lessons, and we communicate through an interesting combination of spoken language and music. Recently, I have been able to get him to play with more than one finger on each hand. Today I actually got him to do a "half-scale" (C-D-E-F-G) with the five fingers of his right hand. I asked Christopher if we could show his Grandfather, and he said yes. His Grandfather was thrilled. I continue to have a hypothesis that there is something about the Autistic brain that responds to music. I have discussed my hypothesis with Dan Levitin, the man who wrote "This is Your Brain on Music." Dan says there's not enough grant money out there to really test my hypothesis, but that he agrees with me. I'll do "Christopher Updates" as new things happen. As some of you may remember, I had a similar experience with an Autistic 2-year-old at a friend's preschool. Music (mostly singing) became our means of communication, and singing together opened up avenues to other part of the toddler's brain that nobody had known existed. He could count to ten, for example. But only when I was around. Yes, others did witness it. His mother was shocked. And thrilled. I have not systematically studied Music Therapy. Nor have I conducted any quantitative research research on Autism and music If I had a longer "shelf life," maybe I would take it up. For now, I'll continue to do what I do and "entertain hypotheses." Have you ever seen Autistic kids (or other special needs kids) positively affected by music?