Born three and a half months prematurely, Derek Paravicini is blind but has literally become an Autistic Concert Pianist. But with perfect pitch, innate talent and a lot of practice, he became a concert pianist by the age of 10. Here, his longtime piano teacher, Adam Ockelford, explains his student’s unique relationship to music, while Paravicini shows how he has ripped up the “Chopsticks” rulebook.
Derek Paravicini weighed half a kilogram when he was born, prematurely at just 25 weeks. Growing up blind and with severe autism, Paravicini had trouble communicating, but was fascinated by sound. He began teaching himself how to play the piano and, by 4-years-old, had taught himself an incredible catalogue of songs that he played with unusual technique. Soon, Paravicini began studying with Adam Ockelford, a teacher at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London, who saw in him the marks of a highly inventive musician. Paravicini gave his first concert at age 7 and, two years later, played the Barbican Hall.
TV and Stage
Once a child prodigy, he’s matured into a creative musician, able to reimagine songs in ways few can. Now in his thirties, Paravicini has continued to grow as a performer, with the ability to reimagine complex pieces of music even after only hearing them once. He was featured in the series Extraordinary People in the United Kingdom and, in the United States, on Stan Lee’s Superhumans, which verified his musical ability and confirmed his savantism. Paravicini has also worked with composer Matthew King. The two have played improvised pieces on BBC Radio and collaborated on Blue, the first concerto ever composed for someone with learning impairment. Autistic Concert Pianist indeed!
This is part two of an article designed to complete my previous two article series: Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and puberty. In both of them I seemed to have left out one salient feature: when hyperactivity meets puberty.Read more →
I’m actually quite proud of how the series of articles I wrote on Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) turned out; until recently that is, when it dawned on me that it wasn’t over yet. I had left out an important issue: when hyperactivity meets puberty.
The same holds true from my extensive series of articles about puberty—I didn’t mention how it is effected or even altered by hyperactivity.Read more →
Although, as explained, personal issues prevent me from posting as regularly as I have always done; none-the-less, I still try to keep up with the new developments in pediatrics and one such area is Diabetes in childhood.
I’ll try and update several “discoveries” related to “Diabetes” in the pediatric population that should be posted in this site: 1 – New naming conventions; 2 – that adolescent diabetes is much more refractory to treatment than we had thought; and, 3 – that the FDA has now approved the “artificial pancreas” for use in children with “type 1” diabetes. Read more →
Visually Impaired and Charles Bonnett Psychiatrist Oliver Stacks Explains
The relaxed demeanor of Dr. Stacks is easy to understand when he explains the unease experienced by patients who are loosing their sight when they see something that isn’t there—the hallucinations of the Charles Bonnett Syndrome give fears of “loosing one’s mind” or other conditions such as Alzheimer’s.
Most have heard about the “phantom limb syndrome” experienced by individuals who have lost a limb; but, almost no-one has heard of that happening when sight is lost, although it does.
Dr. Stacks explained how the phenomenon was first seen and described in the literature by Dr. Charles Bonnett (hence the syndrome’s name) when his father lost his sight. It now has been described as a “not rare” occurrence in people whose vision is becoming impaired not just those who are blind.
There is a “comfort,” of sorts, from knowing that there is a name for what is happening, that it’s “normally” seen and not an additional problem and that it’s not a harbinger of something worse.
In addition, just knowing about it and learning about what makes it happen—who knows, might lead to one day being able to develop artificial eyes. Stranger things have happened.
Autism Explanations From Diagnosis to Treatment to Living With It
Carefully selected from the hundreds of videos about the subject of Autism, here are four others chosen for their clarity, succinctness yet completeness and amazing insight.
Faith Jegede Cole · Writer
Writer Faith Jegede Cole draws on her experiences growing up with two autistic brothers in order to spread awareness and understanding about this increasingly common diagnosis.
She says: “Don’t tell me I’m ‘normal'”, and thinks of her brothers not so much as ‘ordinary’ but extraordinary.
Steve Silberman · Writer and editor
Steve Silberman is a writer and contributing editor for “Wired” who covers science and society. His newest book explores neurodiversity and the link between autism and genius. He relates the history of the autism diagnosis; the Connors vs Asperger issue; and, implications for diagnosis and treatment.
Ami Klin · Autism researcher
Ami Klin is an award winning autism spectrum disorder researcher who explains why we need to find new avenues for early diagnosis and what he and others are doing about it.
Through groundbreaking research and the lens of her own Asperger’s, Temple Grandin brings startling insight into two worlds.
She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.
Her insight: “…Einstein, Mozart, tesla would all be diagnosed as having ASD today… attends to detail… I think in pictures… one of the things that worries me is where are the younger versions of these people going today – they’re not ending up in silicon valley where they belong… if you got rid of all the Asperger’s there would be no silicon valley.”
“Is it unrealistic to think that their child loves them? Let me tell you that that child would be loyal, if your house was burning down they’re gonna get you out of it.”
I’ve been asked what happened to Terry, the boy I introduced you to earlier in this series when we talked about the diagnosis of ADHD or hyperactivity.Read more →
Fussing around trying to find photos to accompany my many posts in the series about ADHD and hyperactivity, I stumbled upon a great article from one of the most “down home” type physicians on the internet, Greg Barrett MD. A professor at a prestigious college, this guy has won many awards from his medical students for just “plain talk” and “making sense”—along with the overall kindness usual with a Pediatrician. Here is a link to his article about ADHD entitled “Errors of commission and omission.”Dr. Barrett’s whole site has been taken over by a “flipper” who wants to sell it. I’ve recovered his articles and am providing them a home here until such time as his site is recovered.
In order to help you know how to judge whether or not you are receiving the best care possible for your child being considered with ADHD, I’ve given you the new standards for diagnosis and showed you a boy (Terry) who was seeing his doctor because of it. Read more →
In this series so far we’ve learned that there are new guidelines for diagnosing ADHD and hyperactivity which should help standardize when a child is “labeled” with the problem. We’ve followed a child through an appropriate diagnostic evaluation and we’ve been reminded that the internet is full of scams which delay children from getting real help.Read more →
Ok, in this series so far we’ve talked about ADHD or hyperactivity, we’ve learned that there are new standardized criteria for its diagnosis and what they are; AND, we’ve even met a 12-year-old and followed him through his whole evaluation and diagnosis.Read more →
All of us watching this video clip can’t help but believe that Jason will be one of those children who do well in spite of his ADHD—Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Not all do, largely because they lack the support systems that Jason has.
His grandmother is correct that the “condition” is something that he will have to some extent most of his life; but, its manifestation does change over time as his body and nervous system matures. For some reason, children with this condition seem to take longer to do so.
Additionally, he will learn other coping mechanisms including finding a life’s work that will fit with his temperament and skills. And things will get a lot easier for learning.
The true blessing in what we’ve watched for Jason, and any child with ADHD, is making it into maturity with confidence, hope AND a self-image which doesn’t do them harm.
Now that we’ve gotten to know him, I hope we get to see some follow-up in the coming years. We’re all rooting for you bud!
