Social Songs and visual support books by Ruth Alice Jurey, M.S. C.C.C.
Ruth is a practicing speech and language pathologist with over 40 years of clinical experience, who has always used music in therapy. For the past several years she has served elementary students with severe autism in public school. Ruth is also the author of The Reading Treehouse, and of Playful Sounds: The Sound Foundation for Speech and Reading.
Lead vocals by Carina Morales.
A seasoned musical theatre performer, Carina's past experience includes New York City stage, national tours, and international work as a principal vocalist for The Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios. She loves kids, and is proud to sing along with them!
Music arranged and produced by Adam L. Morales. Adam is a composer, arranger and producer.
His realizations of these simple songs are fun, captivating, and respectful of a child’s right to quality music.
Artist DJ Svoboda created our Imagifriend, Brandon the Galapski.
DJ created The Imagifriends based on difficult experiences he has faced growing up and living with Autism. The Imagifriends live in Imagiville, where everyone is accepted just the way they are.
Attractive musical settings can sweeten the story of events like bathroom time, transitions, surprises and sharing. Created by a speech & language pathologist, the lyrics are concrete, accessible, and visually supported with icons and engaging photos. And the songs are pitched for young voices, should they wish to sing along. These are social skill lessons that children will enjoy repeating.
Any way you like!
Basic: Play the album. Sing along if you like. Enjoy!
Through the day: You might use phrases from the songs as narration or reminders.
For kids with autism, the list of things-to-learn is long, and it can get tiresome. But we have yet to meet the child with autism who does not love music. And the benefits of these musical social stories go beyond their topics.
These short, easily-repeated musical lessons help the child to feel intrinsically motivated to engage. Following along with the photos and icons that match what they hear, knowing what is coming next, the brief Q & A at the end—all are activities that promote joint attention, comprehension, and participation. Autism Sing-Along! packs a lot of learning into one interesting package of pleasant work.
Autism Sing-Along! Social Songs—music and books—have been thoroughly tested and enjoyed by kids with autism in special day classes, from preschool through elementary age. Younger and older children may also enjoy and benefit, depending upon needs. While these songs and books are specially attuned to the discerning needs* of the child with autism, you don’t need to have autism to love them!