Tommy* is three-years-old and has never interacted with his mother.
The family life his mother imagined, the soft cuddles, the loving interactive play flew out the window when she and her husband first realised that Tommy wouldn’t make eye contact and refused to speak.
He was diagnosed with autism and their lives changed.
Tommy’s mum threw herself into every kind of therapy she could. She was determined. She would do anything for her son.
Tommy has never interacted with his parents. Via IStock.
On a recommendation she tried music therapy.
Each week she would sit with her son and they would enter the world of music.
Until one day there was a breakthrough.
A series of breakthroughs in fact, and the first was for Tommy’s mother. Tommy’s mother found she was, for the first time, enjoying being with her little boy without focusing on his autism. She was enjoying playing with him.
“A success story” his music therapist says.
Through music therapy he benefitted too. He began to stay and play longer with his mum, he began to use a few words and he developed new social and developmental skills.
“Because it was enjoyable, she didn’t have to make her child join in – it turned it all around for them as a family.” Tommy’s therapist, Dr Grace Thompson told me.