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Drum-based program helps teach autistic children
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Eddie Tuduri, a drummer who suffered a neck injury in a body surfing accident, developed The Rhythmic Arts Project curriculum with the help of recreational therapists and spends time working with those with special needs.
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Nick Oblinsky, 12, plays a set of notes by tapping his drum during a demonstration Thursday of the Youngstown State University SMARTS Rhythmic Arts Project at the Potential Development Center.
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
TreVaughn Powell, 13, tapped out three beats on his drum, making the shape of a triangle.
Dina Selleck, 13, drew a square with her drum solo.
They were among the students at Potential Development Center demonstrating the Students Motivated by The Rhythmic Arts Project, or TRAP. The project, funded by the Youngstown Foundation’s Hine Memorial Fund, is a collaborative effort between Youngstown State University’s SMARTS and the CreativeBridge Coalition.
The 55 students at Potential Development are all on the autism spectrum.
The program is percussion-based, but TRAP founder Eddie Tuduri said it’s more than that.
“It’s learning to read and play basic music,” he said. “It’s a visual-perceptual motor match. It’s hitting the drum so it’s tactile, and it’s an auditory-perceptual motor match.”
It also involves speaking. In the case when students were shown pictures of shapes and asked to drum the number of angles, there’s even a geometric element.
Tuduri founded the program after a 1997 body-surfing accident left him paralyzed for a time. As he recovered, he used drumming in the rehabilitation process.
He developed TRAP with the help of recreational therapists and by working with people who have special needs. The program is now in six countries, Tuduri said.
City native Bill Bodine, a co-founder of the CreativeBridge Coalition, is a producer/composer/arranger/bassist. He has been credited as one of the “Founding Fathers” of the YSU Jazz Program and founder of the Tony Leonardi Scholarship Fund.
“CreativeBridge is a nonprofit that brings music programs to young children and those with special needs,” he said.
The children demonstrated their knowledge, playing on the drums. They accompanied Sarah Turner, a country singer, as she performed for those attending a press event Thursday.
Marilyn Fielding, special-education coordinator at Potential Development, said the students benefit from the program.
“We’re always looking for things that they enjoy that will enhance their learning,” she said. “They enjoy this.”
The SMARTS TRAP pilot project will occur at up to five locations that serve children in kindergarten through 12th grade with cognitive and developmental disabilities.