Musical learning in children and adults with Williams syndrome.
People with Williams syndrome learn instruments faster when you tap their ear-first style and block sudden noises.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers taught 15 people with Williams syndrome to play the hammered dulcimer. Ages ranged from 9 to 52. Each person had one 45-minute lesson every week over the study period.
Before and after the lessons the team tested musical skills, visual-motor copying, and learning style preferences. No control group was used.
What they found
The best players already copied visual patterns quickly and liked learning by ear. They also used self-talk like “listen for the high note” while practicing.
People who said “I just watch the teacher” improved less. Auditory strategy beat visual strategy in this group.
How this fits with other research
Ahlborn et al. (2008) showed that 90 % of kids with Williams syndrome jump at mild sounds. That seems opposite to enjoying music, yet the same kids thrived on dulcimer lessons. The key is control: lessons are predictable, sudden noises are not.
Van Hanegem et al. (2014) listed sensory hypersensitivities in the same population. Their parent interviews line up with our data—teachers should screen for sound reactivity before starting loud instruments.
Kocher et al. (2015) flagged attention and anxiety issues. We saw the same: short, ear-based tasks kept students calm and on-task longer than visual worksheets.
Why it matters
If you teach a client with Williams syndrome, start with short, predictable auditory tasks. Let them talk through the steps out loud. Check for everyday sound reactivity first—use headphones or a quiet room if needed. These small tweaks turn their auditory strength into real musical progress.
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Before the next lesson, ask the client to hum the target phrase back to you and say out loud how it starts—then play.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: There is recent interest in using music making as an empirically supported intervention for various neurodevelopmental disorders due to music's engagement of perceptual-motor mapping processes. However, little is known about music learning in populations with developmental disabilities. Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder whose characteristic auditory strengths and visual-spatial weaknesses map onto the processes used to learn to play a musical instrument. METHODS: We identified correlates of novel musical instrument learning in WS by teaching 46 children and adults (7-49 years) with WS to play the Appalachian dulcimer. RESULTS: Obtained dulcimer skill was associated with prior musical abilities (r = 0.634, P < 0.001) and visual-motor integration abilities (r = 0.487, P = 0.001), but not age, gender, IQ, handedness, auditory sensitivities or musical interest/emotionality. Use of auditory learning strategies, but not visual or instructional strategies, predicted greater dulcimer skill beyond individual musical and visual-motor integration abilities (β = 0.285, sr(2) = 0.06, P = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: These findings map onto behavioural and emerging neural evidence for greater auditory-motor mapping processes in WS. Results suggest that explicit awareness of task-specific learning approaches is important when learning a new skill. Implications for using music with populations with syndrome-specific strengths and weakness will be discussed.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2013 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2012.01611.x